Photo by Marlin Clark
Do yourselves a favour and try out the Cape Town Hop on Hop off Bus tour. We see them daily, we watch people getting on and off and I know that many believe this to be just for tourists, which couldn't be further from the truth! It's an incredible way to spend a full day being driven around gorgeous Cape Town, to all the monumental places and top notch attractions!
We decided to treat ourselves to the Blue Route - for those of you that need to know, these Bus tours offer colourful routes (literally) each depicting different stops and length of time. We started at the beginning - Stop Nr 1 'The Aquarium' where we collected our tickets and earphones. We soon learned that you had to make sure to be at the front of the queue if you wanted a fighting chance to sit up top in the open!
BLUE MINI PENINSULA TOUR Loop Duration: 135 minutes
Frequency: 35 minutes (October to April), 45 minutes (May to September)
Stop 5 - Mount NelsonStop 1 - Two Oceans Aquarium (Main Terminus Point)Stop 2 - Clock TowerStop 3 - Convention CentreStop 4 - Cape Town TourismStop 20 - Kirstenbosch Botanical GardensStop 21 - World of Birds & Monkey JungleStop 22 - Imizamo Yetho Township tourStop 23 - Mariners WharfStop 14 - Camps Bay BeachStop 15 - President HotelStop 16 - St Johns RoadStop 17 - Winchester MansionsStop 18 - Green Point
Plugging in the earphones revealed an incredibly well timed narrator, providing interesting facts and recommendations for anyone wanting to revisit a stop in the future. We chose to drive all the way through to Hout Bay as we had set our minds on visiting the World Of Birds 'Stop 21'. Along the way, we could very well have stopped off at Kirstenbosch gardens for a Picnic or joined the Wine Tasting tour in Contstantia. We didn't know this at the time, but The Wine Tour Bus is a FREE extension on the Blue Mini Peninsula Tour!!
The World of Birds is great for anyone traveling with kids. The Bus Tour offers discounts along the way and we benefited from the reduced rate at the entrance. We allowed ourselves a good two hours to wander around and explore before catching the next bus into Hout Bay harbour for lunch. We dined at the famous Mariner's Wharf whilst watching the locals feed the seals to the sounds of a marimba band. The weather was fantastic and the food was fresh and delicious! Yet another recommendation. After a short stroll along the beach we made sure to catch one of the last buses back to town. The last leg of the tour hugged the 12 Apostles all the way from Hout Bay to Camps Bay along the coastline.The sun was setting and it was the most idyllic scene to end the day. An incredible way to spend an afternoon getting to see Cape Town and not spending an absolute fortune! The next tour will have to be the one through the winelands! The tour trip takes you to three wine stops:
Beau Constantia Wine Estate, Groot Constantia Wine Estate and Eagles' Nest Wine Farm.
Entrance fees and tastings to these wine stops are as follows:
Groot Constantia: Wine tasting: R30 per adult and R15 per pensioner. Cellar tour and wine tasting of 5 wines: R40 (adult) R20 (pensioner) R6 (student under 18 years). Daily walking vineyard tour and tasting of 5 wines from 2pm daily: R50 per person.
* All City Sightseeing travelers receive a R5 discount on the above rates when presenting their ticket *
Beau Constantia: Walking distance from the wine stop interchange. (20m from the circle) Wine tastings - R30. ONLY open from Wednesday to Sunday from 10h00 to 16h30
Eagles' Nest: Wine tastings - R30.