9 DAYS IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

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In May 2017, I travelled to Cape Town, South Africa. I spent 9 full days in Cape Town (excluding travel time). There are a million things to do in Cape Town. Every single day was filled with an adventure from beginning to end. Whether it was paragliding, snorkeling with seals, diving with great white sharks or sipping my way through the picturesque wine regions, there was never a dull moment. Below is my entire itinerary. If you have more time in South Africa, I recommend going on a safari in Kruger National Park or driving through the famous Garden Route, but I'll leave that for another post. Unfortunately for me, I had a limited amount of time to enjoy South Africa because of work and school, but I am DEFINITELY returning!!

Before getting into the day to day activities, I will quickly recommend where to stay. I stayed at Victoria and Alfred Hotel at V&A Waterfront. I could not be happier with my decision to stay here. Without question, this is one of the best hotels in Cape Town. The hotel is clean and spacious. The location is OPTIMAL. There are dozens of restaurants and bars just a few steps from the front door of the hotel. A 3-minute walk away, you can find a huge shopping mall comparable to Aventura Mall in Florida, equipped with a Zara--yay!!! In addition, the hotel views are AMAZING. You have a front row seat view to Table Mountain. The food and wine are DELICIOUS and extremely affordable. Just picture this, we had breakfast at the hotel 6 times, dinner 3 times, late night room service 4 times, and ordered about 12 bottles of wine plus two shots of yager (a yakala shot)--and our bill at checkout was ONLY $280!!! Can you say, FREE??!!!

Now that boarding is taken care of, let's talk fun filled activities.

DAY 1

- Explore V&A Waterfront

- Ride the Ferris Wheel at V&A Waterfront

- Visit the Market at V&A Waterfront

- Take a short taxi or uber ride to Table Mountain and ride the cable car to the top. The line to ride the cable car is likely very long especially if you did not buy your ticket beforehand. Pre book your ticket here. The pre booked ticket is good for 7 days so you do not have to commit to a specific date.

DAY 2

- Go paragliding. Paragliding was a exhilarating! We (my instructor and I) jumped off Signal Hill and glided through the sky for about 6 minutes. As you can imagine, the views were to die for. Because we flew off of Signal Hill, we had views of the mountains and the ocean. I used Fly Cape Town for my experience. They were extremely nice, professional and cautious. To reserve, you only have email them; you do not have to pay a deposit. Keep in mind that all flights are weather permitting so be patient and flexible. After all, you are jumping off of a mountain and flying like a kite. Our flight was scheduled for 11am, but we ended up flying at 3pm because it was too windy on our scheduled time. Obviously, this was not ideal because we could have scheduled something else in the morning, but better safe than sorry. It was 178694% worth it!

- Visit Bo Kaap

- Visit Kloof Street

- Get a tattoo at Kloof Street. Disclaimer: I did not get a tattoo, but my boyfriend did

DAY 3

- Go great white shark diving at Simon's Bay. There are two main places to go great white shark diving in South Africa--Simon's Bay and Gansbaai. We chose Simon's Bay because it was closer (about an hour an a half away) to Cape Town. Gansbaai is about 3 hours away. All shark diving tours begin between 6-8am and we did not want to wake up extra early to drive 3 hours. In addition, the company we used in Simon's Bay, African Shark Eco Charters, is the only shark diving company in South Africa that provides oxygen underwater allowing you to stay in the cage for longer periods of time. This is a full day activity, and trust me, you will be in desperate need of a nap after so do not plan much the rest of the day.

DAY 4

- Day trip to Cape of Good Hope, Boulders Beach, and Constantia Wine Region. We did a small group tour with Luhambo Tours. It was perfect. There were only 4 people on the tour including Alex and I. First, we went to Cape of Good Hope. Cape of Good Hope is the southwestern most point of Africa. The views are incredible and you are likely to run into wild bamboos--monkeys, waaaahoooo! Then, we went to Boulders Beach. Boulders Beach is one of the very few, if not the only, beach in the world where penguins colonized on the beach and live there year round. How perfect, a beach full of hundreds of the cutest South African Penguins! Never in a million years did I think I would ever see such a thing. I can officially die happy! Finally, we tasted several wines at two vineyards in Constantia wine region. Constantia wine region is the oldest wine region in South Africa and dates back 1685. Obvz, the views were AMAZING.

DAY 5

- Snorkel with seals. This is by far one of the highlights of my trip. We snorkeled with about 5,000 wild seals in the middle of the ocean. The seals were the cutest, most playful animals ever. I literally wanted to steal one and keep it in my bath tub. Santa are you reading??? We did this with Animal Ocean. They were incredible. The water is freezing, but you are equipped with extremely thick wetsuits, gloves, booties, and hat. You will not look cute, but the seals will still love you.

DAY 6

- Hike up the 12 Apostles. We did a 4 hour hike up the 12 Apostles with Mother City Hikers. Mother City Hikers is owned by an American that moved to Cape Town after falling in love with a South African (so cute). I am not going to lie, this hike was tiring, but it was totally doable. I am not a crossfitter and I did it without hyperventilating or throwing up (YAYYY). Again, the views are out of this world.

- Go to a spa. After all the climbing, a spa is HEAVEN. There are several amazing spas in South Africa. Most are relatively cheap compared to the astronomical spa prices in the US. We did a 90 minute couples massage at Glen Hotel for about $55-70 each.

DAY 7

- Wine tasting tour in Stellenbosch Wine Region. We did a private wine tasting tour in Stellenbosch with Camino Tours. Stellenbosch is the largest wine region in South Africa. It is about an hour away from Cape Town. Our guide picked us up at our hotel and took us on the scenic ride to Stellenbosch. The tour was completely tailored to our likes and dislikes. It was intimate, romantic, and fun. We visited 4 different wineries and tasted 4-7 wines at each. At one of the wineries we had a paired tasting with chocolate. At the very end, Alex and the guide opted to stop at a brewery rather than a 5th winery. We also stopped for lunch at a cute restaurant with fantastic views. If you have more time in South Africa, I recommend staying a few days in Stellenbosch. There are several hotels, restaurants, and quaint little bars in the city center.

- Rooftop Bar. Of Course, after a day of drinking wine, there is nothing else you'd rather do than eat and continue drinking. Head to the Silo Rooftop Bar, grab some drinks, and watch the sunset.

DAY 8

- Visit Robben Island. Robben Island is a UNESECO World Heritage Site a short ferry ride from V&A Waterfront. It is also where Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, was imprisoned for 18 years. Ferries travel to Robben Island daily from V&A Waterfront. You can but your tickets at the ticket booth at the waterfront.

- Go on a sunset cruise. This is an ideal thing to do especially during the summer. There are several sunset cruise options being sold at V&A Waterfront. Take your pick and enjoy the ride.

DAY 9

- Visit Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

#travel #southafrica #CapeTown #Adventure #Itinerary