Affordable luxury in Cape Town, South Africa
As a world-class city blessed with abundant natural beauty; memorable cuisine; endless wine lands; and a fascinating, multi-layered urban heart, Cape Town is renowned for having effortless grace when it comes to sharing the best in life.
From five-star luxury hotels to three-star guesthouses and budget backpackers, there are many comfortable and exciting choices when it comes to choosing your base. World-renowned hotels such as the Mount Nelson, Twelve Apostles, Ellerman House, Cape Grace, and the One&Only Cape Town provide superlative luxury accommodation with spas, services, and amenities far beyond the regular bar fridge and coffee station. Luxury self-catering apartments and villas such as those offered by Nox Rentals, Atlantic Suites, Cape Villas, and CAPSOL are the choice of those wanting an independent slice of the best of Cape Town life, and a plethora of guesthouses and bed&breakfasts throughout Cape Town means that there is graded accommodation to suit everyone’s budget.
Cape Town’s diverse multi-cultural ancestry has informed the influence of many traditional cooking styles. Italian, Malay, Chinese, Moroccan, French, Portuguese, Greek, Thai and more are all there to tickle the taste buds. Many restaurants offer a fusion of this fare and well-prepared food in ambient surrounds is the norm as you journey through culinary Cape Town. Add to this the proximity to a major wine-growing region, and Cape Town is a spoiling for the senses from start to finish. Reservations can be made at any one of Cape Town’s vibrant eateries, but visitors should particularly try local dishes of the seafood, Cape Malay, Afrikaans and African variety. High Teas are offered at many fine hotels including the Mount Nelson, the Taj, and the One&Only Cape Town.
The Mother City (as Cape Town is fondly known) has the award-winning spas, shopping, beaches and cultural life of any cosmopolitan coastal holiday town but it also has a vast range of outdoor activities that excite the senses. These are just some of the luxurious Cape Town activities on offer:
- Come to Cape Town and relax, not only on sun-kissed beaches and stunning mountain peaks, but at top-class Cape Town spas with great views that also use indigenous African and fynbos treatments.
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- Stand atop a New7Wonder of Nature – after making your way up Table Mountain by cable car.
- Visit Robben Island – the captive home of Mr. Nelson Mandela for eighteen of his twenty-seven years of incarceration.
- Visit Cape Point and ride the Flying Dutchman Funicular to the upper lighthouse.
- Tour the Winelands. Cape Town’s major wine land areas include Stellenbosch, Constantia Valley, and the Durbanville Wine Valley, as well as further afield Franschhoek. Wine routes just beyond Cape Town include the newly-launched Hermanus Wine Route, which stretches 6.7 kilometers along the R320 through the picturesque Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, and the Elgin Valley Wine Route - which only opens to the public on one weekend of the month. Other wine regions fairly close to Cape Town include Worcester, Paarl, and Robertson.
- Hire a vintage vehicle, luxury sports car, or a Harley Davidson and traverse the beautiful Cape at your leisure, on your own terms. Chapman’s Peak is an exceptionally beautiful drive around the coast.
- Shop until you drop with a tailor-made shopping tour at Cape Town’s finest malls, boutique stores, and designer markets.
- Do a tour of Cape Town by Huey Helicopter. Tours range from a scenic fifteen-minute flip to an hour-long trip around the Peninsula.
- Up, up and away… on a hot air balloon trip in the Winelands (available from November to April only).
- Coffeebeans Routes offers interesting and niche tours of Cape Town such as the Art Route and Jazz Safari. Their latest additions are the Cape Town Fashion Route, the Cape Town Cuisine Route, the Theatrical Route, and the Cape Town Beer Route.
- Visit the Diamond Museum, which throws a spotlight on South Africa’s contribution to the world diamond industry.
- Hire a vehicle and travel along the coastal road after Simon’s Town towards Cape Point for a stop at Boulders Beach and some penguin spotting, as well as along the road for a sighting of the Cape’s infamous Chacma baboons.
Unlike some of Africa’s other star cities, Cape Town has a very pleasant, moderate climate but is still warm and dry enough to allow a rewarding outdoor lifestyle nearly all year round. Peppered with world-renowned icons and unexpected gems, you won’t leave Cape Town without thinking you could have stayed longer.