Cape Town reveals herself but shyly; the Mother City has so many fascinating facets and layers of interest to discover. Visitors pressed for time may miss some of the city’s most appealing places and activities, but this tour will take care of that. Including all the "must-sees" of any day-tour of Cape Town, it has been called a "geographical and cultural extravaganza" ! Hype aside, this tour will reveal to you the real Cape Town – from its humble beginnings as a seafarer’s stopover to the sophisticated shopping malls of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

You’ll begin your exploration with a tour of that ancient icon of the Cape – Table Mountain. This is your chance to come face to face with this monumental chunk of granite set in a nature reserve at the fringes of a city! An exhilarating cable car ride will whisk you to the top, from where the panorama is awesome! From this dramatic vantage point you’ll take in views stretching from the beaches of the Atlantic seaboard, the city itself – way below – Table Bay and its busy port, the northern suburbs and the blue mountains of the Boland Winelands, with False Bay in the distance. If it’s a clear day (and in March your chances are good), you will see as far as Cape Point at the southernmost tip of the Cape Peninsula!

After our descent to the lower cable station, we’ll wind our way down to level ground. Passing trough leafy residential areas, you’ll notice how the avenues make way for bustling streets as we draw closer to the centre of the city that is called a "Town"! Here, you’re in for a surprising change of pace: the famous Company Gardens. Some call it "an oasis of calm in the city rush", and with the trees, the squirrels and lunch-hour lovebirds it’s easy to forget that you’re in the middle of one of Africa’s most important cities. Spots of interest include a sundial dating to 1787, a saffron pear tree (believed to be South Africa’s oldest cultivated tree), a statue of Cecil John Rhodes, a rose garden and pools with brightly coloured fish. The South African National Gallery, the South African Museum and the Planetarium are situated within the grounds of the Gardens.

We’ll pick the imposing South African Museum this morning. Between these age-old walls you’ll learn interesting facts from our local history, but more importantly, you’ll leave the museum with a better understanding of the earth and its biological and cultural diversity, past and present. Next, we’ll explore the dank dungeons and dark history of the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest surviving building in South Africa (dating to 1666). Today, the Castle houses military personnel of the SA Army, the famous William Fehr Collection of historic artworks, and the Military Museum. Showing you just how culturally diverse our Mother City is, we’ll drive to the other side of town, to the Bo-Kaap (Upper Cape), also known as the Malay Quarter. This can be best described as a dynamic living cultural museum. You’ll get up close to the community and their brightly painted homes, and you’ll see the oldest mosque in the southern hemisphere. Plus you’ll learn about the unique culture, lifestyle and personality of the Cape Muslim community and their contribution to South Africa’s development.

Wow! What a stimulating journey of discovery!