4 Days in Cape Town: A Realistic Day-by-Day Itinerary

Treat the order of these four days as movable pieces: whichever morning brings clear skies and low wind is your Day 1, because Table Mountain and Robben Island both depend on the weather. You only need a hire car for Days 2 and 3.

Day 1: Table Mountain, the City Bowl and the Waterfront

• Morning: catch the first cable car up Table Mountain (or hike up Platteklip Gorge at dawn and ride the car down) while the air is crisp and clear. Spend an hour walking the summit plateau trails.
• Late morning and lunch: Uber down to Wale Street to walk the colourful lanes of the Bo-Kaap, visit the Bo-Kaap Museum, and have a Cape Malay lunch or head to a bakery on Bree Street, followed by a stroll through the Company's Garden.
• Afternoon and evening: take the early-afternoon ferry to Robben Island from the V&A Waterfront, then stay at the harbour for a sunset catamaran cruise and dinner.

Day 2: The Full Cape Peninsula Loop (with a car)

• Morning: drive south to Muizenberg to see the painted beach huts, then stop in Kalk Bay for espresso at Olympia Café and a walk out to the fishing harbour wall. Continue to Boulders Beach before 10am to see the African penguins at Foxy Beach and the swimming cove.
• Afternoon: enter the Cape of Good Hope reserve (remember, cards only at the gate), walk up to the old Cape Point lighthouse and follow the cliff path toward Dias Beach.
• Late afternoon: drive back north via Scarborough, Noordhoek and the cliff-hanging curves of Chapman's Peak Drive, stopping for sunset drinks on the strip in Camps Bay.

Day 3: Kirstenbosch, Constantia Wine Valley and Sunset Peak

• Morning: spend three hours in Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, walking the Boomslang canopy bridge and the upper protea slopes.
• Afternoon: drive ten minutes over Constantia Nek into the Constantia vineyards for lunch and tastings at Groot Constantia, Klein Constantia or Beau Constantia.
• Sunset: hike up Lion's Head or drive up Signal Hill with a picnic.

Day 4: Contemporary Art, Woodstock and the Atlantic Beaches

• Morning: if it is a weekend, start at the Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock (or the Oranjezicht market by the Waterfront), then spend two hours inside Zeitz MOCAA.
• Afternoon: pack a towel for Clifton 4th Beach and finish with a sunset walk along the Sea Point Promenade.

Have 5 or 6 days? Add a full day in the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek Winelands (45 to 60 minutes east), or drive along Clarence Drive to Betty's Bay and whale-watching cliffs in Hermanus.