Cavorting Through Cape Town: A Travel Guide for Cocktails, Coastlines and Wine Country Days
Updated: 18 hours ago
I tend to get to know a destination through its tables, and Cape Town gave me plenty of reasons to pull up a chair. What stayed with me was how much there was to enjoy between meals, too. We had time to explore the coast, spend an afternoon in the Winelands, and come back to a place that felt like a retreat. Looking back, I’m glad we gave those experiences room. This is a trip I would have hated to rush.
Queen Victoria Hotel was our home base in Cape Town, and it was a lovely place to settle into the trip. Beneath the skylight, gold chandeliers gave me a reason to look up before we’d even headed out to explore. There was an elegance to the hotel that I loved, but also a warmth that made it easy to feel comfortable. I wanted to spend time here, which is always a good start.
Queen Victoria Hotel: Our Cape Town home base
The hotel sits at Portswood Ridge in the V&A Waterfront precinct, a helpful location for a stay that included time around the waterfront as well as outings farther afield. Inside, the chandeliers and beautiful interiors set a polished tone. It felt elegant without making me feel as though I needed to be on my best behavior every time I walked through the door. I appreciate that in a hotel.
More than anything, I appreciated returning to somewhere calm after a full day. Our Cape Town plans included long dinners, coastal drives, and wine country, so the hotel became the pause between all of that movement. If you’re choosing where to stay, think about how you want your days to feel as well as what you want to see. For us, having a waterfront base and a comfortable retreat worked beautifully.
For planning purposes, Queen Victoria lists a concierge, spa access, and use of the pool at neighboring Dock House. Those are useful details if you want to include some downtime in your stay. Our trip was centered on exploring, but I’d leave a little breathing room to enjoy the hotel, too.
La Colombe: Give this dinner the evening
Dinner at La Colombe was one of the experiences I was especially happy we made time for. The restaurant is at Silvermist Wine Estate in Constantia, so this is an outing to plan into your stay rather than a meal to squeeze between waterfront stops. Once we were at the table, I was happy to let the kitchen set the pace. Each course gave us something to take in, talk about, and taste before moving on.
The Tuna “La Colombe,” presented in its signature tin, brought a little mischief to the table. There is something delightful about that familiar, everyday shape turning up in the middle of such a carefully considered dinner. Then came the Namibian red crab with tamarind curry, one of my favorites of our meal. As the menu moved into richer courses, the evening kept building. I love a tasting menu that can hold my curiosity all the way through.
The part I appreciated just as much was the care around my mushroom and truffle allergy. With a tasting menu, those ingredients can turn up in places you might not anticipate, and I never take an accommodation for granted. The team adapted my meal thoughtfully, and the courses still felt fully considered. I could enjoy the dinner instead of feeling as though I was watching everyone else have the full experience. That kind of hospitality stays with me.
The wine cellar experience added another dimension to the evening, giving us more to enjoy beyond the courses arriving at our table. By the time dinner was over, the combination of food, wine, pacing, and personal attention had made La Colombe one of the highlights of the trip. When I recommend making room for a destination meal, this is the kind of evening I mean.
The dishes described here are from our visit, and the menu changes. Let the restaurant know about allergies before you arrive, check its current offerings, and arrange your transportation so dinner has all the time it deserves. I would gladly plan another evening around what the kitchen is cooking next.
The Cape Peninsula: penguins, then the open coast
Our peninsula outing gave us a day to enjoy the landscape beyond the city, beginning with a stop I was very happy to make: the penguins at Boulders Beach. Seeing African penguins on the sand, in their own coastal habitat, is every bit as wonderful as it sounds. Some were standing, others resting, all apparently quite occupied with being penguins. I could have watched them for considerably longer.
Boulders is in Simon’s Town and forms part of Table Mountain National Park. One useful distinction when planning: the penguin viewing boardwalks are at Foxy Beach, within the Boulders section. Those walkways let you watch the colony while giving the birds space. Stay on the designated paths, and resist any temptation to touch or feed them. This is their home, and we’re the visitors with cameras.
From there, we continued toward the Cape of Good Hope, with the scenery becoming bigger and wilder as we went. Cliffs, crashing water, and an enormous sweep of sky made it a very different experience from our time at the waterfront. We took the photograph at the famous sign, of course, but it was worth looking up from the photo stop and taking in the coast around us. The wind, the water, the rocky landscape: there was so much to absorb.
The Cape of Good Hope is often confused with Africa’s southernmost point, which is actually Cape Agulhas. That little geography correction takes nothing away from being here. For your own itinerary, give the peninsula a full day so the drive and the stops can be part of the experience. Bring a layer for the wind, and leave yourself time to look around once you’ve taken the photograph.
Cause & Effect: a taste of the Cape in the glass
Cause & Effect brought a different kind of theatre to our Cape Town stay. We went gin tasting, and the cocktails arrived with smoke, striking presentations, and plenty to catch our attention before the first sip. As someone who loves a good bar, I’m quite happy to be entertained along the way. A drink with a little personality is welcome at my table.
The craft in the glass gave us a reason to keep paying attention after the presentation. Cause & Effect draws inspiration from the Cape’s oceans, mountains, fynbos, and vineyards, using local ingredients as part of its cocktail approach. That connection to place makes a tasting especially interesting to me. You can enjoy a beautiful drink and come away a little more curious about what grows and what’s being made around you.
If you want to go beyond a single cocktail, check the current tasting options when you book. The bar’s published offerings include craft gin and South African brandy tastings. Our visit was about gin, but the brandy side would be another interesting way to explore local spirits. I’d leave this stop flexible enough for a little discovery.
Into the Winelands: lunch at La Motte
Lunch at La Motte was one of those afternoons when I was perfectly content to stay exactly where I was. Fresh bread within reach, a wine list to explore, and green views beyond the glass made a very persuasive case for lingering. The table felt elegant, the pace was easy, and there was no part of me wondering how quickly we could get to the next stop. This was the stop.
La Motte is in the Franschhoek Valley, and there is more on the estate than the lunch we enjoyed. Its current offerings include wine tastings, a bakery, a farm shop, and the Ateljee art space. You could shape a visit around your own interests, whether that means exploring wine or adding a little art and something from the bakery. I’d start with time for lunch and build from there.
Fairview: wine worth sending home
Fairview, near Paarl, brought wine and goat cheese into the same very enjoyable conversation. The cheese was rich, distinctive, and every bit as memorable as what was in the glass. For someone who loves both, this was a particularly happy part of the trip. I’d make room for a stop like this again, with enough time to taste and actually enjoy what we’d come for.
The wines made a strong enough impression that I shipped several bottles home, including Bloemcool Ploegperd and Cyril Back 2022. The goat cheese, sadly, stayed behind. I would happily have brought that, too. Bringing home wine gives me another chance to revisit a trip later, when I open a bottle and remember the place where I first enjoyed it. It also makes for a much more entertaining souvenir than another refrigerator magnet.
If wine and cheese are also your idea of a well-spent afternoon, Fairview offers tastings that pair its wines with its own cow’s- and goat’s-milk cheeses. Check the available experiences before you go rather than assuming every tasting is the same.
And if you fall for a bottle, ask about the current shipping options for your destination before making plans around bringing it home.
Putting your Cape Town days together
Cape Town gave us the kind of trip I love: a hotel that became part of the experience, meals I still remember in detail, and time outside to take in where we were. I’d return for La Colombe, spend longer watching the penguins, and happily settle in for another Winelands lunch. There would probably be more wine coming home, too. I know myself.
I’d build a stay like ours around a few experiences you really want to enjoy, then give them enough time. Keep a full day for the peninsula, arrange transportation for wine tasting, and treat La Colombe as the main plan for its evening. La Motte is in the Franschhoek Valley and Fairview is near Paarl, so look at the distances as you plan your Winelands route. Fewer stops with time to enjoy them would be my preference.
Our Cape Town feature also appears in Issue 5, Passport to the World. Below are the places to check current menus, reservations, and visitor information as you plan your own trip.
Let’s plan your South Africa trip
If South Africa is on your list, I’d love to help you plan it. As a Fora Travel Advisor, I can help you build a South Africa itinerary around the way you like to travel, from choosing where to stay to making room for the meals and experiences you’re most excited about. Tell me what you’re dreaming of, and let’s start putting your trip together.
If South Africa is on your list, I’d love to help you bring that trip to life. As a Fora Travel Advisor, I can help you build a South Africa itinerary around the way you love to travel, with a beautiful place to stay, meals worth planning for, and time to enjoy what you came all that way to see. Tell me what you’re dreaming about, and let’s start planning.
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