Blaauwberg, Cape Town
The Blaauwberg region stretches from Milnerton in the south to Mamre in the north and offers vast stretches of sandy white beaches on the northern side of the Atlantic Coast. The Blaauwberg Coast is best known for its spectacular views of Table Mountain across Table Bay. The area encompasses 48 kilometres of sandy white beaches all with magnificent views of Devil´s Peak, Table Mountain and Lion´s Head as well as Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners spent part of their sentences.
The Blaauwberg region, one of the fastest growing areas in the Western Cape, lies to the north of Cape Town city centre and is the gateway to the Cape West Coast. There are plenty of bars, restaurants and shopping malls for those so inclined, but best to head for the beaches to watch kite surfers doing ridiculous aerial maneuvers.
The area is also home to the Koeberg Nuclear Power station, the only nuclear power station on the African continent and one which supplies most of the Western Cape with its electricity. Towns in Blaauwberg include Atlantic Beach Estate, Bloubergstrand, Bloubergrant, Century City, Melkbosstrand, Milnerton, Sunset Beach, Table View, West Beach and Woodbridge Island. Blaauwberg is close to the City of Cape Town, beautiful beaches, restaurants and entertainment are plentiful, hotels, guest houses and other accommodation options are geared for tourism making the Blaauwberg area the ideal base for international and local tourists.

Cape Flats, Cape Town
A large area of wind-blown, flat land, covered predominantly by sand, lies to the north of Cape Town, known merely as the Cape Flats. Described fairly accurately as the ‘dumping ground of apartheid’ it was here that thousands of ‘non-white’ households were forced to move as a result of the Group Areas Act, and today it is home to over a million people who manage to eke out an existence in a combination of townships and informal settlements.
Despite its origins, and the harsh conditions under which people still live, taking into account the present government’s housing initiatives, the area is totally unique and has emerged as a vibrant and culturally diverse part of the city that stands in strong contrast to the largely ‘white’ suburbs of Cape Town.
Many visitors’ first impression of the mother city is along the N2, lined with tin and wood shacks that smack of poverty and little access to facilities. Even the country’s successful bid for the 2010 Soccer World Cup will not see these shacks vanish. According to the city’s mayor, it will take 30 years to deal with the upgrading of informal settlements and the city already has a housing backlog of 400 000 units.
Yet a visit through the townships of Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Cross Roads, Mitchell’s Plain and Manenberg is one of the most revealing and enriching things you can do whilst in Cape Town – for better or worse this area is considered the birthplace of Cape Town’s soul and art, crafts, music and entrepreneurship abound in a collective show of making the best of a bad situation. Add to this the pervasive ‘Cape sense of humour’ – the ability of people who live on the Flats to see the funny side of life – despite the odds, and you will have a better understanding of how the people of South Africa actually live. Yet, despite its association with flat sandy plains, the Cape Flats is also an extensive wetland and home to unique strandveld vegetation that has come under extreme urbanisation pressure.

Cape Helderberg, Cape Town
The Cape Helderberg, or Helderberg basin, is one of the most visually dramatic areas in the Cape, with the Hottentots Holland and Helderberg Mountain ranges creating a powerful backdrop against which the valley descends into vineyards and finally on to a coastline swept with warm waters and effortlessly white, sandy beaches.
This is the land of the Helderberg and Stellenbosch wine routes and home to the towns of Gordon’s Bay, Sir Lowry’s Pass, Somerset West, Strand, Lwandle and Macassar. 45 minutes’ drive from Cape Town, the land that originally belonged to the Strandlopers has become a playground for visitors and locals ...
Gordon’s Bay is an invitation for windsurfing, surfing and braaing – it has one of the few braai areas on the Helderberg coast - and the walk along the harbour wall to take in the yachts and boats as they leave and enter the protected marina, is a must. If it’s swimming, sunbathing and a stroll on the beach you’re after, then Melkbaai, Strand’s Bikini beach and Main beach are good options; and avid surfers head out to Kogelbay, if Gordon’s Bay is too busy.
The Helderberg Wine Route, a subsidiary of the Stellenbosch Wine Route, has a distinct personality and wines produced here are heavily influenced by cool sea breezes and ideal soil conditions. Vineyards line the slopes of the Helderberg, sharing both a mountain and maritime climate that has resulted in world class examples of wine on a route that ranges from a 300-year old historical manor to art boutique wineries. Overlooking False Bay, the Helderberg Nature Reserve offers picnic spots, hiking trails and a number of Bontebok, squirrels and the occasional tortoise.

Cape Town City Bowl, Cape Town
Lying snug in the immense arms of Table Mountain, Cape Town’s city bowl is amazingly aptly named. The heart of Cape Town is enfolded neatly between the harbour and the mountain, virtually in the shape of a bowl. With nowhere else to move and stretch its boundaries, the city bowl is a self-contained entity, almost like a martini before it’s poured, all shook up and tingling with taste.
The city bowl holds some of the most interesting and historically significant neighbourhoods and the likes of the Bo Kaap, Oranjezicht, Tamboerskloof and Gardens provide hours of easy meanderings, restaurants and historical sights. The city centre lies encircled by these suburbs that, the closer one gets to the mountain, the steeper they become, so that Higgovale and Oranjezicht lie right up on the slopes of Table Mountain.
Other than soak up the vibe, which is typically Cape Town's, there’s plenty to do in the heart of city bowl. Taking the obligatory ride up the cable car to Table Mountain’s top is well worth the effort, although waiting for a clear day with no sign of the tablecloth is a safer option. Lion’s Head, the conical shaped mountain next to the table top is another mountain worth scaling, particularly on nights of full moon. The 1.5 hour walk to the top is best timed so that the summit is reached as the moon takes to the sky.
Head over the gap known as Kloof Nek between Table Mountain and Lion’s Head and you descend into Camps Bay, just one of the popular Atlantic Seaboard beaches that continue to Llandudno and Hout Bay. Or venture round the western corner of the bowl to the popular De Waterkant, Green Point and Sea Point.

Cape Town North (Northern Suburbs), Cape Town
There is a distinct difference between the northern and southern suburbs of Cape Town, and, as with many a city divided by a river or other landmark, Cape Town has an imaginary line the locals call ‘the boerewors curtain’. The two are separated by the huge conglomerate called ‘Century City’ that serves as a shopping mecca for most of Cape Town, but which the northern suburbs regard as theirs - although it’s actually north of the N1 that serves as the official border.
Ask any resident of Cape Town and the major distinction between the northern and southern suburbs will be language. English-speaking people live in the south and Afrikaans-speaking people live in the north - but this is a sweeping generalisation and doesn’t take into account the obvious exceptions to the rule. Suffice it to say that the newspaper of choice in the northern suburbs is ‘Die Burger’, whilst ‘The Cape Argus’ serves the southern suburbs.
The northern suburbs are officially part of the City of Tygerberg, formed from the union of the municipalities of Bellville, Durbanville, Goodwood and Parow. These suburbs have experienced an enormous property growth in recent years, not least because of their access to Cape Town International Airport, Grand West Casino and a number of wine routes, including the Durbanville Wine Valley.

Constantia Valley, Cape Town
One of the most beautiful valleys in the Cape, the Constantia Valley, is an abundant array of forests, hills, stately historical homes and vineyards - a heady mix of old and new that lies nestled in the shadow of the Constantia Mountain, just outside of the city centre.
The valley of the vines as it is known due to the splendour of one of the Cape’s original wine routes, which today is one of the only wine appellation areas less than 20 minutes from a city centre, is an effortless green lung of the southern suburbs. Its northern boundaries lie against Kirstenbosch and Wynberg Park, whilst the Tokai Forest lies to the south of the valley imbuing it with a rich lushness even in summer.
Groot Constantia, Steenberg (recently acquired by Graham Beck), Klein Constantia, Buitenverwachtung and Constantia Uitsig are five worldclass vineyards that lie along the Constantia Wine Route – the route lined with huge, old trees that immediately add a sense of entering a past dimension.
Constantia valley still boasts farm land, smallholdings and little farms against the mountain, despite the increase in the area’s population growth, and catching a glimpse of riders on horseback, in a very similar vein to more outlying areas of Cape Town like Noordhoek, is common.
Despite this proximity to open land and a sense of being outside of the city, the Constantia Valley is anything but in slumber. Restaurants and outdoor venues abound – Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in particular is a beautiful and popular venue for locals and visitors alike – there are local malls, and the False Bay beaches such as Muizenberg, St James and Fish Hoek are all easily accessible from the valley.

False Bay, Cape Town
For those who visit this effortless coast that stretches in a glorious arc all the way from Hangklip, close to Pringle Bay, through to Cape Point on the peninsula, there are unlimited opportunities for safe swimming and dramatic beauty that incorporates white, sandy beaches, beautiful valleys and sweeping vistas.
For many, the False Bay coastline is preferable to the trendier Atlantic - the waters of the Indian Ocean are warmer for one, and less inundated by sun worshipping wannabees.
False Bay, named such because early navigators mistook Hangklip for Cape Point, is the largest true bay in South Africa and one of the great bays of the world. It is no surprise to learn that the distance across False Bay (33 kilometres from Rooiels to Miller’s Point) remains a rather daunting prospect for even the most primed marathon swimmers - it has eluded almost 90% of those who have tried - and has been attempted 20 times with only three successes.
The False Bay coast is a continuous collection of seaside villages and hamlets, their narrow avenues lined with quirky and quaint shops, hotels, restaurants and pubs. Implicit in the diversity is the promise of myriad picnic spots and lookout spots, particularly during the whale season when whales enter the bay to calve.
Some of the most popular of these in and around Cape Town include Muizenberg - popular amongst surfers and swimmers alike – Kalk Bay – a little character fishing village, with a vibrant day and night life – and Simon’s Town – the historical naval village. The wide stretches of beaches central to the bay - Monwabisi, Macassar and Mnandi - are favoured for fishing, whilst the villages of Rooiels, Hanglip and Pringle Bay all offer cosy getaways.

Southern Suburbs, Cape Town
The group of suburbs lying south east of the City Bowl and Table Mountain in Cape Town are collectively known as the ‘southern suburbs’.
Observatory (known as Obs), Mowbray, Rosebank, Rondebosch, Pinelands, Claremont, Kenilworth, Newlands, Bishopscourt, and Wynberg are also more established and sought after than their northern counterparts; although property right at the coast on the Atlantic Seaboard is still amongst the most exclusive in Cape Town.
For the most part, the Southern Suburbs lie at the base of Table Mountain National Park, a mountainous backbone that stretches all the way from Signal Hill to Cape Point, creating an impressive backdrop that infuses the southern suburbs with a natural leafiness, in most part due to the frequent blanket of clouds that tend to hang over the mountains, and relative shelter from the wind.
The southern suburbs are predominantly residential, and most of them incredibly pretty with a variety of older-style homes that range from cottage-style semis in Mowbray, Claremont and Wynberg, to more ornate and certainly far larger homes in Constantia, Newlands and Bishopscourt (also see the Constantia Valley). Extensive gardens, pretty shopping areas like Cavendish Street from the Vineyard Road corner in Claremont, and Wynberg village; the cosmopolitan high street of Observatory, and attractions like Kirstenbosch, Mostert’s Mill in Mowbray, the Baxter Theatre in Rosebank and the Irma Stern Museum, make this part of Cape Town rather attractive.
It is also the home of the University of Cape Town, which lies on the mountain above Rosebank, Rondebosh, Mowbray and Obs. As a result these parts are often a good place in which to party when the budget is tight, and there are many student digs and a lively street atmosphere.