South Africa: Cape Town - Bo-Kaap, Table Mountain and V&A Waterfront

By Cubie - February 27, 2025

We had about 3.5 days in Cape Town, coupled stories we scared ourselves over safety in South Africa and indecisiveness, we didn't organise international driving license and so, didn't rent a car to get around. Our accommodation was in the city center but within walking distance to Bo-Kaap. One of the important thing to know about South Africa is that, unfortunately, it is a tipping country.

Bo-Kaap

The Bo-Kaap or "above the Cape" in Afrikaans is an area of Cape Town, South Africa formerly known as the Malay Quarter. It is on the slopes of Signal Hill above the city centre and is a historical centre of Cape Malay culture in Cape Town.

Bo-Kaap is known for its brightly coloured homes and cobblestoned streets. The area is traditionally a multicultural neighbourhood, and Muslim is more than 50% of its population. Our guide to the Cape Peninsula warned us about going to Bo-Kaap after dark and not to venture away from the main street. We didn't know this when we went but once we turned into a smaller street, there were a teenage boy came to ask us for money. We said no but he lingered around and walked off when he saw some locals approached.

We had an early lunch at Biesmiellah as we wanted to try Cape Malay food since we were in the neighbourhood. We ordered 2 curries, crayfish and vegetable. The curries were served with rice or roti so we picked one of each.

Crayfish curry R189, vegetable curry R110

Table Mountain

One of the most recognisable landmark in Cape Town is this flat-topped mountain overlooking Cape Town and Table Bay - Table Mountain. The tabular shape results from nearly horizontal layers of sandstone exposed by vigorous wind and water erosion. It is known as the Tablecloth when it is covered by cloud.

We decided to visit while having lunch at Bo-Kaap as the day was clear and no clouds over Table Mountain. We got an Uber to there and the driver dropped us near the ticketing place. As we didn't plan ahead to visit, we didn't get the aerial cableway tickets beforehand. There was a long queue to the aerial cableway but you get views like these while queuing.

The cableway is the one that can fit many people but rotates. We were lucky to get a window view both ways.

There are informative signs at the top and views all around were amazing.

When we were about to leave, some clouds started to cover parts of the mountain.

There was also a queue to go down but moved faster than going up. We got another uber on reaching the bottom with destination of the nearest Woolworths to the accommodation. We got some groceries and food from supermarket for dinner and walked back.

V&A Waterfront

The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront is one of Cape Town’s oldest historic attractions. This place is huge and we unintentionally spend the whole day here even though we didn't buy anything except lunch. We just wandered around, looking for seals and caught bridges opened up for boats.