Tours and Experiences

Why take a tour?

Visiting a new city, especially in a new country, can be a daunting task. You’ll want to see the best it has to offer without missing out on the quaint details that make it unique – and trying to get both without guidance can be stressful and often impossible.

Cape Town has an abundance of attractions on offer and to make sense of them all we recommend taking up the services of a tour guide or experiences company. There are great benefits to this kind of service, not least making the most of your all-too-brief stay in the city (however long it is) and leaving the organisational hassles in the hands of professionals.

Taking a guided city tour can help to ease you into a new environment, lessen culture shock and assist you in orientating yourself.

An attractions tour or guided experience offers visitors a personalised introduction to an area or attraction. They can contextualise the information within local history and knowledge, allowing you to see the bigger picture.

Book with Cape Town Tourism

We’re the experts when it comes to Cape Town, and we’re dedicated to helping you enjoy your stay.

Cape Town Tourism offers access to reviewed, accredited and licensed operators only – so you can be confident that you’re going to get a quality service. We ensure our associated operators are fully-insured and operate road-worthy, safe vehicles.  Cape Town Tourism accredited members are committed to providing affordable, quality services.

Our recommended guides are fully trained, and have personality, knowledge and that special Cape Town “edge” to give you an experience that suits you, rather than boring, one-size-fits-all approaches. We can also find you a specialist with in-depth knowledge and experience, depending on your interests.

If English isn’t your first language, we know the task of sightseeing is even more daunting. Cape Town Tourism can help to find a guide who speaks your language, plus they are often born and bred Capetonians who can offer you a local perspective.

Recommended Tours

We recommend the following top tours as a starting point for your Cape Town experience.

Township Tours

Experience authentic local culture on one of our popular township tours. There are tours available in Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Kayamandi, and Lwandle, with a variety of stops and routes to meet your needs.  There are bus, bicycle and walking tour options, with tour guides who are qualified residents of the area with unbeatable local knowledge.

These are not “cultural villages” set up for tourists, but rather a slice of life in the developing world. You’ll meet people and eat and drink in popular local venues, while accessing many sites of historical significance.

Township tours offer visitors an opportunity to benefit the local community directly as they employ residents, and direct customers to neighbourhood establishments. Cape Town Tourism does not support tours that exploit the local people or create a “fishbowl” or “zoo tour” effect. We are very respectful of people’s privacy and dignity.

The townships are colourful and dramatic places, filled with people overcoming the most tremendous obstacles. Visitors often feel emotional after a township tour, and buoyed up with a sense of hope.  

Winelands Tours

Go on a winelands tour in Cape Town, and the surrounding areas, which is internationally renowned for its wine.

Many respected and well-known vineyards have opened themselves to the public for tours and tastings. You could enjoy an in-depth visit to one establishment – sometimes, if you're lucky, meeting with the winemaker on a private visit – or spend a day popping into a few with a tour group.  

Even if you’re having taster-sized sips, having a designated official driver in the tour bus should be a weight off your mind. Cape Town Tourism only recommends fully-insured, licensed tour operators who take your safety on the roads very seriously.

Cape Town’s wine experience includes the Durbanville wine route, Constantia wine route and the Helderberg wine route. Certain places also offer food and wine pairing events that are highlights for foodie tourists and enthusiasts.

Peninsula Tours

Take in the full beauty of Cape Town and its surroundings on a tour of the Cape Peninsula.

Tours can include any number of popular stops such as Muizenberg, Kalk Bay, Simon’s Town, Cape Point, Noordhoek and Hout Bay.

These tours give visitors the opportunity to see the variety of landscape and scenery Cape Town has to offer, and are an excellent way of orientating yourself with the coastal suburbs.

Bus, train and cycling tour options are available.

Other Options

• Get to grips with Cape Town, soaking up the glorious sunshine while enjoying the unique flora of the area. Take a specialist tour to learn about the Cape Floral Kingdom or the plants and animals, including penguins, ostriches and baboons endemic to the area.
• Enjoy active tours, such as hiking or diving tours: You can head up Table Mountain with an accredited guide, visit the Kogelbay biosphere, and scuba and snorkel in the Atlantic or Indian Ocean.
• You even hire a specialist spiritual guide to focus on areas of your health and wellbeing.
• Adventurous tourists can go abseiling, sky-diving or shark-cage diving. Many overland African safaris also begin in Cape Town.
• Cosmopolitan shopping and nightlife tours are also available.

Rates and terms explained

• Half-day tours usually last three to four hours, and an average half-day tour costs R375 per person (for a minimum of two people. If you are alone on the tour, expect to pay round R750).
• Full-day tours can run closer to seven or eight hours in length, and an average full-day tour costs R550 per person (for a minimum of two people, or R1100 if you are the only person on the tour). Lunch is sometimes provided on full-day tours – please remember to check when you book.
• The average rate for a personalised tour is R1100 (minimum one person) and is dependent on distance to travel, stops, entrance fees and guide fee.
• Entrance fees to attractions are not always included in a tour fee – please remember to check when you book.