Cape Town travel essentials: your first hours sorted

From Cape Town airport (CPT), the cleanest options are the MyCiTi bus (a safe, cheap official service into the city centre on a dedicated route) or an Uber/Bolt, both of which are widely used and inexpensive. Ignore anyone touting “taxi” in the arrivals hall; use the official MyCiTi desk, an app, or a pre-booked transfer.

For a first arrival, especially after dark, a pre-booked transfer or an Uber/Bolt straight to your accommodation is the calm choice — you’re not standing around working out logistics at night.

A South Africa eSIM set up before you fly gets you online on arrival — important here for ordering Uber/Bolt and navigating, since you’ll rely on ride-hailing. Coverage in the city and along the main tourist routes is good.

Cape Town is card-friendly — restaurants, shops and Uber all take cards. Use ATMs inside banks, malls or busy shops rather than standalone street machines, and never accept “help” at an ATM: card-swap and distraction scams are the main money risk. Choose rand, not your home currency, at the screen. Tipping is expected — around 10–15% in restaurants, and a few rand for the car guards who watch parked cars.

There’s no comprehensive metro for visitors, so Uber and Bolt are how most people get around — cheap, easy and tracked. The MyCiTi bus covers main routes (the Atlantic seaboard, the centre). The honest bit: Cape Town has real economic inequality and opportunistic crime, so avoid walking alone after dark, don’t flash phones or jewellery, and take an Uber even for shortish night-time hops. By day in the tourist areas you’re generally fine with normal city awareness.

South Africa has scheduled rolling blackouts called “load-shedding”, which can cut power for a few hours at a time on a published timetable. It affects traffic lights (junctions get chaotic — give way carefully), some ATMs and card machines, and wifi. Download a load-shedding schedule app (EskomSePush is the standard) so you know when your area is off, carry a power bank, and keep a little cash for when card machines are down.

South Africa was the first country in the world to constitutionally ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, and same-sex marriage is legal. Cape Town is the continent’s most LGBTQ-friendly city, with an established scene around De Waterkant. Same-sex couples travel comfortably in the city and tourist areas.

The headline experiences — the Table Mountain cableway (weather-dependent and queue-prone; book ahead and go on a clear morning), Cape Point and the peninsula, Robben Island (book well ahead, it sells out and is weather-dependent), and the Stellenbosch/Franschhoek wine tours — are worth booking in advance through reputable operators, both for the sell-outs and, for the wine tours, so you’re not driving.