Day 6: Table Mountain National Park, penguins and coastal roads.
Cape Town’s landscape really lends itself to great hiking. Many people recommended hiking to Lion’s Head - a 3 hour round-trip with jaw-dropping views over Table Mountain and the Cape Town area. You can go it alone but if you book a guide you can take some lesser-known routes and get the low-down from a local at the same time. We decided to opt for a quiet trail starting and finishing from the Silvermine reservoir and finishing with an awesome view over Hout Bay.
The hike was supposed to be a 1.5 hour round trip however, we decided to add an extra section to stand in a cave called Elephant’s Eye. On our way back, we must have taken the wrong path as eventually we hiked all the way to the top of Table Mountain National Park! This took us a mouth-parching and limb-wobbling 5.5 hours in the strong African heat (hence why I recommend a guide). However, it was 100% worth it for the views.
After the hike, we headed to Muizenburg for lunch in one of the surf cafes. There were lots of people learning to surf here although the shark signs were a little off-putting! We checked out the rainbow beach huts and then drove through the villages of Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek and Simonstown. These villages had some beautiful colonial style buildings and cute arty shops to browse.
Now, the penguins were calling us! We arrived on the Boulders Beach just 1 hour before sunset, which was perfect as the crowds had gone and the lighting was just right for a penguin photo shoot. Once we were penguinned out, we headed to Cape Point National Park – but we were too late! The Park closes at 6pm, so I recommend getting there at 5pm at the very latest!
Next, we took the scenic Chapman’s Peak Drive, a gorgeous coast road that leads back up to Cape Town. We were absolutely stunned by the views. It’s one of the most beautiful drives I have ever done and coupled with the perfect timing of sunset it couldn't have been better. There’s a lots of laybys to pull over and take photos. We pulled into Hout Bay as dusk was setting in and looked up the mountain and saw where we'd hiked a few hours previously. What a day!
If you have more time you can continue on to glitzy Camps Bay for your next stop, but we headed home for a well-deserved rest and some sushi!
Day 7: Dolphin beach run and Table Mountain cable car
We started the day with a beach run along Dolphin Beach under the watchful eye of Table Mountain. Afterwards, we enjoyed a healthy breakfast in 'Carluccio's', the kitesurfers’ favourite café, with home-baked bread and fresh smoothies. Once our bags were packed and loaded into the hired car, we drove to Table Mountain to experience the cable car and view from the top before heading to the airport to finish our trip.
Adding an Istanbul stopover on the way home
As I flew with Turkish Airlines, I decided to stop in Istanbul for 24 hours to break up the return trip home and visit a new destination. You need to get a visa on arrival, but this only took 2 minutes using a self-service machine and paying the 20 USD (ish) fee with my credit card. Next, I jumped in a taxi and paid around £12 to get to the old town. I was in the city by 9am and spent a whole day discovering the mosques, riverside life and the maze of spices and lanterns in the grand bazaar. This stopover really helped with my jetlag, as it gave me a great excuse to stretch my legs and counteract all the hours of sitting still on my flight from Cape Town.
Often it's possible to add a night or a few days to your stopover point for a nominal increase in flight taxes. If you add this after your flight ticket has already been bought, it will cost a whole lot more, so be sure to consider a stopover during the planning phase of your trip.
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