I visited Cape Town, South Africa for a week at the end of October; here is a summary of the trip! I hope this post is helpful if you are planning to visit this fabulous place. Feel free to comment with any questions when planning your visit and I will try my best to help! Cape Town is an amazing pace with a lot of things to do, so it can be overwhelming when planning. It is quite common to go on a safari while in South Africa, but since we aleady had the marathon taking up a few days, we decided to focus on the wine area and then the beach, and save a safari for another time in another location!
My husband Dustin and I went to Cape Town primarily to run the marathon on October 20th; my recap of the marathon is HERE.
We arrived in Cape Town on Friday morning from London on an overnight flight, giving us about two days to adjust before the marathon. Fortunately, there isn’t a time difference between London and Cape Town (well, just one hour), so jet lag wasn’t a problem. Cape Town would be a much tougher journey from the US, and jet lag would be more of a concern if you’re coming from there.
For the two nights leading up to the marathon and the evening after, we stayed at the Radisson Blu at Seapoint in Cape Town. This hotel was the perfect place to walk to the expo prior to the race, and to the start and finish line on race day. The rooms were also quite spacious and we had a lovely view of the ocean.
We explored on arrival day via a coastal 5k shake out run, before heading to the expo to get our packets for the race.
That evening, we had dinner at Bobo’s which was a solid recommendation from my coworker who is from Cape Town. We noticed that quite a few of the restaurants we visited were part of the Kove Collection; they were all pleasant experiences though!
This day was our 16th wedding anniversary, so even though it was pre-marathon, we had to celebrate with a glass of South African wine!
The next morning, we did another short run along the coast before driving to the Cape of Good Hope via Chapman’s Peak; we stopped along the way to see the African penguin colony on Boulder’s Beach (a must-do!); we also saw ostriches and a baboon on this drive (it zipped across the road in front of our car!), and the Chapman’s Peak drive along the cost was a gorgeous experience in itself.
The next day was the marathon, which you can read all about HERE. It was a very fun race!
After the race, we celebrated with a drink on the rooftop of the Silo hotel (where we watched the sunset, but it was SOOO windy!) followed by dinner at Sotano.
The day after the marathon, we first took a short helicopter tour, which gave us incredible views of the coast line. Well worth it!
Then we drove out to Franschhoek where we had booked a two night stay at Leeu Estates.
Franschhoek and Stellenbosch are the two well known wine-making areas outside of Cape Town. We chose Franschhoek as it was closer to the wine tram. We were very happy with our stay at Leeu Estates. It was gorgeous and the service level was incredible.
We started our visit with a wine tasting in their winery, which was really enjoyable.
I needed a short nap after the wine, but Dustin went to the pool and spa to enjoy the amenities.
That evening, we had dinner at Leeu Estates, which was included with our stay (for one of the two nights.)
Our second day in Franschhoek was spent on the Wine Tram; it was a bit confusing to know which route to book as we looked into the tram. We opted for the Orange Line (we bought our tickets ahead of time.) The Orange line included more wineries than we stopped at, but we visited four, and that was plenty for one day!
First was , which had lovely grounds and good wine. We had a tasting flight with a cheese pairing and an oyster pairing for the champs.
Then we were back on the tram and to our next stop, Noble Hill winery, which we quiet but nice.
Then on to Babylonstoren, which is quite well known (and busy!) There we had some more food and more wine!
We made one final stop at Bacco winery before getting back on the tram to head back to our starting spot. We arranged for a driver through our hotel to pick us up.
That evening, we took a driver to dinner at Protege for a really lovely tasting menu there.
The next day, we opted for a short morning run in Franschhoek- the first run since the marathon 3 days prior! It felt great to move again.
We wandered around Stellenboash a bit, and then back in the car for the 90 minute drive back to Cape Town.
The final leg of our visit to Cape Town included two nights in Camps Bay, which is the beach area of Cape Town. We stayed at a hotel called South Beach, which was nice (though not as nice as Leeu Estates!)
South Beach hotel was walking distance to all the restaurants and the beach, which was all we needed.
We had an afternoon in the sun before a sunset dinner at Bobo’s.
The next day we were up early to get picked up by a guide to hike Table Mountain. She had suggested the India Venster route, which she warned did have some ladders and chains and would be very exposed. I am glad I didn’t realize what I was in for, or I may have chickened out! It was a pretty scary hike for someone like me that is not an experienced climber. Sure, I hike and run and am active, but I’m not accustomed to hoisting myself up moutains with exposed cliffs on all sides using metal ladders in the rock! I am so glad we had the guide as she talked me through it all. She also offered insight on blister bush, a South African plant that causes intense blisters. Had she not warned us, I’m sure we would have accidentally touched it and regretted it for months to come!
The India Vester hike up Table Mountain was surely a highlight of the trip. I was proud of myself for completing it and the views were incredible.
We had the afternoon free and the weather was too windy for the beach again, so we drove to Muizenberg to see the surfers and the colored houses on the beach.
Then we checked out the hotel pool for a bit before a final dinner in Camps Bay at Bilboa.
The next morning we had enough time before our return flight to London to hike Lions Head. Lions Head wasn’t an easy hike, but it wasn’t anywhere near as scary as India Vester on Table Mountain, and since we completed taht one first, Lions Head felt like a walk in the park!
We had plenty of time after the hike to shower and pack up, grab lunch in Cape Town, and then head to the airport for our 12 hour flight back to London!
I absolutely loved Cape Town and would go back in a heartbeat; I know some people believe its dangerous there, and I think it can be, but we didn’t experience any of that, though we were staying in touristy areas and not out late at night and we were with a guide on the hike (there are many reported muggings on the trails aorund Table Mountain.)
I loved the weather, the food, the people, the wildlife, the wine, the hiking, the marathon, and especially the scenery. Stunning.
Cape Town was a really cool place to visit and I’m so glad running brought me there.
(Visited 4 time, 4 visit today)
