DAY ONE
10.00: For an overview of the city, start with a tour on an official open-top red bus. There are several to choose from, but the Mini Peninsula tour provides a sense of the city’s parameters, taking you through the affluent and leafy wine-producing suburb of Constantia to peaceful Hout Bay and its strip of seafood restaurants on Mariner’s Wharf. Look out for the resident sea lions, then finish up at the picturesque Green Point Lighthouse.
13.00: A half-hour stroll from the lighthouse, you’ll find the buzzy V&A Waterfront – one of the city’s major draws for tourists and locals alike. A combination of working harbour and retail and restaurant complex, it was first established in 1988, and has seen regular redevelopment and investment since then. When it comes to lunch, you’re spoilt for choice, but Harbour House offers a rooftop patio with a view down on to the boats, and a great choice of freshly caught fish
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and seafood. There’s everything from sushi to the fresh catch of the day, with a wine list that’s heavy on local grapes.
14.00: Afterwards, we recommend browsing the shops. Victoria Wharf is a somewhat generic mall, so steer clients towards the innovative Watershed, an open-ended former warehouse that has won awards for its architecture, where small, independent stalls showcase high-quality local craft and design.
15.00: From the harbour, take the 30-minute ferry to Robben Island. Formerly a jail where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years, it’s now a museum where guided tours are given by former inmates – many of whom, like Mandela, were political prisoners protesting against apartheid. Clients will learn about the island’s 500-year old history, see the quarry from which limestone was mined to build the prison’s
infrastructure, and finally enter Mandela’s cell. The last prisoners were released in 1991.
18.00: There aren’t many bad places to watch the sun set in Cape Town, but a popular spot is Signal Hill. A mere hillock at 350m – compared with Table Mountain’s mighty 1,086m – it nevertheless offers striking views across to its big brother, and also to the jagged peak of Lion’s Head. Adrenaline-seekers will be thrilled to know you can paraglide right off the top.
20.00: When the sun dips below the horizon, book a wine tasting at the One&Only hotel’s Wine Studio. Expert sommelier Luvo Ntezo will guide you through the best of what South Africa has to offer. Follow it with dinner at the hotel’s Nobu restaurant. The Japanese-Peruvian menu features the signature black cod miso, although there are plenty of other tempting dishes, from lobster with wasabi pepper to roasted cauliflower with jalapeno dressing.
DAY TWO
07.00: Clear any cobwebs with a hike up Tafelberg, as Table Mountain is known in Afrikaans. There are dozens of different routes suited to all ages and fitness levels. One of the oldest, shortest and most direct is through Platteklip Gorge – a series of steep rocky tracks and stone steps that offer breathtaking views at every turn, from the azure sweep of the Atlantic Ocean to the skyscrapers clustering around Table Bay. It should take about two to three hours, but there’s a reward at the top – the cafe sells cold drinks and ice creams, and it takes a matter of moments to get back down to the bottom in the revolving cable car.
11.00: Get up close with nature on a trip to Boulders Beach. An hour’s drive from the city centre, this sheltered stretch of pale sand is home to endangered African penguins. At the far end of the beach, you might find some wandering around freely. But most of them can be observed
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