Not many places in the world can boast a more spectacular setting than Cape Town, also known as South Africa’s Mother City. Sir Francis Drake, the renowned navigator, labelled it “the fairest cape” in 1580, and centuries later, this is still an apt accolade. Cradled between the mountain, the ocean and the forests, it is consistently listed amongst the world’s best cities. Cape Town is endowed with abundant natural beauty, myriad adventure activities, world-class shopping, exquisite cuisine, colourful cultures and captivating history. All these defining characteristics combine to make it a tourist paradise. The city welcomes thousands of visitors every year, and it usually carves a permanent place in their hearts, and memory cards, thereafter.
The media tends to portray South Africa as a dangerous place to visit and its high crime rate is no secret. However, out of the thousands of people who visit the Mother City, most don’t experience any problems. Many people wonder what the best method of transportation around the city is. The following is a list of the most common ways of getting around Cape Town.
An Uber is probably one of the easiest ways to get around Cape Town. All you need to do is download the app onto your smartphone (if you don’t have it already), register yourself, and then you are good to go. Once you know the accommodation you are going to be staying at, you can save it as your home address on the Uber app.
Cape Town
Rikki is a private taxi service that picks up and delivers you straight to the place you need to go to, but with a twist. When you ride with Rikki, you will share your journey with people who are heading in the same direction. This saves you both money and time and is also better for the environment. This taxi service takes groups from two up to 22 people.
Getting yourself onto a bike and cycling around Cape Town is quick, cheap and environmentally friendly. There are a number of places where you can get yourself a high-quality city bike or mountain bike. Knowing where you are going to stay is important if you use this method of transportation. Ideally, the place you rent the bike from needs to be within walking distance and your accommodation shouldn’t be uphill.
There are many advantages to renting a car in Cape Town. The first one is that you can go wherever you want, whenever you want. The second is that you are guaranteed to be safe because you have complete control of the vehicle. Finally, there are many different ways to rent a car. One scheme allows you to travel the country. You pick up the car at one place and then drop it off somewhere else, allowing you to travel and see everything you want and need.
If you enjoy walking, then Cape Town is the city for you. The freedom of travelling by foot is always extremely convenient and just like cycling, it is cheap, good for you, and good for the environment. However, it can take a lot of time to get from place to place. Also, always make sure that you are safe and don’t go anywhere after dark on your own.
These are just a handful of the potential methods of transport around Cape Town. Always make sure that you take precautions to stay safe whatever you decide to do and always keep an eye out for dodgy taxi drivers. Have a great time exploring!
The City Sightseeing hop-on hop-off buses are a great way to get an overview of a city while listening to the insightful commentary on your surroundings – especially when you have limited time. There are 2 main routes in Cape Town with some overlap in-between. The Red City Tour route weaves through the city streets and also goes to Table Mountain. Read more about the City Sightseeing Cape Town Bus.
This is a guest post.
Sara Essop is a travel blogger and writer based in South Africa. She writes about family travel and experiences around the world. Although she has been to 50 countries thus far, she especially loves showcasing her beautiful country and is a certified South Africa Specialist.
