Cape Town advice

I will be flying into CT in February next year in order to take a Silversea cruise. I am on a very strict schedule so am wondering how many days pre-cruise to organise.

 

Besides Table Mountain, what are the must do things to see. I was thinking about a day tour down to Cape of Good Hope. I'm not interested in wineries.

 

Do u know of any relatively close-by game parks that would be worth visiting. I won't be in a position to fly to any of the big fancy ones, I just won't have enough time.

 

Also thinking about staying at the Table Bay Hotel where the Wind will dock right next door. Anyone stayed there?

 

Appreciate all help.:)

 

Cheers

ging466

I will be flying into CT in February next year in order to take a Silversea cruise. I am on a very strict schedule so am wondering how many days pre-cruise to organise.

 

Besides Table Mountain, what are the must do things to see. I was thinking about a day tour down to Cape of Good Hope. I'm not interested in wineries.

 

Do u know of any relatively close-by game parks that would be worth visiting. I won't be in a position to fly to any of the big fancy ones, I just won't have enough time.

 

Also thinking about staying at the Table Bay Hotel where the Wind will dock right next door. Anyone stayed there?

 

Appreciate all help.:)

 

Cheers

ging466

 

 

We flew to Capetown last April before catching Ocean Princess, sailing the west coast of Africa to Dover. We arrived about six days before the cruise. We stayed at the Westin for one night and they held our luggage while we went to Sanbona http://www.sanbona.com/propertydefault.asp?MicroSiteID=3. They arranged for a driver to pick us up. It was about a three hour drive. We stayed for two nights and had a total of four drives. It was an incredible experience seeing the animals so close to us. We stayed at Tilney Manor. The food was delicious and it felt so luxorious. The same driver picked us up and brought us back to the Westin in Cape Town. We spent two days touring; one to the Winelands and one to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. The scenery was amazing. On our way back we stopped at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Simonstown, where we bought an adorable statue of two giraffes. It sits on our coffee table and reminds me of this special place.

 

Our ship stayed overnight, so we took advantage of our first day on the ship and toured Table Mountain.

 

Having traveled so far, we tried to do so much. The only thing we did not get to do that we wanted to was go to Robben Island.

 

Friends of ours checked out of the Westin when we did, but did a three day tour of the Garden Route.

 

This was am amazing trip for us and we wanted to see and do as much as possible.

 

Fran

Definitely drive out to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. You could also go to see the Penguin Colony at Boulder's Beach and the Cape Fur seals in False Bay are a scenic 45 minute boat ride away. Robben Island is also quite memorable. Many great restaurants in CT. Table Mountain is stunning but often weather dependent to go to the top.

 

If there was a way to squeeze a couple more days pre cruise I would consider a safari as it is an experience not to be missed. We stayed at Thornybush and from East Gate in Hoedsprout it was a 2.5 hour flight to CT.

We flew to Capetown last April before catching Ocean Princess, sailing the west coast of Africa to Dover. We arrived about six days before the cruise. We stayed at the Westin for one night and they held our luggage while we went to Sanbona http://www.sanbona.com/propertydefault.asp?MicroSiteID=3. They arranged for a driver to pick us up. It was about a three hour drive. We stayed for two nights and had a total of four drives. It was an incredible experience seeing the animals so close to us. We stayed at Tilney Manor. The food was delicious and it felt so luxorious. The same driver picked us up and brought us back to the Westin in Cape Town. We spent two days touring; one to the Winelands and one to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. The scenery was amazing. On our way back we stopped at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Simonstown, where we bought an adorable statue of two giraffes. It sits on our coffee table and reminds me of this special place.

 

Our ship stayed overnight, so we took advantage of our first day on the ship and toured Table Mountain.

 

Having traveled so far, we tried to do so much. The only thing we did not get to do that we wanted to was go to Robben Island.

 

Friends of ours checked out of the Westin when we did, but did a three day tour of the Garden Route.

 

This was am amazing trip for us and we wanted to see and do as much as possible.

 

Fran

 

Fran, was your transfer arranged by the lodge or by the Westin?

 

Thanks

Roy

Fran, was your transfer arranged by the lodge or by the Westin?

 

Thanks

Roy

 

Roy,

 

We had Sanbona set up the transfers. The cost was added to our bill and very convenient

 

Fran .

While in Capetown I arranged to do a cage dive with the great white sharks. A once in a lifetime bucket list thing. It was awesome. DH stayed on topside and took pictures.

Ging,

I have just returned from Cape town and can offer you a few suggestions.

Table Mountain tram is great. Plan at least a couple of hours at the top as you can walk around, have a drink etc. If you buy a hop on hop off pass for the red line it makes a stop there and is pretty convenient to the table bay hotel.

We stayed at the Table Bay Hotel. It is a beautiful hotel and the location is fantastic! Our only concern is that the service at breakfast is quite slow most days so give yourself plenty of time and make sure you are on the bed and breakfast. The cappacino is wonderful at breakfast. The buffet is plentiful and you can order from the kitchen in additional to buffet. We had a room overlooking Table bay and it was great. This would be right where your ship will come in and I believe they will transfer your luggage right to the ship.

The restaurants at the wharf are fantastic. If you would like some suggestions just e mail me and I can supply you with lots of info.

I would definitely do the Cape of good hope same day you can do seal rock, lots of good bargains there. We went thru Hylton Ross and they were great. It is a huge company and I believe they are owned by someone in the states. But the service was great and not a huge amount of people no big bus just a small Van we had a total of 5 people on one and only 2 on the other.

Feel free to email me with any questions.

shopinpat@aol.com

Besides Table Mountain, what are the must do things to see.

Table Mountain tram is great. Plan at least a couple of hours at the top as you can walk around, have a drink etc.

As Table Mountain's being mentioned, a word of advice. Leave some flexibility in your plans if you're interested in going up Table Mountain. If you look up and the mountain is clear, go up as soon as you can. If you wait an hour or two, you may find that the cloud has arrived by then and wrecked the view. The weather can be very changeable at the top, and the "tablecloth" can descend onto the mountain without warning at any time:-

 

 

Cape town is so beautiful:)

My DH and I spent the month of November 2011 in Cape Town - what a spectacularly beautiful place!! We purchased two days worth of hop on hop off bus tours - this allowed us to take both the red and blue buses and see so much of CT. It took us on a drive all around Table Mountain where we saw (we didn't get off as we live in a 'winey' area) the vineyards, the bus took us to Kirstenbosch Gardens, and to a township. The hoho tours are well worth the small price. A visit to Cape Point is a must do and as mentioned above, you can stop at Simon's Town, the Boulders - to see the penguins. Another extremely worthwhile thing to do is a Township tour. We went to Langa Township on a 1/2 day tour with Sivewe Tours. http://www.townshiptourscapetown.co.za/ This was one of the best things we did in Cape Town. You can find out more about them on Trip Advisor - fabulous tour! We had Nathi as our guide. For a trip to Cape of Good Hope, if you don't want to drive yourself, I can recommend Hank Daries from Hank - Owner - Ulungele Tours. We used him several times and were very happy. He is a frequent contributor to the Cape Town Forum. http://www.ulungeletours.co.za/ We loved Cape Town and hope you will too!

Roy,

 

We had Sanbona set up the transfers. The cost was added to our bill and very convenient

 

Fran .

Hi,

 

We are from Texas also and are thinking about going to the same lodge for the time that our ship is docked in Cape Town (3 days). It sounds, nice...but the reports on the animal viewing are all over the place and most reports are from when the lodge first opened. On average how much or maybe better yet what did you see on your drives. The setting looks nice in the pictures...did it live up to its website?

 

Thanks for any information..

Carolyn

Hi,

 

We are from Texas also and are thinking about going to the same lodge for the time that our ship is docked in Cape Town (3 days). It sounds, nice...but the reports on the animal viewing are all over the place and most reports are from when the lodge first opened. On average how much or maybe better yet what did you see on your drives. The setting looks nice in the pictures...did it live up to its website?

 

Thanks for any information..

Carolyn

 

 

Carolyn,

 

This had been our first trip to South Africa and we fell in love with it. We were thrilled just being so close to the animals. We were in an open vehicle on each drive (2 per day). They are allowing the animals to reproduce on their own, so, while you will probably not see the amount of animals you would see in Krueger, we did see them in a natural setting. The rangers stay in touch with each other by walkie talkies, so if one of them sees a group of animals, they let the others know. The only animals that were separated from the others were the buffalo. Their web site shows what everything looks like. If you have access to Facebook, check out their page.

One of the things that was important to us is that Sanbona is in a malaria free area.

 

I hope this helps,

Fran

Living in Cape Town myself I would defiantly advice the Table Bay hotel. However it is a bit expensive, they are plenty of other hotels of high standards centered around the waterfront available for a cheaper price. Look at Southern Sun Waterfront and the Cullinan hotel.

 

I would advice you take the hop on hop off bus around the city, it allows you to see all the major destinations within a day.

 

I hope you enjoy your stay :D