Two Cape Town day tours

We’ve been to Cape town before, but there were still a few things on our “must-do” list. We once again stayed again at the Victoria and Alfred Hotel on the waterfront. There are so many restaurants to choose from there, and the food in Cape Town never lets you down. We were keen to enjoy some great meals, do some shopping – and have a bit of a rest after being on safari.

Danica from Encompass Africa also recommended we do one of the best tours in Cape Town: a food tour called Eat Like a Local.

Eat Like A Local

 I cannot recommend this tour highly enough for anyone interested in food and history.

Our guide, Zee, was so friendly and knowledgeable, and we learnt so much about Cape Town and its history, all told through the story of food.

We not only learnt about food, we also sampled it. And the food was so good. Wow and yum!

 We met at about 9am for a coffee and a sort of tapioca pudding, which sounds a bit dodgy, but was so delicious. We then started our walking tour and went to Bo Kaap, an area of Cape Town that’s famous for its super-colourful houses, narrow cobbled streets and local Cape Malay culture – including its delicious Cape Malay food! We walked around Bo Kaap, went to an Indian spice market, and ate koeksisters, deep-fried, plaited pastries soaked in a sweet syrup, which are a South African delicacy.

We continued on our walk around the city and along the way had a tea tasting, followed by a wine tasting in a bar, and then a delicious lunch. The places we visited were so fantastic, but we would never, ever have found them ourselves. I’m guessing even lots of locals don’t know about some of them! You’d walk through a tiny little doorway, and there’d be an amazing courtyard restaurant where they had live music on Saturdays.

It was amazing. I had the best time.

Like so many experiences that we had in Africa, it was just my partner and me on the tour. He really liked the food tour, too – but probably not as much as me, I was just in my element! I love cooking and cookbooks, and trying out different recipes and shopping for ingredients and so on. But this took things to the next level, because Zee put everything into the context of Cape Town’s history, and how it was settled, and where all the different people come from. It was fascinating.

 Danica suggested the Eats Like a Local tour, and we’re so glad she did. We’d recommend it to anyone visiting Cape Town.

Danica also inspired us to do another tour, thanks to one of her Facebook posts that we’d seen months beforehand. In that post she was on a tour in Cape Town – on a vintage motorcycle with a sidecar.

Cape Town Side Car Tour

 When you’re on holidays you can do all sorts of silly stuff, so I said, “Let’s do it!” So Danica booked us on a Mini-Peninsula Highlights tour with Cape Sidecar Adventures, and we had a brilliant day. Once again, it was just the two of us, so it was like having our own exclusive tour. I was in the side car, and Pete was up on the motorbike, sitting behind the driver.

Our driver took us out to the charming Noordhoek Farm Village and back again, via the iconic Chapmans Peak Drive, which has the most stunning views you can imagine. It was so cold, but it was so fun. They give you a little blanket in the sidecar, but if you’re going in a cooler month, be sure to rug up!

They do all types of routes and Danica helps design it so it’s exactly right for you.

We’d definitely recommend both of these tours to anyone visiting Cape Town.

See the itinerary