CAPE TOWN - The red double-decker City Sightseeing tour bus is the best way to explore Cape Town. Make the most of your trip with these 5 top attractions

City Sightseeing tours operate in most popular travel destinations and cities all over the world. They are a super efficient and inexpensive way to see Cape Town in a short amount of time. Offering visitors voice-guided (available in 15 languages with a special channel for kids), hop-on/hop-off tours throughout the city, but they also offer day trips to surrounding attractions for you to explore at your own pace. City Sightseeing offers a number of interesting routes that take you from Table Mountain all the way to Cape Point, Langa and Gugulethu, and even the opportunity to see Cape Town from the air.

Hop-On, Hop-Off
One of the main attractions of the Cape Town Sightseeing tours is the hop-on, hop-off nature of the tours. This means you can hop off at any stop along the route to visit an attraction. When you’re ready to continue the tour, just wait for the next bus to pick you up and continue where you left off.

Highlights:
Discount Booklet for savings in many attractions, such as tickets to Table Mountain.
1-/2-day Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour with 360-degree panoramic views of Cape Town.
Multiple bus tour routes around Cape Town. Create your own itinerary to explore the city.

The Top 5 Attractions in Cape Town
Journey around Citysightseeing’s bus routes, stopping at attractions such as the awesome Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the epic Table Mountain, and the beautiful Groot Constantia, and spend as long as you wish at each. With that said, come and explore the best things to do in the celebrated Mother City of South Africa with our list of the top 5 destinations and attractions in Cape Town.

Table Mountain Aerial Cableway
One of the most famous landmarks in the city which is also a part of a national park, Table Mountain is an ideal destination to start your City Sightseeing adventure in Cape Town. It has dozens of popular hiking trails and the views from the top of the mountain are simply amazing. The easiest way to reach the summit of Table Mountain is by using the popular Table Mountain Aerial Cableway.

Kirstenbosch Gardens
If you wish to get away from the busy streets of Cape Town’s city center, pay a visit to the lovely Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. It is one of the greatest botanical gardens on Planet Earth.

The Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is world-renowned for the beauty and diversity of the Cape flora it displays and for the magnificence of its setting against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. The Botanical Gardens, founded in 1913, lies on an estate that covers 528 hectares and supports a diverse fynbos flora and natural forest. Also featured is the Peninsula Garden, which contains some of the 2 500 plant species, found on the Cape Peninsula. You can enjoy a picnic on the lawns, join a free guided tour of the botanical gardens, admire outdoor art, or grab some souvenirs.

Groot Constantia Wine Estate
Want to visit the oldest wine farm in South Africa? It was established in the 17th century by the first governor of Cape called Simon Van Der Stel. Today, Groot Constantia still serves as a wine farm and offers daily wine tasting and cellar tours to visitors. The on-site Simon’s and Jonkershuis restaurant offers delicious local and continental cuisine.

Experience Groot Constantia’s new Visitors Route, an all-in-one experience of the Manor House Museum, the original Cloete Cellar and the current production cellar, and includes a tasting of five wines as well as a genuine crystal Spiegelau wine glass which is yours to keep. The cellar tour and vineyard walk is self-guided, and available via an online app that can be downloaded free of charge. Groot Constantia is South Africa’s oldest wine estate, and has been producing wine since 1685. Today, Groot Constantia is a national monument and heritage site, and one of South Africa’s most visited tourist attractions

Cape Point & Penguin Explorer Tour
Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope are often referred to as the romantic meeting place of two mighty oceans, the Atlantic and the Indian. Located at the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula, this tour is the ultimate in covering the most scenic parts easily, conveniently and safely. Our enthusiastic, knowledgeable English speaking guide will make you fall in love with the Cape whilst you explore! This tour offers lots of “off the bus” time to explore the Boulders Beach penguins colony, Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope.

One of the most unique Cape Town attractions is the penguin colony on Boulders Beach. There are not that many places in the world where you can actually swim on the beach next to a colony of penguins. There are more than 2,000 penguins here and visitors can get within a few feet of these cute creatures. Although penguins are friendly, it is highly recommended not to touch them.

Castle of Good Hope
History buffs can visit two notable historic buildings within five minutes’ walk of each other in central Cape Town. Built in 1905, Cape Town City Hall is a striking mix of Italian Neo-Renaissance and British colonial style. The 60-meter-high bell-tower, with a carillon installed in 1923, was modelled on Big Ben in London. Across the way, the Castle of Good Hope is the oldest surviving stone building in South Africa. It was built in 1666-79 as the residence of the Governor and for the protection of the early settlers.

Wander through to the colourful cobble-stoned Bo Kaap neighbourhood on this two-hour tour. Begin on the slopes of Signal Hill, where the brightly coloured houses unfold in an array of pinks, greens, blues and oranges. Bo-Kaap is also celebrated for it’s delicious and authentic Cape Malay cuisine! Get a taste of the spicy ‘Cape Malay’ food on offer, made famous by the people who call the neighbourhood home. Along the way, visit South Africa’s first mosque, Auwal Masjid and the Bo-Kaap Museum, which is housed in the oldest home in the area. Dating back to the 1760s, the house highlights the cultural contribution made by early Muslim settlers.

TICKETS
Get free access to the City Sightseeing bus and discounts for local attractions and restaurants around Cape Town with a City Pass. Tickets are available online or at the ticket offices at the V&A Waterfront and 81 Long Street. Discounts apply if you book online. For more information on ticket prices visit the City Sightseeing website.

For more information on the tours, routes and stops, visit the City Sightseeing website or enquire at the Long Street or V&A Waterfront ticket offices.

OTHER TOURS
City Sightseeing also offer a number of other tours, which includes the LaGugu Township Tour to Langa and Gugulethu, and the Sidecar Tour, a tailor-made tour of the Peninsula that takes you all the way to Cape Point in a vintage motorcycle with sidecar. For the more adventurous, buy a Bus and Helicopter Combo and get to see Cape Town not only from the ground but also from the sky with a scenic helicopter flight that will take you along the Atlantic Coast all the way to False Bay and back to the CBD.

Editor: Anchen Coetzee / Africa InTouch News
Submitted by: MyPR