Cape Town recommendations for Jan

inferno

inferno

inferno

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Hey guys,

I'll be going to Cape Town for 10 days at the end of January. Does anyone have any recommendations as to where is the best place to stay or places to go? Where is a good area to be looking for an air bnb?

I think we will spend a couple of days in the vineyard areas aswell.


Cheers
 
You have to do the garden route.

It'll be middle of summer so pack lightly. Don't take anything of value, leave any Rolexs and whatever at home. I hope you like seafood ;)

Amazing place. Been 20 years since I last went so I suspect most of my info is out of date but you'll struggle to be bored.
 
We went to a wedding in Stellenbosch, S.A. a few years back now, and had a week in Cape Town afterwards, at the Dockside Apartments, Mechau Street, in De Waterkant, near the V and A Waterfront.
There was a good pub on the corner of Mechau St. and Buitengracht St., called the Fireman’s Arms, it was a pleasant enough place, nothing exciting, a bit like a neighbourhood pub in the East End of London, but without the piano and drunks.
We’d have a couple in there most evenings, then amble into the centre for dinner, then back again if we weren’t too late.
The bar staff thought that we were crazy to walk the couple of hundred metres to the restaurant area, they’d urge us to take a taxi, saying that it could be dangerous to walk around there after dark, citing the Zimbabwean illegals who were flooding into Cape Town, but we stuck to well lit streets, and never felt threatened.
We went into an Italian restaurant one night, and a little girl about 2-3 y.o. kept hiding under our table, her dad came over and apologised, it was Matt Damon, he was making the movie “Invictus” there at that time, my wife nearly had an attack of the vapours!
 
Take the train to Simonstown and stay at least a couple of nights there. The journey’s only about an hour but the coast is stunning. You can then see the penguins and go cage diving with Great Whites (depending on season?). It’s also a good stopping off place to go and see Cape Hope.

I stayed at the Quayside hotel about 3 years ago and would definitely recommend it. There are some really nice seafood restaurants right on the beach as well, you may even be able to eat and watch the penguins. The beaches are good too, lots of little coves.

For the penguins there’s the main beach with boardwalk etc that’s full of people but I found if you walk along the coast another few hundred metres there’s a coast path that’s much nicer.

There should be a thread with some photos in the photography forum if your interested in seeing what it’s like.

Oh, and obviously you should sample the local cuisine. Lots of Nandos there, but more saucy than the UK. :p
 
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Cape Town is an amazing place, but do be careful and use common sense as to walking around etc.

There are lots of cool places, Table mountain, V and A waterfront is nice with great restaurants, Camps bay is nice too, the drive over chapmans peak is amazing down to the cape of good hope. Hermanus is a nice sea side town and Gansbaai is famous for cage diving with great white sharks and is an amazing experience.
 
I have two saffers in my team and bloody hell, the stories they tell :eek: One of them gave me probably the best answer to an interview question I've ever heard:

Me: How are you finding New Zealand? Are you settling in okay? What made you move here?

Him: We love it. I don't think we'll have as many home invasions.

Me: Uh ...

Turned out that even though he lived in a gated community with bars inside and outside of the windows, steel doors etc, he'd had 3 home invasions, the most recent of which involved the intruders pointing guns at his wife and son's head.

Anyway, Im rambling. Enjoy Cape Town OP!
 
[FnG]magnolia said:
I have two saffers in my team and bloody hell, the stories they tell :eek: One of them gave me probably the best answer to an interview question I've ever heard:

Me: How are you finding New Zealand? Are you settling in okay? What made you move here?

Him: We love it. I don't think we'll have as many home invasions.

Me: Uh ...

Turned out that even though he lived in a gated community with bars inside and outside of the windows, steel doors etc, he'd had 3 home invasions, the most recent of which involved the intruders pointing guns at his wife and son's head.

Anyway, Im rambling. Enjoy Cape Town OP!
Click to expand...


Burglary is a normal thing in Saffrica. As is murder, rape, corruption, etc.

Little story: I was 14, I used to cycle to school, and I cycled past the same mall every day. One afternoon I cycled past and the parking lot, which was always empty, was full of people spectating something. I went in for a closer look and saw two cops pulling a rotting corpse out the boot of a car. Turns out this guy was missing for three weeks and was only found when someone reported the stench coming from this car, which turned out to be his. No effort to hide anything either, it was just there for all to see. I'm full of these stories, South Africa is an rather extreme place to live.

Anyway, @inferno read this.
 
Dis86 said:
Sounds like hell. Enjoy!
Click to expand...

My brother in law used to run a pub over there, he had a gang of 4 enter one night when he was cashing up, all of them armed to the teeth and took everything. They locked him in the safe room (which is exactly what it sounds like, a reinforced room with a massive metal door) and took everything. This has happened another two times since, he has left his job because of it.

At night, you are allowed to run red lights because if you stop you run a very high risk of being hijacked. That doesn't make you safe however, because the hijackers have resorted to other means, like putting massive concrete blocks across roads so you can't get past. Looks like roadworks but when you stop to figure out wtf is going on, you get ambushed by a load of guys in balaclavas with guns. Certain roads are simply no-gos at night, underpasses are no gos, and if possible, avoid any quiet road. Try to travel in groups, travelling alone at night is asking for trouble. You don't go near an ATM at night because there's a very real possibility of being robbed, kidnapped, or even murdered over the little bit of money that the ATM can dispense at that moment in time.

The cops are corrupt and will turn a blind eye to anything but likewise they'll also pull you over at 1am and accuse you of being drunk even if you're sober as a judge. This means you have to pay them R1k or whatever otherwise you're going to the police station for a long night in the slammer with all the real criminals, and it's not like here, you have a good chance of being raped in there.

Here's a daylight cop chase from 2 years ago:


That said, it is still one of the most beautiful countries in the world and once you get out of suburbia and in to the more rural bits it's considerably safer, and a bit of common sense goes a long way. Walking around in expensive clothing with a Breitling on your wrist is basically a red flag to the crims, you'll be done in no time. Dress accordingly, don't flash your cash, keep your wits about you and you've got nothing to worry about.

Have a great time OP :)
 
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