Cape Town - a city that has everything

Claire Summers on 25 April 2018
In April 2018 we travelled to Cape Town for four nights and stayed at the three-star Protea Breakwater Lodge.

The location is fantastic, it's only a five-minute walk to V&A waterfront, 20 minutes’ drive from the airport and all excursions pick up from this hotel. It really is a different type of hotel. It was a former prison and has lots of original features which makes it quite unique. It is now a working business college and hotel and whilst it has a spa for treatments (massages etc), there is no pool or sauna facilities.

Our room was a Business double which was huge with king bed and sofa with a large bathroom. Tip: you need a three prong South African plug adapter and there was only one socket in the room, so you need to bring an extension lead from home.

You can see Table Mountain from the restaurant and the food at the hotel was amazing. There was everything you could ask for at breakfast including an egg station and the evening dinner was superb and quite cheap for the quality.

In your room is a voucher booklet which amongst other discounts and offers, including one free entry to the comedy club which is in the V&A Watershed (a five-minute walk from the hotel). The comedy club is well worth a visit.

Even though April is considered their winter, the weather was good with cloudy/sunny days and only one afternoon of rain. I would say the average temperature was around 20 Celsius.

The V&A Waterfront has endless shops, restaurants, a Ferris wheel, excursion companies, an amphitheatre and food markets. This is definitely the place to base yourself. We never had a bad meal; the food is top quality and most of it was much cheaper than the UK. It is also a very safe place to walk around during the day and night.

On our first full day we visited Cape of Good Hope which is the southernmost point of Africa and Cape Point. You can walk up to the lighthouse where you can take in some fantastic views of mountains and beaches.

We also visited Boulders Beach which is where the African penguins live. It was breeding season, so all the penguins were nesting and protecting their eggs. You can’t actually walk on the beach so viewing platforms are provided. We also went to Seal Island on the boat and there are so many seals, either lazing around or swimming and jumping around in the water. All of these sights were part of a day excursion and a great way to see them as part of a small group tour.

On another day we took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain and we were lucky to have a lovely sunny day for viewing the whole area. Tip 1: Don’t pre-book tickets for a certain day as the weather can change within minutes and the cable car could close or there might be mist covering the mountain, so you would have no view. Check the weather that day, then purchase your cable car ticket or hike up if that is your preference. Tip 2: buy your cable car tickets at your hotel, otherwise you could be queuing for 30 minutes to two hours at the foot of the mountain itself just for entrance tickets. By purchasing them at your hotel you skip these queues.

There is a South Africa Museum which exhibits replicas of animals, rocks, whales etc which gives you a great insight into how these creatures evolved – fantastic for kids.

Robben Island is another must do in Cape Town. Travelling by Catamaran or ferry which takes between 30 - 60 minutes, the trip starts with a 45-minute coach ride around the island with a tour guide explaining the history. The second part of the tour in on foot and an actual political prisoner takes you around and gives you more detail. This was truly humbling. This is not just a guide but somebody who was held prisoner there and is now a guide explaining his story and why he was imprisoned.

Cape Town and especially being by the V&A Waterfront is a fantastic city. You can stay in Cape Town itself but it is not recommended you travel out at night in the city itself due to the crime rate. However, the waterfront area is fine, and we felt very safe walking around at night. The majority of people are friendly and helpful and make your visit memorable.

We travelled overnight from Heathrow to Johannesburg (11 hours), then took a connecting flight to Cape Town (three hours). Although the journey is a long one, the time difference is only one hour so you don't have to worry about getting over jet lag - you can hit the ground running when you arrive.

I would highly recommend a visit to this fantastic city.