Cape Town for the 1st Time

Chris said:
Long Street is fine, although not amazing. Don't venture out to Long Street at night as it's quite dodgy. I don't particularly like Long Street at day either, it just seems quite down-trodden, even with the renovated buildings.

A few other suggestions:

Kirstenbosch
Ice-skating (at Grand West)
Mariner's Wharf (don't listen to what Avatar says, the food is superb :p)
Robben Island
Wine Route
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Dunno what you're talking about, Long Street pretty safe at any time of the day and I party there all the time and haven't experienced/seen anything out of the ordinary. If it wasn't for Long Street the city centre would be just another bland space. There's definitely nothing dodgy about it....dodgy is Gympie Street in Woodstock, Voortrekker Road in Parow and Little Nigeria in Muizenberg.
 
If you're the average 1st time tourist: V&A Waterfront and the cable car
If you're fit: walk up Platteklip to the top on the mountain (takes about an hour)
If you're fit and here around full-moon (9 Feb): Walk up Lion's Head just before sunset/moonrise
If you enjoy markets: Old Biscuit mill in Salt River on Saturday mornings
If you're here with a young family: Kirstenbosch and the MTN Science Centre at Canal Walk
If you want the post card view of the mountain: dine at On the Rocks or breakfast at Cafe Blouberg in... Blouberg. Blue Peter also popular for beer and sunset-watching on the lawn
If you like old coastal towns with a bit of a British feel and antique shops, galleries and coffee shops: Kalk Bay
If you want to feel like you're falling off the southern tip of Africa: Cape Point
If you want to sit on the beach and fend off the southeaster: Clifton 4th beach
If you prefer going out after 11pm: Long Street
If you enjoy dinner in old 4-storey places with plenty of nooks and crannies: have a burger at Royale eatery
If you want to check out beautiful people (both genders): Geisha
If you're gay or just want to sit somewhere where it feels pretty European: De Waterkant's quarter
If you want to go where all the tourists go: Victoria road, Camps Bay
If you want to dine where the locals do: Carlyle's in Vredehoek
If you want to hang around the film industry: Rick's or Greens in Park Street
 
^^ I can definitely vouch for Cafe Royale- the best burgers in Cape Town. Also check out the Waiting Room which is upstairs, cool for just chilling and hanging out with friends.

Down the road in Kloof Street there's Asoka which is probably one my favourite spots in Cape Town...very laid back vibe and they know how to mix a cocktail.
 
brixton tower said:
Dunno what you're talking about, Long Street pretty safe at any time of the day and I party there all the time and haven't experienced/seen anything out of the ordinary. If it wasn't for Long Street the city centre would be just another bland space. There's definitely nothing dodgy about it....dodgy is Gympie Street in Woodstock, Voortrekker Road in Parow and Little Nigeria in Muizenberg.
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Well some of my clubbing friends have had their phones stolen there. They also say drugs are pretty common in those clubs as opposed to Claremont.
 
The architecture at Clark's estate is also something to behold. It blends contemptory simplistic design with a sombre yet peaceful character that inspires the best in human nature.

EDIT: Just try and not visit it at night if you're white and are carrying a briefcase. Running through the streets of Iraq and shouting, Islam sucks, is far safer.
 
Chris said:
Well some of my clubbing friends have had their phones stolen there. They also say drugs are pretty common in those clubs as opposed to Claremont.
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Either your friends were very drunk to have their phones stolen and what's the deal with drugs. If you're not buying them you can just tell the guy politely to F Off. Believe me drugs are everywhere you go, if you're looking for it you'll get it.
 
Jimmy Choos Nudie Shoes

Jimmy Choo, you have to be a Girl, I will do the Chapmans peak cos everybody is saying that. I watched Top Billing and the metrosexual rented a Cobra for a day and did Chapman se peak but it's R1700 per day! :-(

Should i ask Top Billing to pay?

Sandy bay? is it a real nude beach or topless and over-rated
 
A taxi to Wynberg of course. And remember to hang out of the windows and screaming "Jou ma se..." at any motorist that doesn't provide space in rush hour traffic.

Seriously:
1) The company gardens is not to bad - check if there is anything @ Iziko, if not, pick up a pamphlet and see if they have anything else going on the city.
2) Constantia & Kirstenbosch
3) Houtbaai
4) Blouberg - Eat sushi at blowfish.
5) Observatory if you want to see a weird place with weird people
6) Long street if you like a lot of drunk people roaming around in packs
7) Take the train to Kalkbaai
8) Visit Roxy's - one of the oldest bars in town.
9) Avoid going into the mall part of the waterfront, but do go to the clock tower. You won't be able to go to Robbenisland if you didn't book.
10) If you can visit only one Winefarm - Fairview is the place to go. They have nice wine, cheese AND coffee
11) If you have a car and the time, drive up the West Coast to Paternoster & Tietiesbaai. Only 150km and you are on the west coast!!!
 
Kalky's in Kalk Bay
Strandloper in Langebaan, amazing on the beach outdoor resturant. Serves Fish only.
Firemans Arms pub.
Signal Hill at midday, Watch noonday gun firing and amazing views of CT
Boyes Drive for a scenic view of False Bay.
Historical Mile walk in Simon's Town.
 
Voider72 said:
Sandy bay? is it a real nude beach or topless and over-rated
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Every so often you will find some new person writing a story about their attempts to go there.. uhm, from what i read, it is a sausage fest of note like most known nude beaches :sick:
 
Picard said:
The architecture at Clark's estate is also something to behold. It blends contemptory simplistic design with a sombre yet peaceful character that inspires the best in human nature.

EDIT: Just try and not visit it at night if you're white and are carrying a briefcase. Running through the streets of Iraq and shouting, Islam sucks, is far safer.
Click to expand...

WTF does this mean??

Dude, do you write for top Billing or were you just wasted when you typed this??
 
Roscoe Bowman said:
1. Sip champagne at dusk on Table Mountain – best views of the city
2. Savour the taste and smell of Cape Malay dishes like denningvleis (‘a sweet and spicy lamb stew’) and pienang curry (‘an aromatic curry’) in the Bo-Kaap
3. Play 18 holes at any of the world class designer golf courses dotted all over the province
4. Follow the historic West Coast Mission Station Route from Mamre to Vredendal
5. Grab your camera or sketch pad and wander around the beautifully restored Victorian village of Matjiesfontein (in the arid Karoo), a national monument

6. Stay overnight on Table Mountain’s Hoerikwaggo Trail – a luxury mountain trail
7. At Cape Agulhas stand at the most southern tip of Africa - the official meeting place of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
8.Visit a food market – Stellenbosch’s Slow Food market, Woodstock’s Biscuit Mill and Tokai’s Porter Estate are as good – and different – as they get.
9. Join in the countdown to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and take a guided bus tour onto the soccer pitch of the Green Point Stadium, currently being built at the Green Point Common, Cape Town. Be entertained by the “GreensMan” one man-show - a dynamic, nostalgic, multi-media portrayal of the history of the Common.
10. Cycle through the Cape Winelands in autumn – enjoy the colourful autumn shades

11. Be dazzled by the wild Cape West Coast flowers in spring (July - October)
12. Get some retail therapy off the beaten track. Step back in history at one of the rural village shops .
13. Get down to live music and kultuur (‘culture’) at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival at Oudtshoorn
14. Learn to make cheese in the Cape Winelands
15. Take a deep breath and abseil off Table Mountain – at 112 metres, it is the world’s highest commercial abseil

16. Don your hiking gear and follow the trail to the Maltese Cross or the Wolfberg Arch in the Cederberg
17. Kayak around Cape Point
18. Do the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour – the world’s largest individually timed cycling event
19. Taste roosterkoek, a scrumptous, freshly baked bread at one of our cultural museums. At festivals it’s also bound to be on the street.
20. See albatrosses and other seabirds on a pelagic birding trip south of Cape Point

21. Stand quietly at the kramat (‘a holy Muslim site’) on Signal Hill
22. Watch Shakespeare come alive at the annual Maynardville Fair in Cape Town
23. Enjoy the vibe at the most visited tourist attraction in South Africa, the V&A Waterfront
24. Follow a penguin on Boulders Beach or Stony Point
25. Eyeball a Great White Shark during a cage dive at Gansbaai

26. Brace yourself and cage dive with crocodiles in Oudtshoorn & pop into the Cango Caves
27. Take a 4x4 mountain safari trip on a legendary army truck to the spectacular Matroosberg Peak (247m –highest 4x4 route in the Cape)
28. Use a township B&B as your base for your stay & be enriched by the cultural experience
29. Ride a horse on a beach or in the vineyards
30. Visit the historic and iconic District Six Museum

31. Fish an acorn out of your wine while having lunch under the Stellenbosch oaks
32. Listen to the whales blowing as you drift off to sleep on the Cape Whale Coast (June– Nov) and meet the world‘s only whale-crier
33. Sample brandies in KWV’s famed Cathedral Cellar or explore the Brandy Route
34. Picnic to live music at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
35. Learn about Khoi culture at Cape St Blaize Cave in Mossel Bay, then visit the Dias Museum and view a life-size replica of the pioneering Portuguese caravel that dropped anchor here in 1488

36. Try one of the Cape’s award-winning spas and soothe body and soul
37. Snap your fingers to The Cape Minstrels at the Tweede Nuwe Jaar (‘Second New Year, January 2’) street parade
38. Slurp oysters in Knysna
39. Feast on the local cuisine and the melt-in-mouth Karoo lamb
40. Stand in cell number five on the iconic freedom landmark, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated)

41. Quaff wine at the Wacky Wine Weekend in Robertson
42. Take a donkey cart ride into the Swartberg
43. Ride an ostrich in Oudtshoorn
44. Muse on Khoi and Stone Age artefacts at Stilbaai or feed a tame eel
45. Take the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe from George to Mossel Bay

46. Stomp the divots at a polo match in Plettenberg Bay
47. Catch your supper at Witsand, a coastal town on the Cape Garden Route & Klein Karoo
48. Buy seeds at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and start a fynbos garden at home. But the really big deal are the Gardens themselves – they have to be the most magnificent in the world.
49. Step off the Bloukrans Bridge, the world’s highest commercial bungee jump
50. Star-gaze in the Cape Karoo

51. Walk up Table Mountain’s Platteklip or Skeleton Gorge and take the cable car down - or vice versa
52. Immerse yourself in world class jazz at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival
53. Get strung out at the annual Cape Town International Kite Festival in Muizenberg
54. Visit South Africa’s famous Groote Schuur Hospital – where the world’s first heart transplant was performed.
55. Pick your own cherries, olives, strawberries, apricots, grapes and other luscious delights all year-round

56. Cycle the ABSA Cape Epic (Mountain Bike Race) or the Dirtopia in the Cape Winelands
57. Tuck into the flavour of “bokkoms” (dried fish) on the Cape West Coast
58. Haggle over something handmade at Greenmarket Square Market
59. Hire a 4x4 and get it dirty on a trail in the Hex River Mountains
60. Paddle an inflatable or a canoe down the Berg River

61. Dress for the occasion and strut like a peacock at the J&B Met horse race
62. Learn to kite-surf and throw caution to the winds at blustery Bloubergstrand in summer
63. Slip into an old-fashioned copper helmet and diving suit and become a temporary resident of the predator tank at the Two Oceans Aquarium
64. Catch live music at the Paul Cluver Amphitheatre – over Sir Lowry’s Pass from Cape Town, near Grabouw. It’s a gorgeous day out from the city (Cluver incidentally produces some of the country’s best white wines). Check out a What’s On guide to see who’s playing
65. See Cape Winelands garagistes (boutiques winemakers) at work

66. Enjoy a seafood meal at an open air restaurant on the beach
67. See in the New Year with fireworks at the V&A Waterfront
68. Grab binoculars and bird book and go twitching at Langebaan lagoon
69. Walk through the unique Cape Floral Kingdom – the smallest yet most diverse of only six in the world. Find a trail to walk; Fernkloof Nature Reserve outside Hermanus and the Kogelberg Nature Reserve – Hangklip-Kleinmond, where fynbos-covered mountains soar above crashing breakers, are worthy of mention
70. Block your ears on Signal Hill as the noon gun marks midday for the past 200 years. Then take a walking tour of Bo-Kaap, a colourful, culturally distinct area founded by slaves in the 17th century and inhabited largely by their descendents

71. Glide through the Outeniqua yellowwoods on a forest canopy - attached to a steel cable by a harness
72. Tuck into freshly fried fish, calamari and chips at any seaside village
73. Go back to school and learn to surf at Muizenberg
74. Feel a falconer’s power with a raptor on your arm at Spier’s Eagle Encounters centre
75. Spend a day soaking up the sun and watching beautiful people on Clifton’s Fourth Beach or enjoy a sunset picnic on Third Beach. Remember your sunblock

76. Skinny-dip in a remote mountain stream
77. Take in the crisp, clean air and total silence of the Cape Karoo in the village of Prince Albert
78. Experience the African sound and go drumming at various venues in the Western Cape
79. Catch talented, emerging bands live in Obs; (short for ‘Observatory’)
80. Immerse yourself in the vibe of cricket or rugby at Newlands

81. Enjoy a hearty “waterblommetjie” (small water flowers) stew in the Cape Winelands
82. Find out where they’re performing and hear a Cape Malay choir perform traditional songs, hundreds of years old
83. Learn to fly-fish, then catch and release a Clanwilliam trout
84. During the winter months stand amazed at the mating dance of the majestic Blue Cranes in freshly ploughed Overberg farmlands
85. Put away your map and watch, switch off your GPS and drive Route 62, the longest wine route in the world, from Cape Town to Haarlem. A week will allow you to savour small-town hospitality on the way

86. Stock up with fresh fruits, veggies and jams or preserves at the numerous road-stalls dotted throughout the province
87. Walk hand-in-trunk with an elephant on the Cape Garden Route & Klein Karoo
88. Listen to thousands of Cape Gannets on Bird Island off Lambert’s Bay
89. Soak away your cares in the healing waters of a number of mineral spas in the region
90. On a chilly winter’s night, sip port in front of a fire in Calitzdorp
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From the Group 101 Things to do in Cape Town and the Western Cape on facebook, there is a competition related to it too btw
 
91. Check out the so-called feather palaces, built during the ostrich feather boom at the turn of the century, like those in Oudtshoorn and Ladismith
92. At the Prince Albert Show, try your hand at counting sheep in a pen (not as easy as it sounds) and – if you dare – cow-pat chucking
93. During Bastille Week, don your tricolour, stock up on cheese and wine, and play boules in Franschhoek
94. Sip hot rooibos (‘red bush’) tea after veldskoen (‘soft-skin shoe’) shopping at Clanwilliam
95. Wander through a wonderland of geology and paleontology in the Karoo National Park and the Laingsburg Geological Walk




96. Travel back in time with the five-million-year-old fossils at the Iziko West Coast Fossil Park
97. Visit the brand new whale museum in Hermanus (the next closest one is in New Zealand)
98. Make the journey to dead-end Wupperthal in the Cederberg (Cape West Coast), a picture-perfect, time-stood-still village established two centuries back by Lutheran missionaries. Also once home to Louis Leipoldt, one of the fathers of South African literature.
99. Make your way to Knysna from Beaufort West on the N1. The road to Prince Alfred Pass (gravel road) is dead-quiet and beautiful, as is the Pass that gently ushers you into the holiday town
100. Feed the squirrels in the Company Gardens, near St Georges Cathedral



101. Take the 90 minute drive to 17th century Tulbagh, one of the first three settlements to be
built in the Western Cape, and possibly the most beautiful. Parts of it resemble a period-piece village.


In case it’s all too much, here’s a reminder of some of our major events:

Cape Minstrel Carnival - same date every year - 2 Jan 2009
J&B Met - always the last Saturday of January - 31 Jan 2009

Design Indaba - 20 Feb – 1 Mar 2009
Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees (KKNK) - 4 – 11 Mar 2009
Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon – always the Saturday of Easter - 11 Mar 2009
Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour - 8 Mar 2009
ABSA Cape Epic - 21 – 28 Mar 2009

Cape Town International Jazz Festival - 3 – 4 April 2009
SA Cheese Festival - 23 – 27 April 2009
Lamberts Bay Crayfish & Cultural Festival - 23 – 26 April 2009

Prince Albert Olive and Town Festival - 1 – 2 May 2009
Cederberg Festival - 2 – 3 May 2009
Riebeek Valley Olive Festival - always the first weekend in May - 2 – 3 May 2009

Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival - 3 – 12 Jul 2009
Wacky Wine Weekend - always the first weekend in June - 4 – 7 Jun 2009
Franschhoek Bastille Festival - 11 – 12 Jul 2009
Vodacom Funny Festival - 15 Jun – 19 Jul 2009
Isuzu Berg River Canoe Marathon - 15 – 19 Jul 2009
Virgin Mobile Cape Town Fashion Week - July 2009


Clanwilliam Wild Flower Show - 27 – 31 Aug 2009

Darling Wild Flower Show - 18 – 20 Sept 2009
Hermanus Whale Festival - 24 – 27 Sept 2009

Capy Odyssey Trail Run - 7 – 11 Oct 2009
Cape Town International Kite Festival - 24 – 25 Oct 2009

Discovery Cape Times Big Walk - 8 Nov 2009


For more information on other interesting events, get yourself a copy of our
events calendar at any tourism information office
or
visit www.tourismcapetown.co.za
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continued
 
Picard said:
The architecture at Clark's estate is also something to behold. It blends contemptory simplistic design with a sombre yet peaceful character that inspires the best in human nature.

EDIT: Just try and not visit it at night if you're white and are carrying a briefcase. Running through the streets of Iraq and shouting, Islam sucks, is far safer.
Click to expand...

ROLMAO....I doubt too many people except for the police and EMS workers know where it is but I can attest to it being amongst the scariest places in Cape Town....Tygerberg Hospital is full of them on the weekends.:D
 
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