Waterfront to Riebeeck Square
From the Slave Lodge, built to house the slaves who worked in the Company's Garden and now a museum, stroll up Government Avenue past Parliament to the SA National Gallery (with the Jewish Museum and Holocaust Centre behind it) and the SA Museum and Planetarium.
If you cross St George's Mall you can wander down Adderley Street, where great old colonial buildings rub shoulders with modern malls. Walk past the flower sellers in Trafalgar Place, or turn into Darling Street to take you to the City Hall (which contains a huge organ with 3 165 pipes).
From the Waterfront turn right into Buitengracht (M62 Camps Bay), following cableway signs. At almost 1 km turn left into Kortmark (Shortmarket Street) and park on Riebeeck Square.
You can't soak up the soul of a city from inside a car, so get out and up close to the people, with a few hours on foot. Heritage Square, with its interesting shopping and good restaurants, is right across the road. Otherwise, a wander down Shortmarket Street will bring you to Greenmarket Square, a bustling curio market on every day of the week, where farmers once brought fruit and vegetables for sale.
There are more curio stalls, street musicians and pavement cafés up St George's Mall, with the graceful St George's Cathedral (over which Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu presided) at the top, on the edge of the Company's Garden. The latter, an oasis of green calm, birdsong and squirrels, was originally planted to supply passing ships by the first Dutch governor of the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck, in 1652.
From the Slave Lodge, built to house the slaves who worked in the Company's Garden and now a museum, stroll up Government Avenue past Parliament to the SA National Gallery (with the Jewish Museum and Holocaust Centre behind it) and the SA Museum and Planetarium. If you cross St George's Mall you can wander down Adderley Street, where great old colonial buildings rub shoulders with modern malls. Walk past the flower sellers in Trafalgar Place, or turn into Darling Street to take you to the City Hall (which contains a huge organ with 3 165 pipes).
Cross the Grand Parade to the Castle of Good Hope, built in the shape of a five-pointed star, which vies with the Posthuys in Muizenberg as South Africa's oldest European building.
Alternatively, from the parking area walk up Buitengracht and turn right into Wale Street to explore the colourful buildings of the Bo-Kaap (Upper Cape), the birthplace of Islam in South Africa, and home to many residents who can trace their ancestors back to slaves of the Cape Colony.
Riebeeck Square to Lion Battery
Turn left back onto Buitengracht. After 500m turn right into Bloem Street (signed for Noon Gun) and immediately left into Jordaan. The road curves right twice, then at about 1 km turn left into Whitford, which becomes Military Road. Keep straight to the battery at just over 2 km.
On the ride up, you'll be rewarded by gorgeous views of the City Bowl, and a living piece of history. There are several guns up here - 21-gun salutes to visiting ships erupt from this battery - but the 18-pounder Noon Gun tops them all. They were originally fired so that ships in the bay could synchronise their chronometers. You can watch them being loaded - with 1.5 kilograms of gun powder in cloth bags - then join the countdown.
Lion Battery to Signal Hill
Retrace the route from the battery. Keep straight down Whitford Road at 1.2 km. Turn left at the bottom, then right and right again into Buitengracht. Follow M62 Camps Bay and brown cableway signs to the intersection at 4.5k m. Turn right into Signal Hill Drive and follow it to the parking area.
Mind the tour buses that toil along this road and tend to park rather awkwardly on the corners, but they're also enjoying the awesome views of the City Bowl hugged by Table Mountain, and round to Robben Island, Sea Point and Green Point, with the Atlantic Ocean sparkling to the horizon.
Signal Hill to Table Mountain Lower Cableway
Leave the view site and return to the intersection. Go 'straight' across to Tafelberg Road, which winds up to the Lower Cable Station at 4km.
Get in line and buy your ticket for the aerial cableway - definitely the easiest way up. The ride takes just under five minutes, and the car rotates so that the panorama changes from city to sea to mountain. It goes without saying that the 360-degree views of Table Bay, False Bay, Robben Island and the Peninsula from the top are spectacular - just mind you don't trip over a dassie while you're staring out to sea.
Explore the paths that criss-cross the summit, and end at the fully licensed restaurant (or settle down for a picnic with the best view in town). If you're up for the ultimate adrenaline fix, try the 112-metre abseil over Camps Bay.
Table Mountain to Waterfront for Robben Island
Leave the Lower Cable Station and return to the intersection. Go 'straight' across to Kloof Road (between the Camps Bay road and Signal Hill Drive). At the 2.1 km T-junction turn right into Lower Kloof Road.
At 4.3 km turn left into Queens Road and keep straight to the sea, then through Sea Point on Beach Road, with the sea on your left. At 7.5 km keep straight to the city. Go straight across the traffic circle at Green Point. At 10.2 km turn left onto Buitengracht (brown sign to CTICC).
Turn into the Waterfront to the Clock Tower and Robben Island tours. (If you're running late for the boat, take the direct route back down Buitengracht to the Waterfront).
The high point of the Robben Island tour is the cell where apartheid prisoner-turned-president Nelson Mandela spent almost two decades of his life. And the list of inmates who shared the other cells in that passage is astonishing - it reads a bit like a who's who of South Africa's first democratic government.
It's a good idea to book in advance, but bear in mind the tour is weather permitting. Get your tickets at the Nelson Mandela Gateway close to the Clock Tower, or you can book over the phone with a credit card. Before you board, make time to view the museum on the history of the island and the political struggle. The ferry trip to the island takes about 25 minutes. Your guide will be a former political prisoner, and the tour includes a drive around the island, where you can get great photos of Table Mountain.
After the boat trip back to the Waterfront, discuss the events of the day over dinner. You will have amazing views of Table Bay as you settle into your accommodation in the V&A Waterfront after an exciting day of exploring.
Self drive routes from Cape Town invite visitors to the Mother City to experience the natural splendour, fun activities and scenic attractio...