Ultimate 3 day itinerary in Cape Town

Top 10 things to do!

I never knew a city could offer so much different things combined with nature, but Cape Town showed me differently. The breathtaking mountains, beautiful beaches and bustling city life makes this the perfect tourist destination for visitors from around the world!

You could easily spent a whole week here and still not get tired of this city. And I definitely wish we had more time to really explore everything there is to do in Cape Town. Even though we only spent 3 days here, there are a few more things we wished we visited, so I included them in this guide.

You might also like: Visiting Kruger National Park in South Africa

For your information, all these pictures were taken in December 2022.

How to get to the Cape Town?

You will most likely arrive in Cape Town via Cape Town International Airport. From here, you have two options to get to the city centre of the city, which is by public transport or by a rental car. As the airport is already pretty close by the city centre (approximately 20 km), both options are good. Just keep in mind that if you want to get out of the city, a rental car is a much better option. You will read later on which places are better reachable with a car.

Another option is to go with Uber or with a metered taxi. This is very popular in South Africa and is very easy to use. Normally, there was a bus that connect the airport to the city centre, but this has been discontinued due to Covid-19. Keep an eye on the MyCiti site to get more information about this.

Is Cape Town safe to visit?

Yes, Cape Town is a safe city to visit if you take precautions. Just like all the other cities in South Africa, Cape Town has its fair share of crimes like robberies or other gang-related crimes. But we didn’t feel unsafe on our trip, but this is a personal experience of course.

It’s best to book an hotel that is located in a touristic area. Some of the best places to find accommodation are City Bowl, V&A Waterfront and Clifton & Camps Bay. Try to find a place to stay in these areas and you will feel safer immediately.

There are also a few things to keep in mind when visiting Cape Town:

Avoid walking at night
Try to hike in a group, instead of alone.
Leave your important documents and expensive stuff in a locked safe in the hotel.
Don’t wear striking jewellery.
Don’t get money from the ATM’s in dodgy places and rather where there is security.
Don’t leave your stuff unattended and keep an eye out all the time.
And most importantly, if you are being robbed, don’t struggle.

I know this all sounds scary, but it’s better to be warned and be on your guard. If you keep this all in your mind, everything will be fine.

What is the budget for visiting Cape Town?

Cape Town is not that expensive and can be done on a budget. We only spent a lot of money on trips and not on eating out, so keep that in mind with our budget. In total, we paid €629.93 for 2 people. This amounts to €78.74 per day per person. Here is a breakdown of everything we paid for 2 people:

Accommodation for 3 nights: €208.85
Food and drinks: €73.60
Trips and entrance: €94.04 (this includes cable cars, parkings and entrances of parks)
Fuel: €58.75
Car rental: €324.49 (we rented this car for a total of 5 days and used it for a trip all the way to Port Elizabeth)

This was only possible, because we almost everyday ate food from the supermarket. Also, it’s a lot cheaper if you can split the gas and rental car between 2 people. You can also shift this budget by eating out more, but deciding to not rent a car for this long.

What is the best month for visiting Cape Town?

The best times to visit Cape Town is between the shoulder seasons, from March to May or from September to November. Those shoulder seasons still has great weather, but with fewer crowds and lower prices. In contrary, the summer in Cape Town is the most crowded (winter months in Europe and America), while the winter is the least traveled season (June till August) as the weather is more chilly and you have more chance of rainfall.

Cape Town Itinerary Map

Below is a map of all the places you can visit on your 3 day itinerary in Cape Town.

Cape Town Itinerary Day 1

The first day of your 3 day itinerary will be a bit chill as you just arrived from a (probable) long flight. This will be used to explore Cape Town a bit and see what it has to offer!

1 | V&A Waterfront

V&A Waterfront is the perfect place to start your first day in Cape Town. It’s located in the oldest working harbour in South Africa and has the famous Table Mountain as it’s background. This harbour has everything you can imagine and is a favourite for international as well as national visitors.

You can take a very nice walk around this area and discover all the things it has to offer like a big mall, a Ferris wheel (called the Cape Wheel), two aquariums, play grounds for kids, a lot of entertainment and many more!

2 | Seeing sunset at 'the sunset rock'

End your day with a beautiful sunset at ‘the sunset rock’ with a stunning view over Clifton Beach. It doesn’t have an official name, but you can easily find the name in Google Maps. It’s very easy to get to and doesn’t require any hiking, which makes it the perfect stop for your very first day. Only, there isn’t much parking, so it’s better to be there early.

Cape Town Itinerary Day 2

Today, you will be doing some of the most epic things in Cape Town! So buckle up for this day full of adventure!

3 | Boulders beach

This was one of my favourite things to do in Cape Town. Seeing real-life penguins in their natural habit is really such a surreal experience! So, this is definitely something you can’t miss. There are around 3000 penguins on this beach who are walking freely on this beach.

This beach is located in the south of Cape Town and takes 45 minutes by car. On top of that, you need to pay an entrance fee to see these penguins, which is around €8 per person for international travellers and €4 per person for visitors with South African nationality. Be sure to be here early in the morning as it get’s quite crowded.

Opening hours: The beach is open daily from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Entrance fee: R176 per adult per day or R88 per child per day. Other pricing options are available.

Parking: There is a big visitor parking available.

4 | Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope is the most southern part of Cape Town, but not of South Africa. Back in the day, people thought for a long time that this was the most southern part of whole Africa, but that’s not true. This is reserved for Cape Agulhas on the garden route, 200 kilometres away from Cape Town.

Cape of Good Hope is a very beautiful nature reserve with a lot of different fauna and flora, like baboons, zebra’s, ostriches and many more! You could make a lot of beautiful hikes here around beaches or to a lighthouse. You can not get bored here!

Opening hours: The entrance is between 6:00 am – 6:00 pm in summer months (October – March) and between 7:00 am – 5:00 pm in winter months (April – September). Find more information here.

Entrance fee: R376 per adult and R188 for an entrance ticket. Other pricing options are available.

Parking: There are a lot of parking spaces available throughout the park.

5 | Muizenberg

Muizenberg is a very pretty beach, located around 25 minutes away from Boulders beach so it’s easy to combine. It’s mostly famous for its colourful beach huts on a long, white beach. There are a lot of parking spaces available right next to the beach, so you can relax and enjoy a bit of the sun here!

6 | Table Mountain

Table Mountain is a must visit place to visit in Cape Town. And thousand of visitors from around the world think the same. It’s best known for its flat look, which resembles a table. That’s why Table Mountain got that name. The flattened top of the mountain is approximately 3 kilometres from one side to the other. Once you’re at the top, you’ll have an incredible view of Lions Head, another famous hike in Cape Town!

You can get on top of Table Mountain by a cable car. Tho, there are different ways to get to Table Mountain and that’s by hiking. We hiked all the way down, because the last cable car went down before the sunset. But you can find out all about this on my other blog post with a lot more information on Table Mountain.

Opening hours: The cable car is open daily from 8:00 am – 7:30 pm

Entrance fee: R395 per adult for a morning return ticket or R340 for an afternoon return ticket (past 13:00 pm). It’s also possible to book an one-way ticket for a cheaper price. Other pricing options are available.

Parking: There are a lot of parking spaces available next to the cable car.

Cape Town Itinerary Day 3

Hopefully you are not tired of hiking yet, as there is another all time favourite hike on the planning for this day! But first, you will be visiting other beautiful spots around Cape Town!

7 | Kirstenbosch Gardens

Kirstenbosch gardens is a botanical garden against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. This botanical garden is acclaimed to be one of the best in the whole world. It’s definitely a unique experience, that can’t be missed on a trip to Cape Town.

The park has so many different botanical species, that you could easily spend a few hours inside the gardens. There are also a lot of benches and grass that it makes it the perfect picnic spot. Especially with the mountains on the background!

Opening hours: The botanical garden is open daily between 8:00 am – 7:00 pm during summer time (September – March) and between 8:00 am – 8:00 pm during winter time (April – August).

Entrance fee: R220 per adult or R40 for a child. Other pricing options are available.

Parking: There are a lot of parking spaces available next to the entrance.

8 | Camps Bay Beach

From the sunset rock, you got a climpse of Camps Bay and Camps Bay Beach, but visiting this place is also worth it! Camps Bay is a beautiful white sand beach, where ocean meets the mountains. Here you can swim in the chilly ocean or walk along the boulevard of Camps Bay with restaurants, bars and cafés. Those stones that lay in the middle of the beach also make a great place for pictures!

9 | Bo-Kaap

We didn’t expect much of this place, but it was much nicer than we imagined. Bo-Kaap is mostly known for its colourful houses and cobblestone streets. This small suburb is located in the middle of the city centre and can be reached by foot from your hotel or you can take an Uber/taxi. If you’re going with the car, know that the parking spaces are limited and you most likely have to pay for it.

The history of why these houses are colourful and bright is a bit different than I originally thought. The origin of Bo-Kaap dates back to 1760 when these houses were built and leased as rental houses for slaves. Those people were brought from Indonesia, Malaysia and the rest of Africa to work. While on lease, the houses needed to be white. But when this rule was lifted and the slaves could buy these rental houses, they painted them in a bright colour to shown their freedom. Generations of families live in it until now. There is a museum where you can learn all about this history!

10 | Lions Head

End your day the other best hike you can do in Cape Town. We really wanted to do Lions Head at sunset, but we were a little bit afraid, because then we needed to hike back in the dark. But we didn’t need to worry at all as we weren’t alone at the top that stayed after the sun went down. So, it’s easier to hike down all together, instead of alone.

The hike itself takes around 90 minutes to complete and is fairly easy. But, be aware that you will need to concur some ladders and chains. It was more manageable than I thought. My tips for this hike are: wear proper hiking shoes and take your time to hike with the chains and the ladders.

Read more here: Hiking to the top of Lions Head

Save for later

Enjoy? Share it with your friends!

Travel blogger

Hello, I’m Ellen and welcome to this blog! I’m in love with exploring the world and hopefully I get to inspire you with these blog posts and pictures to feel the same. You will find detailed itineraries, hidden gems, tips and so much more!

My personal favorites