Cape Town - South Africa

Categories: [Africa] [Mountains] [National Parks] [Sea]
Links: http://en.wikipedia.org
Last update: December 20, 2007.
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Cape Town

About Cape Town

Cape Town (Afrikaans and Dutch: Kaapstad; Xhosa: iKapa) is the third most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the City of Cape Town. It is the provincial capital of the Western Cape, as well as the legislative capital of South Africa, where the National Parliament and many government offices are located. Cape Town is famous for its harbour as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, including such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Often regarded as one of the world's most beautiful cities because of its geography, Cape Town is one of the most popular South African destinations for tourism.

Cape Town was originally developed as a victualling station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and the Far East more than 200 years before the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope. It was the largest city in South Africa until the growth of Johannesburg and Durban.

According to the 2001 Census, the city has a population of 2.95 million. Cape Town's land area of 2,499 square kilometres (965 sq mi) is larger than other South African cities, resulting in a comparatively lower population density of 1,158 people per square kilometre (2,999/sq mi). Cape Town is town twinned with Nice in France and Haifa in Israel.

Cape Town Map and Tourism

cape town map

Cape Town is arguably the most popular tourist destination in South Africa due to its good climate, natural setting, and relatively well-developed infrastructure. The city has several well-known natural features that attract tourists, most notably Table Mountain, which forms a large part of the Table Mountain National Park and is the back end of the City Bowl. Reaching the top of the mountain can be achieved either by hiking up, or by taking the Table Mountain Cableway. Cape Point is recognised as the dramatic headland at the end of the Cape Peninsula. Many tourists also drive along Chapman's Peak Drive, a narrow road that links Noordhoek with Hout Bay, for the views of the Atlantic Ocean and nearby mountains. It is possible to either drive or hike up Signal Hill for closer views of the City Bowl and Table Mountain.

clifton beach cape town Many tourists also visit Cape Town's beaches, which are popular with local residents. Due to the city's unique geography, it is possible to visit several different beaches in the same day, each with a different setting and atmosphere. Beaches located on the Atlantic Coast tend to have very cold water as the water is mostly glacial melt from Antarctica. The water at False Bay beaches is often warmer by up to 10 °C (18 °F). Both coasts are equally popular, although the beaches in affluent Clifton and elsewhere on the Atlantic Coast are better developed with restaurants and cafés, with a particularly vibrant strip of restaurants and bars accessible to the beach at Camps Bay. Boulders Beach near Simon's Town is known for its colony of African penguins. Surfing is popular and the city hosts the Red Bull Big Wave Africa surfing competition every year.

Cape Town city The city has several notable cultural attractions. The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, built on top of part of the docks of the Port of Cape Town, is one of the city's most popular shopping venues, with several hundred shops and the Two Oceans Aquarium. Part of the charm of the V&A, as it is locally known, is that the Port continues to operate and visitors can watch ships enter and leave. The V&A also hosts the Nelson Mandela Gateway, through which ferries depart for Robben Island. It is possible to take a ferry from the V&A to Hout Bay, Simon's Town and the Cape Fur Seal colonies on Seal and Duiker Islands. Several companies offer tours of the Cape Flats, a mostly Coloured township, and Khayelitsha, a mostly black township. An option is to sleep overnight in Cape Town's townships. There are several B&Bs where you can spend a safe and real African night.

Cape Town is noted for its architectural heritage, with the highest density of Cape Dutch style buildings in the world. Cape Dutch style, which combines the architectural traditions of the Netherlands, Germany and France, is most visible in Constantia, the old government buildings in the Central Business District, and along Long Street. The annual Cape Town Minstrel Carnival, also known by its Afrikaans name of Kaapse Klopse, is a large minstrel festival held annually on January 2 or "Tweede Nuwe Jaar" (Afrikaans: Second New Year). Competing teams of minstrels parade in brightly coloured costumes, either carrying colourful umbrellas or playing an array of musical instruments. The Artscape Theatre Centre is the main performing arts venue in Cape Town.

Night life in the city caters for all tastes and sexual debauchery and depravity, with a range of restaurants and cafes that are generally recognised as including some of the finest eateries in South Africa (both in food quality and decor terms). Night clubs and bars abound with popular areas including the top end of Long Street and its immediate surrounds, as well as the redeveloped Cape Malay quarter, De Waterkant. Varied accommodation for tourists is also abundant, ranging from well located backpackers hostels to hotels that have been rated at the top of their class in world terms.

Cape Town's transport system links it to the rest of South Africa; it serves as the gateway to other destinations within the province. The Cape Winelands and in particular the towns of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek are popular day trips from the city for sightseeing and wine tasting. Whale watching is popular amongst tourists: Southern Right Whales are seen off the coast during the breeding season (August to November) and Bryde's Whales can be seen any time of the year. The nearby town of Hermanus is known for its Whale Festival, but whales can also be seen in False Bay. Heaviside's dolphins are endemic to the area and can be seen from the coast north of Cape Town; dusky dolphins live along the same coast and can occasionally be seen from the ferry to Robben Island.

Table Mountain National Park

Situated at the south-western tip of Africa, the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) encompasses the incredibly scenic Table Mountain Chain stretching from Signal Hill in the north to Cape Point in the south and the seas and coastline of the peninsula.

The narrow finger of land with its beautiful valleys, bays and beaches is surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the warmer waters of False Bay and has within its boundaries two world-renowned landmarks - majestic Table Mountain and the legendary Cape of Good Hope.

The Park is recognised globally for its extraordinarily rich, diverse and unique fauna and flora - with rugged cliffs, steep slopes and sandy flats - is a truly remarkable natural, scenic, historical, cultural and recreational asset both locally and internationally. Nowhere else in the world does an area of such spectacular beauty and such rich bio-diversity exist almost entirely within a metropolitan area - the thriving and cosmopolitan city of Cape Town.

Beaches of Cape Town

Cape Town has a wide variety of beaches divided into three regions by the Cape Peninsula

False Bay, including the long sandy beach running from Gordon's Bay to Muizenberg, and the smaller beaches along the East side of the Cape Peninsula
Atlantic Seaboard, along the West (Atlantic) side of the Cape Peninsula
West Coast, along the West coast running Northwards from Cape Town

False Bay

A long sandy beach runs more or less uninterrupted for the complete width of False Bay from Gordon's Bay to Muizenberg, forming the coast of the Cape Flats. Along the rocky Cape Peninsula, there are frequent beautiful beaches in between the mountains of the peninsula.

Gordon's Bay
Strand
Macassar
Muizenberg
St James
Kalk Bay
Fish Hoek
Glencairn, Cape Town
Simon's Town
Boulders Beach

Boulders Beach

Atlantic Seaboard

The Atlantic side of the Cape Peninsula faces West and thus is popular for expensive homes facing the sunset views. There are many beautiful beaches below the mountains of the peninsula.

Scarborough
Kommetjie
Noordhoek
Hout Bay
Sandy Bay
Llandudno
Sea Point
Clifton
Camps Bay
Glen Beach

Camps Bay

West Coast

The West Coast beaches are long, sandy beaches to the North of Cape Town. The wind and surf conditions make these beaches popular for surfing and kite-surfing.