Two Days in Cape Town: A Practical Itinerary With Costs

Two days in Cape Town is enough for the city’s big four sights if you split them by area. Spend day one in and around the city centre, with Table Mountain, the Bo-Kaap and Kirstenbosch, and give day two to the drive down the Cape Peninsula to Cape Point. All prices below come from the official sites, with the dates they apply to.

What It Costs

For one international adult, the paid stops in this plan add up to about R1,540, counting one Chapman’s Peak toll and leaving out food, fuel and transport. The table lists each fee and the period it covers.

South African citizens, SADC nationals, children and students pay less at most of these places. The Table Mountain National Park fee changes every November, so check the SANParks rate if you travel after 31 October 2026. Check the official site before you book.

Day One Morning: Table Mountain Cableway

Go up Table Mountain first thing, because the cableway runs only when the weather allows. The Cableway’s website says it “may be closed in bad weather”, and it shows live status and queue times, as does its app. If the top is clear when you wake up, go.

In spring (1 September to 31 October) the first car goes up at 08:30, the last goes up at 18:00 and the last comes down at 19:00, according to the operating hours page. From 1 December to 31 January the last car up is at 20:00. Online adult return tickets cost R475 against R530 at the ticket office, and all tickets are valid for seven days, so buying ahead costs you nothing if the weather turns. A Fast Track return, which skips the queue, costs R1,200.

Day One Midday: The Bo-Kaap

After coming down, head to the Bo-Kaap, the hillside quarter of “colourful houses, steep cobbled streets” near the city centre, as Iziko Museums describes it. The area grew as a home for freed slaves and Muslim families after emancipation in 1834, and it is closely tied to Cape Malay identity.

The Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum at 71 Wale Street is in one of the earliest houses in the area, dating from the mid-18th century, and shows a period home and the area’s Islamic heritage. It opens Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 17:00 (08:30 to 16:00 on winter Saturdays). Entry is R100 for international visitors.

This is a lived-in neighbourhood, not an open-air museum. Keep your voice down, don’t block doorways for photos, and ask before photographing people.

Day One Afternoon: Kirstenbosch

Spend the late afternoon at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Wikipedia records that the land was set aside on 1 July 1913, and the garden covers 528 hectares. Look for the Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway, known as the “Boomslang”, which curves through the treetops.

The SANBI visitor page lists entry at R270 for adults from outside Africa and SADC, R150 for other African nationals, and R110 for South African residents and SADC nationals. The garden is cashless: “Cash payments are no longer accepted”, and tickets are sold through Webtickets. It opens every day from 08:00 to 19:00 in summer (September to March) and 08:00 to 18:00 in winter (April to August), so a 15:00 arrival in spring still leaves you hours.

Day Two: The Cape Point Drive

Day two is a loop down the Cape Peninsula to Cape Point and back, best done by car or on a booked tour. Leave early: the park is open from 06:00 to 18:00 between October and March, and from 07:00 to 17:00 between April and September, according to Cape Point’s website.

Chapman’s Peak Drive

The coastal road between Hout Bay and Noordhoek is a toll road. A car pays R68 for a single trip, a rate in force since 1 July 2024, and the toll takes cash and most cards but not American Express or Diners Club, according to Chapman’s Peak Drive. The road is sometimes closed: the official site showed it as closed on the morning of 4 October 2026. Check its live status before you set off, and plan another route if it is shut.

Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point

Cape Point sits inside the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park. International adults pay R515 a day there from 1 November 2025, up from R455, ATTA reported, and Time Out notes the 2025/26 tariffs run to 31 October 2026.

From the car park, the Flying Dutchman funicular saves the climb to the viewpoints and the old lighthouse. It runs from 09:00 to 17:30 between October and March and 09:00 to 17:00 from April to September, and a return ticket costs R115 for adults and R60 for children aged 6 to 16, per Cape Point’s website.

The old lighthouse dates from 1860. According to Wikipedia, it was replaced in 1919 by a lower one, at 87 metres above the sea, because cloud and fog often hid the original. Cape Point is not Africa’s southernmost tip: that is Cape Agulhas, about 150 km to the east-south-east.

Chacma baboons live here too. Wikipedia counts six troops that live in or regularly use the Cape of Good Hope section, and notes that picnics in their home ranges lead to conflict with visitors. Keep food in a closed car, keep the windows shut when you leave it, and never feed them.

The way back

Return along the False Bay coast through Simon’s Town, where the Boulders penguin colony, also part of Table Mountain National Park, charges its own entry fee under the same SANParks tariff. Allow time for traffic on the way back into the city in the late afternoon.

Tips for Both Days

• Swap days if the wind is up. If the cableway is closed on day one, do the peninsula drive first and try the mountain the next morning. Your online ticket stays valid for seven days.
• Carry a card. Kirstenbosch is cashless, and card payment is the simplest option at the other stops.
• Bring layers. The top of Table Mountain and Cape Point are both exposed to the wind.
• Book online where you can. The cableway and Kirstenbosch both sell tickets online.

Sources

1. Ticket prices (Table Mountain Aerial Cableway)
2. Operating hours (Table Mountain Aerial Cableway)
3. Table Mountain Aerial Cableway home page
4. Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum (Iziko Museums of South Africa)
5. Kirstenbosch admission and visitor information 2026-2027 (SANBI)
6. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (Wikipedia)
7. Standard tariffs (Chapman’s Peak Drive)
8. Chapman’s Peak Drive live road status
9. SANParks to raise conservation fees from 1 November (ATTA, 17 October 2025)
10. SANParks new 2025/26 tariffs (Time Out Cape Town)
11. Cape Point: funicular prices and hours
12. Cape Point (Wikipedia)
13. Cape of Good Hope (Wikipedia)