Don't visit South Africa without visiting Cape Town - the pearl of South Africa.
The landscape is green surrounded by stunning mountains and the ocean. It's clean and you have a feeling of being safe. The cbd itself isn't great as there really isn't much to see apart from office buildings. But head to the harbour and check out the V&A wharf to get a good feel for what Cape Town has to offer.
V&A wharf is a tourist area with great restaurants, bars, hotels and retail shops, very safe to walk around and is a good area to stay. We will next time.
Table mountain is visible from the cbd of Cape Town and is a towering icon. A cable car transports you to the peak and there you should have spectacular views of Cape Town, however on our visit we just saw clouds! Pick your day if there is cloud or its windy they may close the cable car and in our case it was clear when we paid for the cable car then 5 min before getting on the cable car the cloud set in, no option now but to keep going. I've been told the view is amazing!
From Table Mountain head to Camps Bay and drive along the coast, a beautiful area with some very expensive real estate. Beaches are nice and in summer it would be packed.
It is simply amazing to see how close the mountains are to the ocean and it frames and [protects the ocean from a lot of weather. It makes for some awesome photo opportunities.
From here we headed to Simons Town and saw the Jackass Penguins. If you haven't seen penguins before, this is a must. We were lucky to be there during breeding season so lots of baby penguins (which aren't so small!) and mums keeping the eggs warm and yes it was cold. Yet this didn't stop the penguins swimming and frolicking in the ocean. Viewing is great because you get quite close to them, especially the nesting penguins protecting their nests of eggs.
We then headed to Cape of Good Hope the most southern point of South Africa. Here the Indian and the Atlantic oceans meet. It was darn cold. Jump on the funicular to the light house for great views and FREEZING winds.
TIP: A word of warning; watch out for the baboons and keep your bags and belongings under watch as the baboons are very quick. On our visit our driver left his door open and with two minutes two baboons saw the door open, made a run for it. Jumped in the two front seats and sat there ready to go! Seriously. This really happened! We all screamed at amazement. I don't know who screamed louder us or them we we realised and quickly we opened the doors and they jumped out and ran away.
We also visited some wineries around Cape Town, not only are they beautiful but have amazing history and wines.
We visited Groot Constantia, which is the oldest winery in South Africa (a mere 332 years old), our winery guide was very informative and gave us great background to wine industry in South Africa. After the tour it was off to the wine tasting room.
TIP: Chat to the guide and be interactive and you will get extra tastings and the Groot Constantia dessert wine that Napelon drank a bottle of every day! Yes, The Napoleon.
There are so many wineries in Cape Town around and beyond the Stellenboch area, so if you have the time, go adventuring.