Cape Town Travel Forum

I'm planning a trip with my husband, my parents, and my 3 small kids (8 yrs and under) - we're taking the Shozoloza Meyl train to Cape Town in early December and staying 3 nights there, before driving back to Bloemfontein and onward (with a rental car). I'd like to find a self-catering unit in the CT area, but it doesn't have to be downtown. We're planning to hit the beach, see the penquins, Robben Island, an afternoon downtown, and just hang out and enjoy the area. Someone had recommended staying in Fish Hoek, with easy access to the train and to the beach, but the recommended site (Blue Yonder) is already booked for our dates. I'm a little overwhelmed with all the self-catering options my search turned up since I don't know the larger region at all. Can someone recommend a place or two to try? We'd like to be in the mid-range price (hopefully less than R5,000 total for the 3 nights for 7 people) or lower.

And if you have any recommendations for sites to see en route to Bloemfontein (we'll take 3 days to drive it, I think), those are welcome, too!

I planing a trip to my friend for hes 50 th birthday ti cape town in south Africa and I really worry about the safety and places to stay, can any one give me some information about the real live and not about the media info, Thank you, I live in Canada and original from cuba/Thank you very much for your time.

Hi, I'm thinking of booking a room at the Holiday Inn Express which is on 101 St. Georges Mall in Cape Town - does anyone know what the area around there is like? We're looking for something central so that we can just walk out of the hotel and have a lot of shops, restaurants and sites nearby. Is this hotel a good choice for that sort of thing? Is it a relatively safe area - no worse than ordinary?

Thank you.

HI I have been looking all over the net and I can not find the cost on how much it would be to go on a fairy and I was wonding if you could get it all tell me were I could look to find it. thankyou so much for reading this and if you could get back to me that would be great on my e-mail address and that is
(sami-b2@hotmail.com) and can you get back to me as soon as you can thankyou.

Hi there! I'm looking for safaris in spanish, but they should be at least 4 days long. It doesn't matter whether they leave from.

Any ideas?

Thank you to everyone who gave me advise, it was most useful! Gerald, hope you and your family have a great day and the weather stays fine
Abbsy.

Hi,
I'll be coming to Cape Town 21st September and will be staying there for 5 days. Can anyone advise me the places of interest to visit, I have already been up Table Mountain on a previous holiday to SA, so new ideas would be grateful. From there we are travelling along the Garden Route stopping off at various locations. What is the weather like at the moment/or does anyone have a crystal ball for when we will be there? Will I need to bring some warm clothing for during the day/evening? If it is warm and sunny what is the temperature...will I need to bring with me sun protection? Also, what is the voltage in SA? Oh and finally would it be best to convert our currency (Sterling) over here in the UK or in SA?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Abbsy.

Thank you for all your replys to our questions with regards to our trip to Cape Town in November. We have found all the information very helpfull and feel alot more prepared for our trip.

We are limited to the amount a currency we are able to take into the country. Do most places accept credit cards or should we take sterling cash or travellers cheques?

When visiting cape town at beginning of Nov we intend to hire a car and travel along the garden route to Port Elizabeth then back to Cape Town via Route62. We are thinking of booking accomodation as we travel the route and decide day to day how many days we want to spend in each town? Do you think this is ok to book as we go or should we book accomodation before traveling to cape town. Would booking as we go be more expensive then booking in advance? We are thinking we will do this journey within 7-10 days, is this enough time?

We're travelling to cape town 31 oct - 16 nov. spending a few nights in cape town then hiring a car and traveling the garden route. Very interested in doing some shark diving. What companies would you recommend? Do we need to book the trip before we arrive in cape town or is there alot of availability so able to book a day or 2 before?

Hi everyone,

I'll be in Cape Town for 10 days beginning of November. I thank those of you who already sent me some info about place to visit or website to consult.

I have a new question: where would you advice to rent a place? My boyfriend and I we would like to rent an apartment in a "safe" place.
I hope you will not see me as a prejudice tourist! I've been to Salvador before, never heard so many freaking things about this "unsafe" country and actually never found a place more pleasant and people are so nice!

However I was wondering in which part of Cape Town it would be better to stay. We would like to be able to walk around, be close to the centre of the city...

What about Cape Town City Centre? Waterkant? Waterfront?

Please advise

Marie

Hello !

My name is Marie, I am 29years old.
My boyfriend and I are coming for 10 days of vacation in Cape Town.
We arrive the 2nd of November 2009 and leave the 11th of November.
We haven’t decided yet what we are going to do once we will be there but we are thinking about renting a car to be able to visit parks, wine road and so one.
Any suggestion/advice is welcome!

We haven’t yet book a place to stay in. We are not interested by going in a hotel, we would rather be interested to rent a small house or a room in somebody’s home, would you have some advices? Or suggestions? Or maybe do you offer that kind of service?

Hello, we are from the UK and will be in Cape Town at the time of the start of the first test against England. Can anyone advise me as to how I can get 4 'good' tickets for the first day please? Thanks for any help.

Hello CT forumers

I am going to be doing a course in Cape Town (Sept/Oct '09) based near the harbour (Foreshore / Heerengracht).

My current plan is to get the train from Muizenberg to Cape Town station and back daily, course runs 9-5, Monday to Friday and some weekends too.

Also my current plan is to walk from Cape Town station to the harbour and back each day.

Is this is a possible/sensible/realistic plan?

cheers
woody

Hi, My wife and I will be in Plettenberg Bay 28th.Oct'09, for 4 nights.( with car). As we are in the Western Cape for 4 weeks we need less expensive Accomm. We will be out during the days, so it is really just a clean/friendly place to relax and sleep. Any suggestions for B&B/GuestHouse/Selfcater places which are close to beaches(I like fishing) and not too far from the centre/restuarants/pubs. So many websites/places on offer we are confused. Thanks in anticipation, Peter.(UK)

Due to WC 2010 it is nearly impossible to get a accomodation at Long Street or Waterfront. I was able to manage a bed & breakfast at Oranjezicht.

Is it possible to go out there at night? Are there (safe) taxis at night to get back from fanzones/waterfront or Longstreet?

Do you think a hired car will be indispensable? Or is it possible to manage all excursions and sightseeing tours with public transports and/or taxis?

Can someone tell me if the sign "Cape of Good Hope the most south western point of the african continent" (where all tourists get their pictures taken ) is actually at "cape of good hope " or "cape point"? When I read the tips on VT I see both.
Is it easy to get to by car or is there a long walk to get there?

Hi all,

next week I and my Partner will leave for Cape Town :-)

In our trip schedule, we have planned to be in Simon's Town during afternoon. We'd like to spend there the whole afternoon as to take pictures during sunset too. So, we'll have to drive back to Cape Town when it is already dark. Is it safe? Or is it better to avoid it?

Can anyone suggest us?

Thank you!

Hello!

I will trip to Cape Town in the middle of August and from there I'll drive to George to go to the Kruger Park.

I'm interested in a whale-watching boat trip. I read about Hermanus and Plettenberg Bay as good places for that. What do you suggest? Hermanus or Plettenberg Bay? I'm thinking of trying a bot trip from both of them but I don't know if it is worth my while to stop in both towns.

Any advice is welcome!!!

Thank you very much!!!

Hi people,
I will be in CT from 16-19 Aug. Can someone advise me about Shark cage diving/ Breaching locations- I am confused about 'Dyer island' & 'Seal Island'. Operators taking you to D-island claim both are similar, those taking you to S-island claim the other is commercial and hence justify their higher price for a trip to S-island. Can one spot whales on this trip or does one have to take a seperate tour for whale watching. Do whales come close to the boats or as someone suggested that one can very easily see them from the shore? Apart from hermanus which is the best place to see them from- closer to Cape town?
Is a trip to Robben Island worth it considering we are in CT for 3 days only.
We are hiring a car. Is it worth taking an organised tour to Cape Peninsula or can one find a guide once we get there? Or is a guide even necessary?
Anyone done deep sea/off-shore fishing? Is it fun/exciting? We are quite excited about it. What chances of the trip getting cancelled due to bad weather?
Thx

Hi

Me and my husband (aged 26) arrive in Cape Town on the 31st December and was wondering if anybody had any good suggestions on the best places to see the new year in especially around the V&A area?

Thanks

Hi

We are travelling to Cape town on 30th December to watch England in the third test. I have never been to SA before and spoken to various people about the safety aspects. Some people have told us is as safe as London and others have advised us not to get into any taxis etc. We are statying at the protea hotel sea point which i think is about 3km from the Victoria and Albert waterfront which is where all the main bars and restuarents are. I was just wondering if anybody had any advice about getting taxis etc back from here to the hotel?

Thanks

Greetings:

Attempting to book rooms for next summer and the games.....I would greatly appreciate any comments on these two hotels that have room for us:

Vineyard Hotel and Spa and the Victoria and Alfred.......both Cape Town...Any other suggestions also appreciated...its a long way!!!

Thanks greatly,

Actually I start planning my trip to South Africa in 2010. My main destinations will be Cape town and Kruger, so I need information about the Cape as well as about safaris... So I wonder which travel guide is the best.

Usually I made good experiences with Lonely Planet, but at www.amazon.de the South Africa guide of LP is rated very bad. Especially it is rated worse than the Rough Guide... So I wonder, wether I should give the Rough guide a chance...

Alternatively there is mentioned, that there is a German translation of the Rough guide (Stefan Loose Travel Handbücher), but this is based on a prior edition of the Rogh guide. So does anybody of the German speaking community knows, wether Stefan Loose's book is outdated?

Thanx in advance...

Can anyone recommend a really good restaurant for the New Year with outdoor eating, great food and wine and good views and location. We don't like stuffy atmosphere but do want quality.

I will be staying in CT next week (hotel 10 mins walk from V & A waterfront). I want to go up Table Mtn on the cable car. What is the best way to bet to the Cable Car station? Is it walkable? How much would a taxi be? Could I flag one down on the street? Are minibus taxis safe/accessible? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated asap due to close dep. date. Thanx.
PS Has anyone done the abseiling from Table Mt? What's it like?

I'll want to know if i can study english there becouse i want to know Cape Town and I want to take a trip I`ve read about it and It look so interesting.. please I dont know if you can help me .. I want to know hotel's prices and english courses,s prices please help me.. I'm from Ecuador

I will be travelling from khayelitsha so which route to take in order to reach Cape Point

Hello, everybody!

I intend to spend some months in Cape Town by the end of this year. So, I decided to take advantage of this period to study some English. I made a research and found a school called LAL, in Sea Point.
Can any of you tell me anything about this school and/or the neighborhood (transportation, nice places to visit, nightlife etc)?

Thanks!