Cape Town - A Great City To Visit

We were not quite sure what to expect when visiting Cape Town. This was our first visit to the city and indeed to Africa. What we found was a modern vibrant city with cheerful, easy going and friendly people.

We stayed at the Cape Grace Hotel adjacent to the V&A Waterfront for 7 nights and this was a fantastic location and fantastic hotel.

The highlights of our stay were:

Table Mountain - everything from the revolving floor on the round cable car to the fantastic panoramic views made the visit to this natural wonder highly enjoyable. We spent 4 1/2 hours wandering around the top. We were really lucky with the weather and buying an open ticket is a must so that you can go up on a clear wind free day. As soon as the weather is suitable, just go for it.

Robben Island - a really well organised excursion to this historic prison island. The history is well told and the prison visit is conducted by an ex-inmate, which brings it more alive. Firstly we had a 35 minute boat ride out to the island. A bus with a guide ran through the history of the island, pointing out all the important landmarks. We were fortunate in having on board an ex-inmate of Nelson Mandela who told us about their time at the quarry. The prison visit is on foot and includes Mandela's cell. Finally there is a boat ride back to Cape Town. We unknowingly got on a slower boat so the journey back was about an hour.

Cape Peninsula is well worth a visit. We had a guide who showed us the main points of interest. At the Cape of Good Hope the winds were really gusting and two ladies actually got knocked off their feet. We saw the Penguins at Boulder, the lighthouse, ostriches, baboons and other native animals.

Kirstenbosch - Cape Town's botanical gardens are stunning. Set against the backdrop of Table Mountain they offer mostly indigenous plants, trees and other fauna. We were escorted by Andrew, one of the longest serving members of staff. We drove around on a golf buggy and he pointed out some of the more important species. He was not only highly knowledgeable but had a wicked sense of humour and clearly loved his job. The highlight was a tree top canopy walk which has been beautifully designed to fit in with the landscape.

The open top bus - really good value for money particularly if you get the two day pass. It has two main routes and two subsidiary routes. We went on all four in a single day! Compared to other city bus tours this one was well run, had clear bus stops, commentary was informative and interesting and covered a really large area.

The Restaurants - difficult to know where to start with these. We went to a number of really good restaurants which although maybe expensive for South Africans, were really excellent value from our point of view and compared to England prices. Our favourite, which we had booked from the UK 5 months earlier, and could still only get in for lunch, was The Test Kitchen. This had an open kitchen with innovative and beautifully presented food. Both the staff and the food were spot on, including the wine pairings. Others that we liked were La Colombe, Aubergine and Haiku.

After Cape Town we spent three days in the wine lands in the small town of Franschhoek. Key highlight here was the wine tram (which comprises a wine bus, a wine tram and a wine tractor ride). We left at 11:00 and returned at 5:15. We did the blue line (there is an alternative red line), had three inclusive wine tastings (7 glasses in total) and in all visited 5 different wineries including Richard Branson's Mont Rochelle.

It would never have occurred to us to go to Cape Town for a city break because it is so far from London. However, now we have experienced this city we will definitely be returning.