Known for
Table Mountain rising over the city, colourful streets and the coastline
Must-see landmarks
Table Mountain, Cape Point, Robben Island and the V&A Waterfront
Best time to visit
November to March, the driest and warmest months
Free to visit
Company's Garden, Bo-Kaap's streets and hiking trails up Lion's Head
Company's Garden, St George's Cathedral and Greenmarket Square are the tourist attractions in Cape Town most visitors come for. The 8-stop itinerary below strings them together, followed by 10 more sights, free things to do, upcoming events and visitor FAQs.
Cape Town's oldest garden began in 1652 as a vegetable plot supplying passing Dutch East India Company ships, and its 3.2 hectare grounds still hold South Africa's oldest cultivated pear tree, planted around that time, and a rose garden laid out in 1929. St George's Cathedral is a minute's walk north.
Known as the people's cathedral, St George's is the oldest cathedral in southern Africa, built of Table Mountain sandstone to a design by Herbert Baker. On 13 September 1989 Archbishop Desmond Tutu led over 30,000 people from its steps in an anti-apartheid march. Greenmarket Square is a five minute walk west.
This cobbled square has served as a market place since the 17th century, ringed by the Cape Rococo Old Town House, built in 1755 and now home to the Michaelis Collection of Dutch and Flemish art that Sir Max Michaelis donated in 1914. Stalls selling African crafts fill the square by day. Long Street is a six minute walk south.
Long Street has drawn Capetonians since the early 1800s, its Victorian and Edwardian facades now home to backpacker hostels, bars and the Pan African Market's stalls of African art and crafts. The Long Street Baths, opened in 1908 with a Turkish bath added in 1927, still operate a block away. Bo-Kaap rises up the hill to the west.
Families descended from enslaved people painted these rented houses in bright colours after the 1834 abolition of slavery, and the tradition still defines Bo-Kaap's cobbled streets. The Bo-Kaap Museum occupies one of the quarter's earliest homes, dating to the mid-18th century. District Six Museum is a 16 minute walk southeast.
District Six became Cape Town's sixth municipal district in 1867, a mixed inner-city community bulldozed under apartheid's Group Areas Act. The museum grew out of the 1988 Hands Off District Six campaign and opened in 1994 with the exhibition Streets: Retracing District Six. Castle of Good Hope is an eight minute walk southeast.
The Dutch East India Company laid the first stone of this pentagonal bastion fort on 2 January 1666 and completed it in 1679, making it the oldest existing colonial building in South Africa. Its collection of Cape Dutch furniture and military history fills the ramparts. It's a 47 minute walk to the V&A Waterfront, or a short MyCiTi bus ride.
Cape Town's working harbour anchors this precinct, where the red Clock Tower has kept Edinburgh-made time since 1882 and some of the quays date to 1870. It's freely walkable, its warehouses now filled with shops and restaurants, while the Nelson Mandela Gateway sends ferries out to Robben Island across the bay.
DHL Stormers vs Scarlets: Business Lounge comes to DHL Stadium on 24 October at 16:00.
Candlelight: Vivaldi's Four Seasons comes to Norval Foundation on 24 October at 18:00.
Liefde 10 fills the Meerendal Wine Estate on 7 November from 09:00.
Jill Scott brings her To Whom This May Concern tour to the Grand Arena at GrandWest on 11 November at 20:00.
THE KEHLANI WORLD TOUR: South Africa plays Grand Arena at GrandWest on 17 December at 20:00.
The Bodyguard: The Musical plays Artscape Opera House on 12 March 2027 at 19:30.
Cape Town's 3.2 hectare public garden costs nothing to wander, its rose garden, fish pond and centuries-old pear tree open from early morning; the neighbouring Iziko museums and the restaurant inside charge their own admission.
The Waterfront's harbour walkways, Nobel Square and Clock Tower are free to explore any time of day; individual attractions inside the precinct, such as Two Oceans Aquarium and Zeitz MOCAA, set their own admission.
Bo-Kaap is a residential neighbourhood rather than an open-air museum, so wandering its cobbled, brightly painted streets costs nothing; the Bo-Kaap Museum, on Wale Street, is the one stop here that charges for a look inside a period Cape Malay home.
Reaching the flat summit by cable car is ticketed, but the mountain's hiking trails, including the popular Platteklip Gorge route, appear nowhere on SANParks' list of paid gates and cost nothing to climb.
This white sand Atlantic beach beneath the Twelve Apostles is free to visit day or night, like every South African beach; the loungers, umbrellas and beachfront cafes across the road are what visitors pay for.
Wandering the square and browsing its stalls costs nothing at any hour. Step inside the small history museum tucked into its northwest corner, though, and an entrance fee applies for its 17th and 18th century Cape Dutch collection.
Cape Town Tourism's own guide to the hike names no fee, and SANParks' list of paid gates at Boulders, Cape Point, Newlands, Oudekraal, Silvermine and Tokai leaves Lion's Head off it: the climb to the summit is free.
Like its neighbour Lion's Head, Signal Hill sits outside SANParks' paid gates, so the drive or walk up to its viewpoint over the city and Atlantic costs nothing, popular at sunset and on full moon nights.
This palm-lined seafront walkway between Mouille Point and Sea Point is open to everyone for jogging, cycling and sunset strolls at no cost; the tidal pools and pavilion alongside it charge their own entry.
The City of Cape Town lists Muizenberg among its free public beach facilities, with parking, toilets and lifeguards on duty; only the neighbouring Muizenberg Pavilion's water slide and pools are ticketed.
A pair of 18-pound cannons still fire every day at noon, except Sundays and public holidays, from the Lion Battery on Signal Hill, maintained by the South African Navy; watching the ceremony costs nothing.
Cape Town's colonial history began in 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck established a Dutch East India Company trading post here, a stop on the sea route between Europe and Asia; Khoikhoi and San communities lived on this coast long before. Wedged between Table Bay and Table Mountain, the city carries the nickname the Mother City, and its layered history, from Cape Malay heritage to the anti-apartheid struggle centred on District Six and Robben Island, still shapes its neighbourhoods today.
The City Bowl holds the historic core around Company's Garden and Bo-Kaap, ringed by the V&A Waterfront's harbour to the north and the Atlantic seaboard suburbs of Sea Point, Clifton and Camps Bay to the west. Southern suburbs such as Newlands and Constantia hold Kirstenbosch and the Cape Winelands' oldest estates, while the Cape Peninsula stretches south past Muizenberg and Simon's Town to Cape Point.
Cape Town's driest, warmest months run from November to March, while June to August brings the region's rain. Four to five days cover the City Bowl itinerary, the Cape Peninsula and a day trip to the Winelands at an easy pace; travellers short on time can prioritise Table Mountain, Cape Point and Robben Island.
MyCiTi buses and the Uber and Bolt ride-hailing apps cover most of the city, and a rental car suits a day exploring the Peninsula or Winelands. The Western Cape Government's Tourism Safety and Support unit urges the same vigilance visitors would use in any major city, and central areas are best explored with ordinary big-city awareness after dark. Table Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in South Africa, and Cape Town itself is a fixture among the tourist attractions in Africa.