Sightseeing in Cape Town

Getting to know Cape Town usually starts at two points: Table Mountain above the city and Robben Island out in the bay. The island prison, where Nelson Mandela served eighteen of his twenty-seven years, is a museum today; the trip with ferry and hotel transfer takes five and a half hours and costs 78 dollars.

The city itself is shown on foot: a walk through the centre lasts four and a half hours at 91 dollars. The township tour takes the same time — through the districts Black residents were forcibly moved into under apartheid; it costs 61 dollars and explains how the city's present geography came about. Both formats suit a first day.

Then the peninsula opens up: a day taking in Table Mountain, the Cape of Good Hope and the penguins runs seven hours for 212 dollars, and the private version at the colony eight hours for 254. There are trike routes along the coast and out to Hermanus, plus a car with a driver for eleven hours if you have your own plan. GetExperience lists 8 sightseeing programmes in Cape Town, from 61 to 879 dollars; pages state the guide's language and what the price covers.