Day Trips around Cape Town
There are a lot of options for day trips around Cape Town. A tourist and local favorite is wine tasting and many vineyards offer tours and tastings in the Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl area. Below are some of the day trips we took from our base in Paarl.
Tulbagh
On our first Sunday, we had planned to drive to Tulbagh, about an hour away from Paarl, to visit an old college friend of my wife. Due to our late departure from the restaurant the night before, we slept in until about 10 AM. By the time we had eaten, showered, and headed out the door it was about 12:30 PM. We still had plenty of time; it was only an hour away by car.
Tulbagh is a quiet little farm town and is the fourth oldest town in South Africa behind Cape Town (oldest), Stellenbosch, and Swellendam. Its population is under 10k, so it’s quite small compared to Paarl. In 1969 it was hit by an earthquake that destroyed many of the buildings on its Main and Church Streets. Vineyards are also common in and around Tulbagh. Ginger Baker, the former drummer of the band Cream, owned a farm and lived here for quite a few years.
We spent a few hours visiting my wife’s friend before heading back to Paarl. The views from his porch are beautiful with the mountains only a few miles away. There was an afternoon storm coming in and the light on the mountains and farms was beautiful. As we were exiting town, there was a huge rainbow over the road. I tried to get a picture, but the results were not what I wanted; the colors in the pictures were very subdued. Tulbagh might not be on your list of day trips around Cape Town, but it is a nice visit to the rural area in the Western Cape.
False Bay
Originally, we had planned to go shark cage diving on the first Monday. Due to the weather and some other plans changing, we had to cancel. My wife was with her sister and parents; I took the kids for a drive along False Bay (Seal Island from Shark Week is in this bay), near the towns of Gordons Bay and Strand. This is a beautiful drive along the coast with the ocean on one side and steep cliffs on the other. After we finished the drive we met my wife at her sister’s place in Strand and returned to Paarl.
Bloubergstrand
Bloubergstrand is where the most iconic photos of Cape Town and Table Mountain are taken. We have a large photo of the mountain from this location in our house. It is a short 45-minute drive from Paarl and we wanted to go to Cape Town for the day. There was a bit of morning fog/haze over the water and was not ideal for photography as it blocked some of Table Mountain. We waited for a while and it did clear up some, but would take too long to be perfect; I had to take pictures with what we had to work with. We wanted to head to Cape Town and possibly take the cable car to the top of the mountain.
Weekends are always busy at the cable car with all the tourists and family outings. When we arrived at the cable car area, it was packed full of cars and there was no parking. The lines to buy tickets were very long due to the tour buses that had just arrived. We could wait in line for probably 45 minutes for tickets and spend a couple of hours seeing the mountain or move on to something else. All of us had been to the top before, so we moved on to other places.
Hout Bay
There is a road that runs between Table Mountain and Lion’s Head that takes you to Camps Bay, Hout Bay, and several other seaside towns. We decided to go that direction, and I was getting the craving for fish and chips. We did not stop in Camps Bay other than to take a couple of pictures, and then we moved on to Hout Bay for lunch. They have a marina with a restaurant that has good fish and chips with beautiful views over the water.
We took a short walk to look around and there was a seal on the pier that was very tame. A guy feeding the seal who said that he takes care of “Mr. Brown” and has been for years. He was taking donations to help buy fish to feed the seal. If you wanted a picture with the seal, he asked for a donation; it wasn’t required though. The story sounded nice, but not sure how much of it was BS. We gave him a few South African Rand (less than a $1 total); call us suckers.
After seeing the wildlife and views, it was time for lunch; I was becoming hangry. We went upstairs to the restaurant and we were seated at a window overlooking the bay. I believe we sat at that table (or the one next to it) 5 years ago when we were last in South Africa. The restaurant is a little pricier than other options and might be a bit of a tourist trap, but the food was good. Bellies were full and we headed out to the next stop, Cape Point.
Cape Point
We wanted to see Cape Point before we started back to Paarl. Surprisingly, my wife had never been to the lighthouse at Cape Point before, even though she lived in Paarl for more than 20 years. It is about an hour’s drive from Hout Bay. Upon arrival, we realized that they close at 5:30 PM; it was about 4:15 PM when we entered the gates. This did not give us a lot of time to waste as it was still another 15 minutes to get to the actual Cape Point and the lighthouse from the gate. Most of the tour buses had left or were leaving as we parked. You have two options to get to the lighthouse: walk or funicular to the top. Due to the limited time, we chose the funicular as the walk is at least 45 minutes, if not longer.
Once at the lighthouse, you still need to climb a couple of sets of stairs to get to the top. The views over False Bay and the Atlantic Ocean are amazing. While I was taking pictures (as I do), my son was walking down a path on the side of the mountain. The plan was for him to meet up with us at the funicular when he came back. I did not realize that the path was a 30-minute walk each way! We were running out of time; the last trip down on the funicular was at 5 PM, it was 4:50 and my son was near the far end (he jogged to the end) of the trail. My daughter and I were texting and calling him, no response and our time was running out. The male offspring finally answered his phone as my wife and daughter boarded the last funicular down.
Not a Happy Camper
My son came sprinting around the corner as the funicular that my wife and daughter were in pulled away. Missing the last funicular down meant we were going to be fined R500 each for missing the gate closing. The worst part is my old, fat, and out of shape body was going to have to walk down the mountain. I was not a happy camper. As my son was catching his breath, they announced the last funicular was leaving in 5 minutes. They had previously announced that the last funicular was leaving at 5 PM. We were confused! Apparently, it was running late and we were saved at the last minute; no walking, just a short 20-foot waddle to the funicular.
We boarded and started down the mountain. As we neared the bottom of the mountain, they announced to be aware of the baboons that love to hang out around the lower station. Sure enough, there were about half a dozen hanging out at the bottom. The people working chased them off so we could exit without any incident as they can be aggressive at times. Just outside the funicular station, there were a lot of them running around near some of the guests. Luckily, it was only about 5:10 PM and we had time to get out before the park closed. We watched the baboons for a few minutes before returning to the car and starting our trip back to Paarl.
Bo-Kaap
Bo-Kaap is the historical center of the Cape Malay culture in Cape Town and was formerly known as the Malay Quarter. The streets are lined with colorful houses painted in pastel colors. We passed by the area on our trip to Hout Bay but decided we could swing by on the way to the airport as we were leaving South Africa. It was a quick stop to see the houses and then off to the airport for our flight to Johannesburg and on to Europe.
For more travel itinerary info including budget estimates on this trip and others, click here. These are only a few of the options for day trips around Cape Town. Cape Town offers a lot and this is not a complete list by any means. Where Angie Wanders offers some great suggestions close to Cape Town on her post 12 Great Things to do in Cape Town.
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