# Cape Town: map, what to do and when to go

In Cape Town, mountain, beach, and vineyard sit close to downtown, and most of the population lives in the Cape Flats, where apartheid moved them. Founded in 1652 between the 1,086 m Table Mountain and two seas, it is South Africa's legislative capital and its most unequal city.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Cape Town: what is Africa's southernmost point?** Africa's southern tip is Cape Agulhas, about 220 km from the city by road.
- **Cape Town: how do you get from the airport to downtown?** By the MyCiTi A01 bus, which goes to the Civic Centre, in the CBD, in 25 to 45 minutes for R110 to R150 in 2026; first, buy the R40 myconnect card at the arrivals kiosk, without which you can't board.
- **Cape Town: how far are Stellenbosch and Franschhoek?** 50 km and about 45 min to Stellenbosch via the N1/R310; another 30 km to Franschhoek.

## The mountain and the center
Check the cable car website at 7:30am; if it's open, go up before 9am to skip the line and the cloud, and set aside 2 hours on the plateau between the viewpoints and the Dassie Walk loop.
- Table Mountain and the cable car
- Bo-Kaap and the Auwal Masjid
- Company's Garden

## Robben Island and the 20th-century city
Take the 9am ferry from the Nelson Mandela Gateway, at the V&A Waterfront, with a ticket bought ahead; the whole visit takes about 3 hours 30 minutes between the crossing, the bus tour of the island and the cell block.
- Robben Island
- District Six Museum
- Castle of Good Hope
- V&A Waterfront and Zeitz MOCAA

## The whole peninsula, by car
Leave at 8am along the Atlantic coast, pass through Camps Bay and Hout Bay and take Chapman's Peak Drive: 9 km, 114 bends, opened in 1922, with a toll and closures on windy or rainy days.
- Kirstenbosch
- Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point
- Boulders Beach, Simon's Town

## Table Mountain and the cable car
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-montanha-da-mesa
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo
A 1,086 m plateau inside Table Mountain National Park. The cable car has run since 1929 and has used rotating 65-seat cabins since 1997, turning a full circle during the 5-minute ride up; a round trip for an adult cost R395–420 in 2026, with about a 10% discount buying online. It closes for wind without warning. Check the website in the morning.
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## Robben Island
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-robben-island
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo
An island 11 km off the coast, a political prison from 1961 to 1991, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. The visit, about 3 hours 30 minutes, leaves from the Nelson Mandela Gateway, at the V&A, costs around R600 per adult and is partly guided by former political prisoners. Book days ahead; rough seas cancel crossings.
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## District Six Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-district-six-museum
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo · Up to half an hour
In a former Methodist church on Buitenkant Street, it holds the neighborhood map painted on the floor, with the names of erased streets and signatures of former residents. It tells the 1966–1982 removals through the voice of those who were removed; the visit takes 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes.
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## Bo-Kaap and the Auwal Masjid
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-bo-kaap
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo · Up to half an hour
The mosque on Dorp Street, opened in 1794, is the oldest in South Africa, and the Bo-Kaap Museum occupies a house from the 1760s at 71 Wale Street. The bright facade colors are recent; the architecture, with a stoep in front and a flat roof, is 18th-century.
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## Company's Garden
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-company-s-garden
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo
The vegetable garden planted by the VOC in 1652 to supply ships, today a 6-hectare park with an avenue of oak trees, the Iziko South African Museum and the planetarium. On the same axis stands the Slave Lodge, from 1679, which housed the Company's enslaved people and is now a museum of slavery.
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## Castle of Good Hope
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-castle-of-good-hope
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo · Up to half an hour
A pentagonal fortress built between 1666 and 1679 by the VOC, the oldest colonial building in the country still standing. It has a changing of the guard, the Dolphin Pool and a collection of Cape art; the original shoreline once ran right against the walls, today 1 km from the sea because of landfill.
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## Kirstenbosch
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-kirstenbosch
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo
A botanical garden founded in 1913 on the mountain's eastern slope, with 36 cultivated hectares within a 528-hectare estate. It grows only indigenous flora, mostly fynbos and proteas; the 130 m Boomslang canopy walkway opened in 2014. Admission is around R200–260 for adults.
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## Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-cabo-da-boa-esperanca
Cabo Ocidental
The southern tip of the peninsula, about 70 km from the center, inside the national park. The old lighthouse, from 1860, sits at 249 m and was too high for the fog, so they built another at 87 m, in 1919. Conservation fee around R450–500 per foreign adult; baboons open cars and backpacks.
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## Boulders Beach, Simon's Town
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-boulders-beach-simon-s-town
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo · Up to half an hour
An African penguin colony established in 1982 from two breeding pairs, today with about 2,000 to 3,000 birds. SANParks boardwalks let you get close without stepping into the nesting area; the species is critically endangered and the colony is monitored.
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## V&A Waterfront and Zeitz MOCAA
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cidade-do-cabo/#g-lugar-v-a-waterfront
Município metropolitano da Cidade do Cabo
A still-operating harbor, opened in 1860 by Prince Alfred, redeveloped as a commercial area in 1988. Inside it, the Zeitz MOCAA occupies a 1921 grain silo hollowed out by Thomas Heatherwick and opened in 2017. It's the largest contemporary African art museum on the continent.
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**Cape Town: what is Africa's southernmost point?**
Africa's southern tip is Cape Agulhas, about 220 km from the city by road. That's also where the official divide between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean lies, far from Cape Point.

**Cape Town: how do you get from the airport to downtown?**
By the MyCiTi A01 bus, which goes to the Civic Centre, in the CBD, in 25 to 45 minutes for R110 to R150 in 2026; first, buy the R40 myconnect card at the arrivals kiosk, without which you can't board. Uber and Bolt cost R300 to 450 to the City Bowl.

**Cape Town: how far are Stellenbosch and Franschhoek?**
50 km and about 45 min to Stellenbosch via the N1/R310; another 30 km to Franschhoek.

**Cape Town: what's the currency, and how much do things cost?**
The currency is the rand (ZAR, R), trading in 2026 at about R18 to the dollar and R3.3 to the Brazilian real. Reference prices: café coffee R35 to 55; simple lunch or bakery R90 to 150; dinner at a mid-range restaurant R250 to 450 per person without drinks; beer R35 to 60; a decent bottle of wine at the supermarket R90 to 200; short Uber ride R60 to 120; hostel bed R350 to 600 and mid-range hotel R1,400 to 2,800 a night.

**Cape Town: what's the weather like in summer?**
The southern summer runs from December to February, with 16 to 27 °C, clear skies, almost no rain and the southeaster blowing hard for days on end.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 5 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/cidade-do-cabo/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/cidade-do-cabo/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/cidade-do-cabo.md