September 2021
City Sightseeing and Cape Point has made it easier than ever to explore the Southern Peninsula and Cape Point. The Cape Point Explorer tour is the best way for locals to experience Cape Point, and we’ve made it even better by drastically reducing our ticket price. Join us on our air-conditioned, double-decker Red Buses for a day of touring of the Southern Peninsula, led by fun and friendly local guides. From the penguins at Boulders Beach to a hike down to Dias Beach, locals can experience Cape Point like a tourist with all its fun and thrills.
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape Explorer Tour
Cape Point has adjusted their pricing to encourage locals to visit and enjoy the park, and at City Sightseeing, we’ve followed suit. Cape Explorer tickets are now R420 per adult when you buy your ticket online. Kids tickets are R220 online. When you’re on the bus you can additionally buy tickets to the Cape Point park and Boulders Beach, and locals get a discounted rate! Bring your South African ID along to get your Cape Point ticket for R80 per adult, R40 for kids. If you’d like to experience Boulders Beach with its colony of penguins, entrance for SA citizens is only R39 for adults, R20 for kids. You can purchase your boulders beach ticket from your bus driver or at the reserve. The same goes for your tickets for the Flying Dutchman Funicular, which can be purchased from the bus driver.
Get on the bus at STOP 1 at the V&A Waterfront at 9:30, or at STOP 5 on Long Street at 9:42. The tour lasts for around 8 hours, and we recommend you wear comfortable walking shoes and bring along something warm to put on or take off depending on the Cape Town weather. The tour lasts for around 8 hours.
The Route
Hop on the bus at STOP 1 or 5 to embark on your Cape Point journey. It’s a scenic route past the mountains and down to the coast. You’ll pass through Muizenburg and Fish Hoek, two picturesque coastal towns, before arriving at your first attraction. Simon’s town is an idyllic fishing town along the Southern coast, with a naval base, harbour, beaches, and some of the best fish and chip shops in the Western Cape. But the highlight of Simon’s Town is Boulders Beach, home to a colony of African Penguins that call this stretch of white sand and crystal clear water amongst the towering boulders home.
Boulders Beach
Visitors will have 40 minutes to enjoy the stop. You can pay to enter the beach or see the penguins from the boardwalk for free, where you’ll get to see their nesting boxes. The penguins can get pretty close to you and the railing, but don’t be tempted to touch them; they’re still wild animals, and they’ll still bite. But they’re definitely not camera-shy, so take the opportunity to snap a few pictures. You’ll likely also get to see a few Dussies sunbathing on the boulders, and there’s always a local market around the beach to shop for souvenirs. Plenty to do even if you don’t opt to enter the beach.
After 40 minutes at the beach, the tour will move on to the Cape Point Nature Reserve, where we’ll disembark to start the main leg of our adventure. Be sure to purchase your Cape Point ticket from the driver to save time and avoid the queues. Here you’ll have a chance to enjoy lunch with the group (the cost of lunch isn’t included in the ticket), before heading further down towards the most southern point with the Flying Dutchman Funicular, with an in-depth guided tour in English. You can opt to walk if you don’t take the Funicular, but if you want to relax, the Funicular is the way to go. It’s R80 per adult return trip, and R35 for a return trip for kids between 6 - 16. Kids younger than 6 rides for free.
Flying Dutchman at Cape Point
Be sure to take pictures of the view from the end of the path, the South Western tip of Africa. It grants you views across False Bay and the Southern Peninsula. There’s also a lighthouse to take pictures under, and the tumultuous surf that surrounds the peninsula.
Then it’s on to the optional hike to finish off the tour. It’s a 40-minute hike through the Cape of Good Hope Nature reserve, heading down to Dias Beach, where its namesake once came ashore for the first time. It’s an easy to moderate hike, and we highly recommend it if you’re fit enough. The scenery is beautiful, with rocky cliffs, lush fynbos, numerous wildlife such as ostriches, baboons and buck, and the picturesque, untouched beaches that dot the coast.
After the group has made it back, it’s time for the journey back to Cape Town, following the scenic route through the small coastal villages of Scarborough and Kommetjie before heading back over Ou Kaapse Weg, with spectacular views of the mountains, the sprawling city in the valley, and the flanking ocean on each side.
Cape Point steps
The Best Way for Locals to Explore Cape Point
Book your tickets online to enjoy Cape Point like a tourist would, with exciting views and tales from local guides. See all the other brilliant attractions Cape Town has to offer aboard our iconic open-top Red buses, from the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. It’s the perfect way to see Cape Town for locals and tourists alike. If you’d like to know anything else about the tour feel free to contact us.
