Cape Town had been on the list since before we moved to Kenya. It was the kind of place that people described with a particular quality of enthusiasm – not just “it’s beautiful” but “it changed the way I thought about cities” – and after two years in Nairobi we finally went, in the December school holidays, with children aged eight and eleven. Cape Town did not disappoint. Cape Town did something more interesting than not disappoint, it surprised us, repeatedly, in directions we had not anticipated.
The flight from Nairobi to Cape Town takes between four and five hours depending on routing and airline. Kenya Airways and South African Airways both operate the route. Direct flights are significantly preferable to connections through Johannesburg when you have children – the transit at OR Tambo is manageable but adds two to three hours and the unpredictability of a connection to a long-haul trip. Book direct if the cost difference is manageable.
Table Mountain
Table Mountain is the thing everyone tells you to do first and they are right, but with a qualification: the cable car runs only when weather permits, and Cape Town weather is famously unpredictable. Check the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway website each morning and go when it is operating and clear. Do not wait until the last day of your trip – the mountain will be in cloud and you will be on a plane and you will be telling this story for years with mild bitterness.
The view from the top is extraordinary and requires no qualification. The plateau is flat and walkable, with paths marked out across the top and views in every direction – the city below, the ocean stretching to the horizon, Robben Island visible as a low shape in the bay. Children respond to this well because it is physical and spacious and the scale of it is immediately comprehensible in a way that scenic views do not always manage. My son climbed every visible rock on the summit. My daughter found a lizard on a warm stone and spent twenty minutes observing it. Both of them came down talking about the view.
Boulders Beach
Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town – about forty-five minutes from central Cape Town on the False Bay coast – is home to a resident colony of African penguins that are, without any competition, the most popular thing in the Western Cape with every child aged between three and twelve. African penguins are an endangered species and seeing them at such close range, waddling along paths and nesting in the beach vegetation, is both delightful and sobering. The colony has declined significantly in recent decades, which is worth explaining to older children in context.
The boulders that give the beach its name create a series of sheltered swimming coves that are ideal for children – calm water, sandy bottom, no significant current. Swimming with penguins occasionally at a respectful distance, the Southern Atlantic Ocean around you and Table Mountain visible on the northern horizon, is genuinely one of the more surreal and wonderful things a family can do on an African trip.
The Cape Peninsula
The Cape Peninsula drive – from Cape Town south through Simon’s Town, past Boulders Beach, to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope – is one of the great scenic drives in Africa and entirely appropriate for a family day with older children. Cape Point is the dramatic southern tip of the peninsula (note: not the southernmost point of Africa, which is actually Cape Agulhas about two hours east, but the more dramatic of the two). The lighthouse walk at Cape Point is a genuine hike and takes about thirty minutes up and back. The views are extraordinary. The baboons at the car park are both entertaining and a genuine nuisance and not to be approached or fed.
Robben Island
Robben Island – where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison – is one of the most important historical sites in Africa. The island is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and museum and the guided tours, led by former political prisoners who were incarcerated there, are among the most powerful historical experiences available on the continent. I would not take children under twelve to Robben Island – the context requires a certain level of historical and emotional maturity – but for teenagers and adults it is unmissable.
Food and Neighbourhoods
Cape Town’s food scene is genuinely world-class and offers extraordinary variety. The V&A Waterfront is the obvious family hub and is both enjoyable and easy – good restaurants at every price point, a working harbour, the Two Oceans Aquarium (which is excellent for children), and a generally festive atmosphere. For a more local experience, the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood (the brightly coloured Cape Malay quarter) is walkable from the city centre and has a fascinating history and good Cape Malay food. Camps Bay, the coastal suburb west of the city, has a magnificent beach and beachfront restaurants where you can eat with a view of the mountain.
A week in Cape Town with children is the right length. It allows you to do the major attractions without rushing, spend time on the beach and at Boulders, take the peninsula drive, and have a day or two to simply be in the city without an agenda. Come in December or January for the best weather; July and August can be cold, grey, and wet, which is Cape Town’s winter and beautiful in its own way but not what most families are looking for.
