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As with visiting any metropolis, it helps to get a way for the way it operates earlier than you arrive.

Getting round

Self-drive
If you plan to do some exploring by yourself, self-drive is the best choice. The roads are good, visitors flows fairly easily and most rental vehicles come fitted with a GPS.

Bikes
The Cape Town metropolis centre and Atlantic seaboard are nice for transferring by bicycle. Rent from Up Cycles at the Sea Point Promenade, Silo District, V&A Waterfront, Camps Bay or Breakaway Cafe in the metropolis.

Taxis
Uber works very well, and is a good way to get anyplace in the metropolis. No matter the place you might be, you by no means wait longer than ten minutes for an Uber. Taxify (now Bolt) additionally works, whereas common cab providers which are booked by means of a telephone name, equivalent to Sea Point Radio Taxis and Intercab, are additionally accessible.

City Sightseeing Bus 
This is a superb hop-on hop-off choice that gives wonderful worth. You can get a metropolis route, legitimate for a pair days, that you need to use as a sort of taxi. There are longer routes, round the Winelands and the Peninsula, in addition to a canal cruise.

Buses
The MyCiti bus system, launched in 2010, is robust on the Western routes connecting Bloubergstrand, Tableview, Atlantis and surrounds to the metropolis. It’s good round the metropolis and may get you to Khayelitsha. Cash isn’t accepted: you want to have a MyCiti card, loaded with credit score at a MyCiti bus station.

Minibus taxis  
The most ubiquitous type of transport, offering entry to all over the place, minibus taxis are an establishment, and create extra income than mining in the nation. Rides are brief, simple to choose up, and excessive frequency. Cash funds solely.

Safety
Like in any metropolis, when navigating Cape Town you want to have your wits about you. Crime is a actuality all over the place in the world. And so somewhat road suss is at all times helpful. Be conscious of your environment, go away your jewelry at residence and don’t pay with wads of money. Being conspicuous isn’t a terrific concept. The greatest risk is from pickpockets.

Statistically talking, the individuals most in danger in Cape Town are us residents. The actuality is that the majority Capetonians are actually pleased you might be right here, particularly whenever you enterprise out of the tourism hubs and into completely different communities.

It’s a good suggestion to draw money from ATMs in well-lit and busy areas. Don’t let anyone provide help to – that’s a well known ruse to swipe your card and steal your money.

You may encounter on the streets individuals who will ask you for cash, particularly round the historic centre. The actuality is that socio-economic inequality is huge on this nation, and vacationers are apparent sources of some bucks. Your lodges and maybe your guides will recommend that you simply don’t hand over any money. That’s one method. Another is to maintain R5 cash and R10 notes readily available and provides one thing to folks that ask. It beats ignoring individuals who ask for one thing, and permits a glimmer of human change to those that survive on the streets. Whether or not you might be round, individuals will reside on the streets, so your kindness isn’t perpetuating any issues.

You are most likely most secure in townships, the place the truth that you’re there may be at all times graciously welcomed. Certainly white South Africans sedom go to, and you’ll inform this by how you might be instantly requested the place you might be from!

Water
The prospect of Day Zero – when the faucets would run dry in Cape Town – turned 2018 right into a depressing 12 months for Capetonians, as residents contemplated the prospect of queuing to accumulate each day water rations from army-controlled water factors.

The worldwide protection was dire. Would this be the first metropolis on the planet to run out of water? The fears round Day Zero discouraged numerous travellers. Visitors who did come had been fairly relaxed being restricted to one-minute showers and requested not to tub. Hotels put in water-harvesting and gray water reticulation techniques. Given that Cape Town’s drawback is a part of a worldwide local weather change phenomenon, many guests gladly took tips from our water administration techniques residence.

2019 is wanting significantly better. Rainfall is up, and we expect good winter rainfall. We are usually not out of drought – it’s doubtless that drought will grow to be our norm, and water restrictions semi-permanent. Most lodges have eased off to three-minute bathe limits, and have saved the plugs out of the baths.

By Iain Harris, first revealed in Travel Africa journal, version 86, April-June 2019. To purchase this edition, click here.

Planning your journey

Greg Fox and Chris Goldring established UK tour operator Mahlatini Luxury Travel in 2002. In 2018, Johannesburg-born Greg moved to Cape Town to run the firm’s new South African department. We requested him for his perception for individuals planning a go to to the Mother City.

Why Cape Town?
This is an exceptionally scenic metropolis, which inspires an outside life-style. It has typically nice climate, wonderful meals and wine and an interesting melting pot of cultures. It’s a cosmopolitan bustle, uniquely African with touches of European affect, as evidenced in the Cape Dutch structure. It has an interesting mixture of world-class lodges and caters for a variety of pursuits, individuals and budgets.

I’ve been lucky to spend a lot time right here over the final 25 years, and I’ve seen nice modifications. The metropolis has grown notably in the final ten years or so, which has introduced with it infrastructural challenges and visitors congestion. However, the character, historical past, individuals and cultural heritage nonetheless stays its spine and that, along with its unimaginable pure magnificence, will maintain it at the forefront of South Africa’s tourism providing for a few years.

How lengthy ought to one go to for?
Southern Africa gives so many sights that often it’s troublesome for vacationers with restricted time to slot in one other main vacation spot in addition to a prolonged keep in Cape Town. For this cause, the regular period for a keep in Cape Town is three or 4 days, presumably up to per week. This provides enough time to discover the main websites while getting a really feel for the ‘mood’ of the metropolis. More time would permit the likelihood to escape the vacationer bubble, journey additional afield or discover areas of the metropolis frequented by locals, to expertise a extra genuine perspective on Cape Town. We repeatedly have purchasers say they might have spent two weeks in Cape Town and nonetheless needed longer.

When is the finest time to go to?
Cape Town is visited year-round. If you need assured sizzling and sunny climate, the summer season months from November to March are finest. Being the hottest, you’ll have to be ready to wait in queues at vacationer sights and should ebook nicely upfront to make sure you get the lodge of your selection.

My favorite time to advocate to those that are prepared to journey ‘off-peak’ is April/May or September/October. Autumn and spring can nonetheless supply beautiful heat days with cooler nights and fewer of the crowds.

Winter is the riskiest time to go to. Cold fronts hit the coast, bringing with them chilly, moist and windy climate, however this may be adopted by a number of fantastically heat days the place some could even be up for a dip in the pool! Families have a tendency to go to in these months due to northern hemisphere summer season holidays. It is the finest time for seeing the southern proper whales go to the Cape coast, and you will see that higher worth for your lodging.

Connections inside the area?
Cape Town has simple flight connections to lots of southern Africa’s high sights, together with the Victoria Falls and safari areas in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe or seaside locations in Mozambique, Mauritius, the Seychelles. Of course, there may be very easy accessibility to different South African locations equivalent to Kruger National Park and KwaZulu-Natal, or you possibly can drive the scenic Garden Route and finish with a safari in the Eastern Cape. This is especially nicely suited to households, and gives a high quality, malaria-free safari expertise.

What about ‘Big 5’ wildlife experiences?
There aren’t many high quality safari locations inside a brief driving distance of Cape Town; which is why many purchasers restrict their time right here earlier than going to Kruger NP or different areas in southern Africa. That stated, it is determined by what wildlife you might be after: Cape Town offers the alternative to see the ‘Marine Big 5’ (whales, sharks, penguins, seals and dolphins) and if you’re ready to journey alongside the Garden Route or into the Karoo (4-5 hour drive) there are good wildlife reserves there to discover.

Is it costly?
Cape Town is comparatively low cost when put next to many different main cities in the world. Due to the beneficial change charge, foods and drinks could be very affordable, with a meal for two together with wine at a high quality restaurant for round GBP £40-50, typically much less. Accommodation, when put next with equal commonplace in London or New York, is extra reasonably priced however procuring for clothes and different objects could also be comparable.

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