My dream trip to South Africa – Cape Town

When it comes to this blog post I don’t know where to start. For years I’ve dreamed of visiting South Africa and Cape Town, seeing the beautiful landscapes, taste the delicious food/wine, see the penguins 🙂 and much more. But there’s something rather scary about visiting a place that you always dreamed of going to. What if it’s not that good and beautiful as you hoped it would be ? What if it would be okay, but not more ? Now I finally made it to Cape Town – and I am just overwhelmed. It’s more beautiful than I ever thought. I totally fell in love with this country !!

I created a bucket list for South Africa and Cape Town:

1. To see and maybe swim with the penguins

2. To surf in Muizenberg (or to stay at least for 10 sec on the surf board)

3. To eat delicious food as much as possible and to drink south african wine as much as possible

4. To get on the Top of the Table Mountain (of course with the cable car and not by walking)

5. To see and experience as much beautiful things as possible

6. To explore the winelands

Because I wanted to see and experience as much as possible in Cape Town and surroundings I choose to get some help regarding the sightseeing. I contacted a Tour Operator which is specialized in bespoke and unique tours in Cape Town – exactly what I wanted. Jarat Tours is the best option which you can get in South Africa. They are just amazing. We had the luck to get Saliegh as our guide/driver. Jarat Tours offers a lot of different tours (Day Tour Cape Town, Day Tour Cape Peninsula, Winelands Tour etc.). Once you choosed a tour (we choosed the Day Tour Cape Town), they will pick you up with an exclusive car (for example a Mercedes-Benz E-Class 😉 ) at your hotel and start the unique tour.

Now I will show you why I fell in love with this beautiful country. I am sure you will understand it immediately 🙂

The lovely colored houses in Boo-Kaap. A really nice and historical area. If you are there, make sure you have some time to visit the Atlas Spices Shop. You can find there all kind of spices, especially from the malay cuisine. This was a tip from Saliegh (he gave us so many insider tips during the tour, it was just amazing).

Even if the weather was not that good during our drive at the Chapmans Peak Drive, you can still see the impressive and mind-blowing landscapes. And every capetonian will tell you that the weather in Cape Town is not predictable. It can change during 10minutes from rain to clear blue sky (I can definitely confirm this statement 😉 ).

Do you see this crazy blue sky ??? How mind-blowing is this ? We were in Camps Bay, a lovely area in Cape Town. You can find there a beautiful beach, nice people, a lot of restaurants and shops. It looks a bit like the Ocean Drive in Miami.

I finally made it on the Top of the Table Mountain. It was such a cool feeling. But as mentioned before, I took of course the cable car and didn’t hike the whole mountain up. But if you want – feel free. As you know, I am not a sporty person, so I will not start it here in South Africa, the country of good food and wine 🙂 If you go up with the cable car, be aware that the car is rotating about itself. So don’t frightened or think that you are maybe still drunk from the last night (as I thought 😉 ) – it is normal.

Welcome to the Jungle, we’ve got fun and games… or to the Kirstenboch Gardens 😉 You have definitely plan a stop at the Kirstenbosch Gardens during your trip. It is not just a botanical garden. It is so much more. I would say it is like a little national park with a chain bridge, a little plant museum, a restaurant and all kind of different plants, trees and flowers and much more. There are also a lot of picnic areas where you can just sit and relax in the grass. So grab your picnic baskets and go for it (they arrange also every sunday during the summer months an open air concert with a lot of local musicians).

I can’t tell you guys how excited I was that I finally could see my penguins at the Boulders Beach. It was so surreal. They are just 0,5 – 1 meter away from you. And they are sooooooo cute 🙂 If you want to get so close to the penguins as I, you have to take the second entrance at the Boulders Beach – not the first one. Because when you take the first entrance you will be only allowed to see the penguins from a platform, but if you go a few meters further you will see penguins paradise). There will be a little bay where you can swim, relax and chill with the penguins. How cool is this ?!?

Beside the penguins, another item on my bucket list was to learn surfing (or to stay at least for a few seconds on the surfboard). Because I’ve heared that Muizenberg is a very good location for beginners, I mad an appointment with Gary’s Surf School. If you are in Cape Town and want to surf, make sure you go to Gary’s Surf School. The guys are just amazing !! PS: If you are in Muizenberg, go after your surf lesson to Kalk Bay (5-10min drive) and visit Kalky’s. It is just a snack bar, but they have the best and freshest fish&chips you can imagine – Trust me.

Thank you @Gary’s Surf School for my 10 seconds fame ( I am sure that it was more than 10 seconds; minimum 12 seconds) – but not bad for my first surf lesson !! 

If you want to explore Cape Town and the surroundings (Winelands, Cape Peninsula etc.) in a unique, bespoke and luxury way, I can highly recommend you Jarat Tours. Everything was more than perfect. You can’t get more insider tips from local people than during this tour. Saliegh told us so many things about this beautiful country, that if I can only remember 50% of this, I could be a good telephone joker on “Who wants to Be a Millionaire” 😉 You feel like as if a friend is driving you around and showing you his home country, and not like a guided tour (if you do a tour with Jarat, please ask for Saliegh – he’s the best). We also tried the Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour which is very nice but not comparable to a tour with Jarat Tours. Yes, of course it is cheaper but you will never ever get the insider tips we got from our guide and you have also not the possibility to stop where you want – it is a fix tour (and the bus is only driving in one direction, so you have to plan a lot of time for the tour). During your tour with Jarat nothing is fixed – only your pick up time and your type of the tour. But you decide every single stop on your tour and also the duration of your stop – totally bespoke. Just the way I like it 🙂

This was an amazing start of my South African Dream Trip and I am sure that more beautiful impressions will follow.