A Lekker 4-Day Cape Town Itinerary

Lekker: An Afrikaans word used all across the country whether you’re Afrikaans or not, black, white, pink or purple.

It has multiple meanings and describes anything from food to people to feelings and objects. It always means great, delicious, nice or fun.

The more lekker something is, the longer you stretch out the L and roll the R. 

That wine is lekker.
How are you? I’m lekker.
I’m hung-over; I don’t feel so lekker.  
This is a lllllekkerrrrr 4 day Cape Town itinerary.

Stunning Cape Town is on every traveller’s wishlist when visiting South Africa. Ask any South African which place you MUST visit, and the answer will be Cape Town. 

I took immense joy in showing Jin’s family from Korea around Cape Town recently. We all had a great time. During our 4 days in Cape Town, their mouths hung open in awe of the city’s splendours.

For this guide, I’ve compiled our favourite experiences into an easy-to-follow and to-the-point Cape Town 4 day itinerary.

You get the rich white yuppies with their posh suburban accents and the black diamonds hanging out in the coffee shops. The Cape coloureds, with their unique way of speaking, sell proteas at the flower markets, while car watchers from Malawi and Zimbabwe earn a living by looking after your parked car.

Artists and musicians from Senegal and Burkina Faso, Congolese curio vendors, Nigerian dealers, Pakistani and Bangladeshi shopowners, and Eastern European models are all here, adding their flavour to the Mother City’s fantastic, colourful diversity.

It’s a bit of Europe, a bit of Asia, a lot of Africa – it’s undeniably CAPE TOWN!

One cannot claim to have visited Cape Town without looking down over the city from the top of Table Mountain. The Table Mountain Aerial Cable Way has whisked more than 25 million visitors up the mountain since it opened in 1929.

An incredible 5-minute ride awaits as the revolving cable car climbs 1 089 metres to the top of the mountain. Your mouth will hang open as you ascend over the fynbos with sweeping views in all directions.

The amazing views continue once you reach the top. On the one side, you’ll see Lion’s Head and Signal Hill with the City Bowl towards the Waterfront, while the Twelve Apostle mountains and beaches of Camps Bay and Clifton stretch towards the Cape Peninsula in the opposite direction.

There are three hiking trails on the flat summit to further explore the national park.

Look out for cute dassies. These adorable mammals might look like little rabbits, but their closest relative is actually the elephant!

• Hours:
  First Up 8:30 Last Up 18:00
  Last Down: 19:00
  
  Tickets: Adults Return – R390
  Children (4-17 years) – R190
  Fast Track Ticket – R600
  
  Access: The cableway and some of the paths on the summit are wheelchair accessible
  
  Food: There is a cafe serving light meals, snacks and drinks on the top, and a gift shop.

Instagrammers – please remember these are still people’s homes, so don’t intrude or climb up walls to get that perfect shot, okay?

The neighbourhood is the heart of the Cape’s Muslim community. It has its roots in the 1760s when the area was designated as rental housing for slaves from the Dutch East Indies (primarily Indonesia and Malaysia).

Rules stipulated that the small slave houses had to be painted white. When slavery was abolished in 1834, the Cape Malays could buy their rental homes, and the people of the Bo-Kaap expressed their freedom by painting their homes in every colour of the rainbow.

A walk down Long Street takes you past ethnic restaurants, second-hand clothing and book shops, cafes, antique shops, backpacker lodges, trendy bars and designer clothing shops. After dark, Long Street becomes one of the hottest spots for nightlife in the city.

If you want a little taste of Africa, check out Addis in Cape, an Ethiopian restaurant serving authentic Ethiopian food and coffee ceremonies. We took a break at Addis in Cape and enjoyed a nice coffee ceremony, and for a short while, it felt like we teleported to Lalibela in the Lasta mountains. 

You could also get something to eat at one of the restaurants while you are on Long Street. Or follow your nose to a boerewors roll stand for a bite on the go. A boerewors roll, or boerie, is like a hot dog but with a traditional South African sausage, most often grilled on the fire. 

The market is always buzzing with activity, and you can be sure to meet a few eccentric personalities here. Greenmarket Square is where you can find all of Africa.

Here you can shop for anything; Dogong masks from Mali, Kuba carvings from the Congo, Kente cloth from Ghana, Xhosa beads from the Transkei, and everything else from every corner of Africa.

Of course, haggling over price is the name of the game here. Don’t pay the first asking price. Instead, counter-offer at least half the asking price and then negotiate from there. Also, none of these artefacts are antique or museum pieces, as the vendors claim.

Jan van Riebeeck started the Company’s Garden in 1652, planting vegetables to feed the Dutch settlers.

Today, the vegetables are gone and replaced with lovely decorative gardens, paths and benches. It’s the perfect place for a leisurely stroll while feeding the Egyptian geese, pigeons and squirrels.

The Company’s Garden is also home to the South African National Gallery, which has a stunning collection of South African, African, British, French, Dutch, and Flemish art.

Entrance to the garden is free of charge.

But you’re not here to oooh and aaah over the architecture – we are here to sample the excellent red and whites that Groot Constantia is famed for.

Groot Constantia’s flagship wines are the Gouverneurs Reserve red and the Gouverneurs Reserve white, but the Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc are also of top-shelf quality. 

A guided cellar tour followed by a wine tasting is the best way to get acquainted with the lekker Constantia wines. The cellar tour is informative, giving you insight into the estate’s history, wine production and the Constantia community.

The tour concludes with a wine tasting of five different red and white wines. Your sommelier will guide you through each glass of wine, explaining what notes to taste while cracking a few lekker jokes.

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Truth is all about single-origin, premium-quality coffee, as you’ll see on the menu. DDT (Deep, Dark & Twisted) or Burundi, anyone?

The menu also takes your tastebuds on a world tour, with breakfast options from Mexico to France and South Africa. The French toast is decadent, and so is the Croque Monsieur. You can’t go wrong with the mixed grill for a lekker solid brekkie that will get you through the day. 

They also serve wine if you want to live it up and get a head start on the wine tasting. How fantastic is that!

Visitors can take part in a distillery tour to see the copper pot stills and view a demonstration of how they make barrels. Or you can skip the distillery tour and dive right into the tasting.

We had the brandy and chocolate tasting, trying three of Van Ryn’s older vintages.

The 12-year-old brandy was paired with espresso chocolate, the 15-year-old with fynbos chocolate and the 20-year-old with 70% dark chocolate. The brandy and chocolate combination unleashes strong woody aromas of spicy vanilla, that burns as you swallow it and warms you from the inside – perfect for winter.

The purple lavender field will come as a surprise after only seeing green vines so far. This beautiful lavender farm makes a fragrant break to stretch your legs and take some nice photos before lunch.

If you’re not into the fragrant, purple stuff, you can have a glass of wine instead, as it is also a wine farm.

After walking between the lavenders, check out the shop where you can buy lovely organic, pesticide-free lavender honey, Cape Malay moskonfyt (jam), lavender pillows, soaps, essential oils OR WINE.

Award-winning chef Marthinus Ferreira is a big name in South African food and has worked alongside other top chefs like Gordon Ramsey and Heston Blumenthal.

Classy yet relaxed, the Jordan Restaurant exudes style and elegance without being stuck up. We were excited to dine at Jordan, but not before trying some of their top-quality wines.

We had something bubbly followed by something white while snacking on the bread and cheese plate before ordering lunch and switching to something red.

Jordan’s food is out of this world! The service was impeccable and warm, and we had a fantastic time. A lunch at Jordan is a real dining experience and something that shouldn’t be rushed.

After lunch, perhaps take your glass for a stroll next to the pond or along the vineyards and enjoy the INCREDIBLE scenery while pondering how many bottles of what you’re going to buy.

Reservations are essential, so book well in advance.

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The circular route around Table Mountain is about 100 km, and you can easily spend the whole day driving and stopping at breathtaking viewpoints, small towns, coffee shops or hidden beaches.

I just love driving this incredible loop around the mountain. I’ve done this several times and still find myself thinking, WOW, every time. I ensure it’s on my to-do list when I’m in Cape Town or when showing friends around.

I did a six-week internship in Cape Town waaaaay back when I was still in university and stayed with a friend in the suburb of Retreat, on the right side of the road from the Cape Flats. Before I get sidetracked, there is no need to stop anywhere until you reach Muizenberg in False Bay, about 30 km after leaving Cape Town.

You’ve probably seen Muizenberg Beach on Instagram before. This expansive beach is instantly recognizable by the colourful row of beach huts on the white sand beach.

Besides the colourful beach huts, Muizenberg is famous for being one of the best surfing spots in Cape Town. Beginners especially will love the consistent waves and gently sloping sandy bottom. You can easily spend a few days in Muizenberg learning to surf if you have more than 4 days in Cape Town.

Non-surfers or those scared of sharks (False Bay is notorious for great whites) can enjoy a nice walk on the beach.

Charming Kalk Bay is still a fishing port at heart, though. A walk along the main street across the harbour takes you past an eclectic mix of secondhand book shops, antique shops, art galleries, and cafes with marvellous mountain or ocean backdrops. 

Down at Kalk Bay harbour, you can watch rustic, colourful boats with equally colourful fishermen returning to shore. These fishermen are a treat and will try to smooth talk you into buying their catch fresh off the boat – (yes, you should!) 

Buy a snoek (snake mackerel) to take home with you. A snoek grilled on the coals with a basting of butter, lemon, garlic and apricot jam is to die for. 

If you’re feeling peckish or want a quick drink, head back across the road to Cape to Cuba. They do lekker Mexican tapas, spiced hot chocolate or fantastic Cuban shandy. 

Boulders Beach, part of Table Mountain National Park, is home to Cape Town’s famous colony of African penguins, numbering about 2 000. They are also called Jackass penguins for their noisy braying sounds.

After paying your entrance fee, wooden boardwalks lead you down to the beach, where you can see the penguins. While walking down to the beach, look for penguins nesting in burrows next to the boardwalk.

The boardwalk takes you from Boulders to Foxy Beach. Some say that Foxy beach is actually better since more penguins nest there. At Foxy, it’s sometimes possible to go on the beach and swim among the penguins.

Even if you are close enough to touch them sometimes, please don’t – for your safety. Penguins might look cute, but they have razor-sharp beaks for catching fish (and your finger might just look like fish).

Hours:
Open during daylight hours
Roughly 7:00 -19:00 in summer and 8:00 – 18:00 in winter.

Tickets:
SA Citizens (ID required) R40/R20 per adult/child
International visitors: R160/R90 per adult/child

If you haven’t had lunch yet, consider Bertha’s overlooking Simon’s Town harbour before or after visiting the penguins. They have excellent seafood platters, burgers, steaks, and pasta.

A decade later, another Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, came and called it the Cape of Good Hope. The new sailing route passing the Cape between Europe and the Far East brought great optimism to Europe.

The Cape Point Nature Reserve is home to over 1 100 indigenous plant species found nowhere else on earth. You can spot Cape mountain zebras, ostriches, eland, tortoises and baboons, or Bordjiesrif and Buffels Bay tidal pools offer great swimming in summer. In winter, keep an eye out for migrating whales.

After parking, you can hike up the mountain to the lighthouse at Cape Point or take the Flying Dutchmen funicular, named after a Dutch ghost ship, to get you there without breaking a sweat. The lighthouse is the most powerful on the South African coast.

Convicts took seven years to hack the road from the sheer cliff face, which was opened for traffic in 1922. As you drive here today on the road between a vertical cliff and vertical dropoff, you’ll understand why it’s an engineering marvel and also why it’s one of the most beautiful marine drives in the world.

There are several viewpoints where you can stop to take in the immense beauty or spot whales in the ocean below.

Chapman’s Peak Drive is a toll road, and the prices for different types of vehicles vary. The toll tariffs for Chapman’s Peak Drive are here.

Hout Bay is usually on every Cape Peninsula itinerary, but we will skip it for now (we will come to Hout Bay tomorrow) and head straight to Camps Bay.

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One of the most popular hikes in Cape Town is the beautiful Lion’s Head. Spectacular views of the City Bowl, Table Mountain, the Atlantic Seaboard, fynbos, and the beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay await.

It takes about 1.5 hours to reach the summit and about an hour down.

The hiking trail spirals up Lion’s Head, so you’ll get views of the city and sea while gradually making your ascend. There is one steep, almost vertical section where you clamber up a ladder, but it’s nothing to fear.

Once you reach the top, a gobsmacking view awaits. Besides the views, the camaraderie among the early morning hikers is another reason why this is one of the best (and FREE!) things to do in Cape Town.

Lion’s Head is open for hiking 24/7, and sunrise or moonrise hikes are very popular. Come during the week, and you’ll share the walk with just a few lucky ones.

Read our guide to hiking Lion’s Head before going up that way.

The Waterfront is, by large, a shopping mall spread out across the harbour area. It is excellent for shopping and eating, and there are some cultural events, but it’s easy to get caught up in that and spend far too long here rather than seeing the real Cape Town.

But it has its place. So spend your last evening in Cape Town basking in its touristy heart. Shop for presents and African souvenirs, stock up on wine, enjoy the lekker people and the view of Table Mountain.

The incredible Two Oceans Aquarium is one thing you mustn’t miss at the V&A Waterfront. The aquarium showcases the immense diversity of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans of South Africa. After driving along the Atlantic for the last few days, it’s time to see what’s beneath. Be prepared to be blown away by the Cape Kelp Forest Tank – I’m sure you’ll want to go snorkel in the kelp forest after seeing it.

The kelp forest exhibit is a window to a world you never knew existed. 

If you have any questions about how to spend 4 days in Cape Town or about our itinerary, drop us a message below, and we’ll try our best to help.