On my first full day in Cape Town, I went on a tour to the Cape Peninsula with a company called Baz Bus. The Cape Peninsula ended up being one of the highlights of my trip! With cute wildlife and beautiful scenery, I’m sure you’ll love it too! Whether you choose to go on a tour like mine or drive down yourself, here are the Cape Peninsula Highlights that you absolutely must-see!
Planning a trip to Cape Town? Click here to read my recommended four-day itinerary. This post is how I recommend you spend day one!
*Disclaimer* I am not sponsered by Baz Bus in any way. This is my genuine review of the trip.
Why the Baz Bus Cape Peninsula Tour?
I actually booked my whole trip to Africa through my travel agent (STA Travel), so while there are plenty of options for day tours in the Cape Peninsula area, this is the only one they showed in the book I was given! I probably would have chosen it anyway, because it was with a small group, it included food and a range of activities and went to some places I was super keen to visit, like the penguins at Simon’s Town and the Cape of Good Hope. Below, I’ve written about all the highlights, and why you should visit these places too!
Hout Bay
Hout Bay is only a short drive out of Cape Town and was the first stop on my tour. It’s a really beautiful area being surrounded by mountains! Hout Bay is most famous for its seal colony, and there are a number of activities you can do based around seeing the seals. I went on a cruise to see the Duiker Island Seal Colony, which was only 110 rand ($11 AUD). The cruise was totally worth it for the views of the bay! The seals were cute too, of course. The one downside was that it was extremely bumpy! Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re prone to seasickness. You can also snorkel with the seals here, which is something I really wanted to do! However, you have to be really lucky with the weather as they won’t run the trips if it’s too windy. If you’re staying in Cape Town and want to head to Hout Bay in your own time, it is serviced by the City Sightseeing Bus (blue line), which I have written about in my Cape Town Itinerary post.
Chapman’s Peak Drive
If you’re on a tour or driving to the Cape Peninsula, Chapman’s Peak Drive comes highly recommended. Apparently the views are absolutely stunning! Unfortunately on the day I went the road was closed due to the high winds, so I can’t show you what the view looks like! If you can, check the weather before deciding what day to take Chapman’s Peak Drive – you might be able to increase your chances of getting to do the drive by picking a less windy day!
On my tour, we took the back road to Simon’s Town. No doubt it was much less impressive than Chapman’s Peak Drive, but it was still quite beautiful. If you also head this way, I recommend stopping at the shark watching station that overlooks False Bay. It’s really interesting reading about how they spot the sharks, and the view is really nice. Thankfully for the many surfers, we didn’t spot any sharks!
Boulders Beach Penguins (the absolute highlight for me)
There’s a bit of a backstory to this. Way back when I was in my final year of high school, I did geography and at the end of the year everyone had to pick an animal and present about it. I chose the Amur Leopard because I was obsessed with cats at the time, but my friend did African Penguins. We all got really invested in the animals we were studying, so when I decided to go to Africa, specifically Cape Town, I knew I had to make the trip out to see the penguins.
To enter the Boulder’s Beach Penguin Colony visitor centre, it will cost foreign tourists 160 rand ($16 AUD) but it’s totally worth it! You can spend as long as you like exploring the boardwalks and admiring the adorable penguins. I was super surprised by how many we saw, even though we visited near the middle of the day. Here in Australia, we have Little Penguins, but they can only be seen at night. Entry to the visitor centre is no longer included in the Baz Bus tour (in fact, my tour was the LAST DAY it was included!), so I recommend paying the extra money. Apparently you might be able to see some penguins from the beach outside of the visitor centre. But for the best experience, you should go in.
Cape Point Nature Reserve
If you choose to visit one of my Cape Peninsula Highlights, it should be this one. The Cape Point Nature Reserve is really beautiful and there’s loads to see and do! I highly recommend taking a drive, bike ride or walk around the reserve as well as going to the lighthouse and Cape of Good Hope. Whilst I completely suck at bike riding (don’t believe me? Read about my experience in Vancouver here), I really enjoyed taking my time to really admire all the different plants.
Cape of Good Hope Lighthouse
For the best views over the Cape Peninsula, head to the old Cape of Good Hope Lighthouse. The walk up to the lighthouse isn’t too difficult and provides lots of different perspectives on the way. Alternatively, you can take the cable car. If you’re heading here, beware of the Baboons! Don’t bring food and make sure to lock your car and close all windows. They are very clever and can be quite agressive.
The lighthouse is 200 m above sea level and you can see in all directions. On a clear day, you can see over the Cape of Good Hope, False Bay and the mountains back towards Cape Town.
Cape of Good Hope
This is probably the most famous of my Cape Peninsula Highlights. In fact, I chose this tour so that I could go to the Cape of Good Hope. Most people think that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern-most point of Africa and/or the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. However, it’s actually not either! Both of those are actually at Cape Agulhas. So if you’re just visiting to tick off “southern-most point of Africa” then don’t bother!
To be honest, the lighthouse was cooler than the Cape of Good Hope itself. The cape was just a bunch of rocks! That said, the orange of the rocks contrasting with the blue ocean is quite beautiful. However, you can get your obligatory photo with the sign to say you’ve been there, which is kind of cool.
Wildlife of the Cape Peninsula
I couldn’t have a post about the Cape Peninsula Highlights without mentioning some more wildlife! Aside from the seals and penguins I’ve already discussed, you might also get to see wild Baboons and Ostriches. I already mentioned that the baboons can be seen at the lighthouse, but apparently ostriches are common at the Cape of Good Hope. I saw neither at those locations, but we did manage to spot the baboons and some ostriches on the way out of the park. The ostriches lived at an ostrich farm and the baboons were just visiting! Here’s an interesting ostrich fact for you: they only have orange beaks and legs if they are in heat!
Overall, this was SUCH a good day and a fantastic start to my time in Cape Town and in Africa! I’d highly recommend heading to the Cape Peninsula and checking out Baz Bus. Not only do they do this tour, they also service the Garden Route (hop-on hop-off) and run a guided Table Mountain hike, which you can read about here. I’d love to go around the Garden Route and will definitely go with Baz Bus if I make it back because the guides were great and I met some really awesome people.
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