Table Mountain tours that also reach Boulders Beach put three landmarks into one ten-hour day: the Aerial Cableway in the morning, Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope at midday, and the penguin colony in the afternoon. The cableway ticket is bought separately on all but one of them.
Ten hours from your hotel inside 8 km of the centre, nineteen guests at most, with ninety minutes on the mountain and an hour at the colony. The cableway ticket is emailed to you to buy the day before.
From $58 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A private fifteen-stop day of eight to eleven hours, opening on the cableway and closing in Simon's Town. The fee-inclusive grades cover the parks; the shared grade shown here does not.
From $66 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Nine and a half hours shared, twenty travellers at most and a guide on a microphone. Fifty minutes at the colony. The cableway ticket, both reserve gates and the funicular are bought separately.
From $66 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Ten hours opening at the Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum and the cableway, then Simon's Town, the colony, the Cape of Good Hope and the old lighthouse. A fee-inclusive grade is sold alongside the fare shown.
From $66 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A Green Point bus day of ten hours with forty-five minutes at the colony and the painted huts at Muizenberg at the end. The operator recommends buying the morning cableway slot online before you travel.
From $62 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The private day whose fare already covers the Table Mountain entry ticket as well as both park gates. Nine to ten hours, twelve travellers at most, and ninety minutes in Simon's Town.
From $168 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The cableway, the Cape of Good Hope and the penguin colony, with somebody else driving and the order arranged around the wind.
Check availabilityIt is the longest day sold on this coast: nine and a half to ten hours, adding the Aerial Cableway to the standard peninsula route. You go up the mountain in the morning. You run the Atlantic seaboard and Chapman's Peak, reach Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope at midday, and finish at the penguin colony in the afternoon. Every other shape you could book sits beside the Boulders Beach penguins tour listings.
No train or bus reaches Cape Point, and the mountain sits on the other side of the city from the peninsula. One vehicle, one day, and you see all three.
In December and January the cableway line is long enough that operators flip the route and do Cape Point first. That decision is made on the morning, with better information than you will have from a hotel lobby.
Most of them collect you from your accommodation, within a stated radius of the city centre. That removes the seven-in-the-morning problem of finding a meeting point in a city you do not know yet.
The private day names the Table Mountain entry ticket in its own inclusions, along with both park gates. Nothing else on this list does.
The straight comparison, because the mountain is what you are paying the extra hours for.
| With Table Mountain | Peninsula only | |
|---|---|---|
| Hours | 9.5 to 10 | 8 to 10 |
| At the colony | 45 minutes to 1 hour | About 1 hour |
| Cableway ticket | Bought separately, always | Not applicable |
| Weather risk | A south-easter closes the cable car | The route runs regardless |
| Gates charged | Up to three | Two |
| From | $58 | $31 |
| Best at | One free day in Cape Town | A day for the coast itself |
If the mountain is your whole reason for booking, take a fare that refunds free at 24 hours. A windy morning is then an inconvenience rather than an expense. The alternatives are on the tour options page.
Every fare covers the vehicle, the guide, the driving and your water, and most cover the Chapman's Peak toll and your hotel pickup. Not one includes the cableway ticket, which is sold by a separate company. Two operators email you a link to buy it the day before, and recommend the morning slot.
Fares run from $58 to $168 a person. Buy your cableway ticket online in advance and take the morning slot: it is the single most useful thing you can do for this day. Expect your pickup between seven and eight, lunch in Simon's Town in the early afternoon, and a return to the city between five and seven.
Watch the forecast for wind rather than rain. Rain does not close the cable car; a strong south-easter does, and it can do so with the mountain in sunshine. One traveller here rode out 75 km/h winds, found the cableway shut, and still rated the day five stars because the driver reshaped it.
It is the one thing that changes this day, and every operator here recommends it. Then pick the run that suits your hotel.
Check availabilityAnyone who came to see penguins. Forty-five minutes to an hour at the colony, in the afternoon, at the end of a ten-hour day, is the shortest stop you can buy. A Boulders Beach half day tour gives you up to two hours there in the morning, for less.
If you are travelling with young children, look elsewhere too: ten hours with a late lunch is a great deal to ask of them. And if you have already been up Table Mountain, take the peninsula on its own. It is shorter, it is cheaper, and it spends your hours on the coast rather than in a queue.
Weighing the mountain against more time with the birds? Both sit on Boulders Beach Tours.