Tours / Cruises, Cape Town

Experience a wonderful free scenic cruise from Hout Bay harbour to view thousands of Cape Fur seals close up in their natural habitat. Drumbeat Charters gets you so close to the seals you can almost touch them. You will be surrounded by the magnificent 331m high Sentinel Mountain and Chapmans Peak.

There are a variety of companies offering different cruises and tours. They are generally expensive by local standards, but then are primarily aimed toward tourists. I have given the name of one below.

You can do a variety of cruises:
- whale watching cruise
- sunset cruise
- Robben Island cruise
- eco cruises
- seal cruises
- cruise and dine cruises
- harbour cruises
- champagne cruises
- fishing trips

This is very worthwhile to do and is something you will never forget.

Just recently I had the pleasure of doing the Blue Route (Mini Peninsula Tour) on one of the Cape Town City Sightseeing open top buses that operate in and around the city. The commentary, the on board service and the crew were excellent, but the thing I was most impressed by was the view. And I am not only talking about views of the panoramic variety! Sitting up high on the top level of the double-decker bus, without having to keep my eyes on the road, allowed me to see so much more than I have ever seen previously. In other words just being a couple of metres higher than normal gave me a whole new perspective of the city that I love so much!

There are many tour operators in Cape Town but we chose 'Cape Tours with Mac' as the itinerary included everything we wanted to see (we were limited in time so combined the Cape Point and the Winelands tour into one day, ideally would have done over 2) and also as Mac is an independent tour guide.
We made a great choice. Luckily we were the only 2 people booked on the tour that day so we had a personal tour but for no extra cost and Mac could not have been more accomodating. We drove all around the Cape Point with lots of interesting commentary from Mac en route, and he was very good at answering our constant questions! Having lived in South Africa for many years and being very enthusuatic about the places we visited there seemed to be nothing he couldn't tell us and gave us lots of history/facts etc as well and nothing was too much trouble, we could stop for a photo or spend more or less time anywhere along the route.
In one day we saw Cape Point nature reserve, the lighthouse at the point, the gorgeous penguins at boulders beach and the hundreds of seals on Duiker island (look out for the old guy at Fishhoek harbour who feeds the seals by holding the fish in his own mouth - amazing!)
We stopped by all the coastal towns on route and then in the afternoon we saw baby ostriches at the ostrich farm, had a tour around the cheetah sanctuary and even had time for tastings at 2 vinyards before a leisurely drive around the beautiful town of Stellenbosch and then being dropped off right outside our accomodation. We had a wonderful day and saw so much but we never felt at all rushed. We even got an excellent restaurant recommendation for that night! Will definitely go on another tour next time we are back in CT.

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Hermanus is a town of around 45 000 inhabitants, located 115 kms east to Cape Town. Originally called Hermanuspietersfontein, it was one of many settlements on the south, relying on maritime industry like fishing and whaling. Today, Hermanus is renowned for its unique location. The town was built around a bay which is famous for its whales. Every year, the southern right whale (As well as a hand full of other whale species), come to Hermanus to mate and calf. The whales come from the antarctic seas, looking for warmer waters for their new-born and are usually spotted between June and November. Festivals around the whales can be found in Hermanus in August and September. Hermanus is proud to have the office of a whale crier, a man who announces the whale sightings with a horn.

The full day Hermanus tour offered by Hylton Ross is a good option for those who do not have a car to reach the town . That does not mean that you are bette off on your own. Also, if you just want to learn a lot from local guides, this tour is highly recommended. The tour starts from Cape Town and you are picked up at your hotel. Beside Hermanus, it includes a visit to the Harold Porter Botanical garden and a break where you can taste wines or just get a cup of coffee, if you don’t like wine tasting. In Hermanus, your guide will drive you to several spots where you can see the whales. The small size of the group enables you to express yourr wishes individually and stay longer or shorter at the one or other point. If you are not lucky with land-based whale watching, your guide will help you to find a boat-based tour in Hermanus. But please note that that tour is not included in your price.

We were on tour with Janice, who was a fabolous guide. She was not only a friendly, warm-hearted person, but was also a never-ending source of local knowledge. So, you will not learn only about Hermanus and the whales, but a lot about local history, from Apartheid in Cape Town to the cultivation of wine by french immigrants in the 17th century. A great experience I would recommend to anyone.

This is the first thing that you should do when you go to Cape Town. The red bus route is the most interesting. It only goes one way so get off at the first stop of interest and continue that way. Go early in the morning because the exhibits at the museums take a long time. At 4pm the line to go to table mountain was much shorter than 10am so try to leave that one for last.

I went on a separate city tour and that guide was not as knowledgable as the guides on this tour. Plus this tour is a lot cheaper and to an extent it is at your own pace.

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This tour starts with showing you the Cape Malay part of Cape Town with the colourful houses then takes you on to the district 6 museum which is so interesting. After a drive through District 6 its on to Langa a township just outside Cape Town. Langa is the oldist township in the area and the first stop is a craft center where they are teaching people skills so they can go on to get jobs and set up their own businesses - they have a gift shop which was great, everything is so cheap and all the money goes straight back to the people. Next is a walking tour which takes you to a former mens hostel which is now a house to 3 families (the conditions are terrible), then to a newer flat which used to be a hostel. Next stop is the school where the kids do a bit of dancing and singing (cute!)
This could have been a very depressing tour but its not - it shows that they are moving forward and making things better for people. You cannot go to cape town and not do this.

Local tour company with tours to Cape Point, Winelands, Whale-watching, Townships, Table Mountain, and Mountain Biking. I did the tour to Cape Point. Really enjoyed it. I recommend this company for people who are looking for less catered, more active tours. It was fun to bike part of the way to the Cape and then hike up to the lighthouse instead of being in a bus the whole time.