Our 10 day trip to Cape Town, South Africa was a dream come true! I travelled with my husband and friend travel group! We spent five nights in the Waterfront area of Cape Town in February. Then we travelled 2 hours to the Aquila Game Reserve for a overnight safari game drive! Then returned to Cape Town and stayed 2 additional days in the Camps Bay beachfront area. It was mid 70s the entire trip, which was nice because I thought It was going to be unbearably hot. South Africa is the most beautiful place to see the mountains meet the ocean. From penthouse Airbnb’s to restaurants, boat trips and wine tasting, here’s a recap of our trip to Cape Town, South Africa:

Planning

I am a terrible trip planner so we were all organized and pre-planned thanks to my bestie and veteran travel planner Alex Matthews! She had been planning this since about October of last year, so we had plenty of time to make reservations to the highly coveted restaurant experiences and tours. She knows we love foodie experiences, shopping, people watching and coffee shops. More on her selections later…

Things To Do

SUNSET CRUISE

The sun setting on the South Atlantic Ocean is pure magic. It was about 2 hours and came with champagne. We boarded at the V&A Waterfront which was perfect because we got back just in time for a late dinner reservation at Tang Asian Luxury Resturant

WINE TASTING IN FRANSCHHOEK WINE COUNTRY

A highlight moment of the trip was wine tasting on Valentine’s Day! Our private van took us about 1.5 hours outside of Cape Town to Franschhoek Valley (pronounced Fran-shook). We boarded the tram and visited Sir Richard Branson’s vineyard Mont Rochelle for lunch and wine tasting. The views were incredible. The tram runs on a tight schedule so we had to hustle back to the train stop for the next 2 stops; Rickety Bridge Winery and Grande Provence Estate . It’s like a marathon of wine tasting and I loved every minute of it.

OVERNIGHT SAFARI

After our wine tasting excursion, we packed our bags for an overnight safari trip! We drove about 2 hours to the Aquila Private Game Reserve in Karoo. We arrived around 2pm, had lunch at the main lodge, then checked into our rooms to get relax before our first afternoon game drive at 4:30pm. The game drive is where you board the bus and go into the private reserve area to view the big 5 in there natural habitat! We saw the hippos, ostrich, elephants, giraffes, zebras and lions. The lions were my fav (obviously!). We learned that all of the animals are rescued and although they are monitored by the staff, they are well taken care of and fed. It was an amazing experience. We got back to the main lodge in time for dinner and also enjoyed their spa and indoor pools. The next morning we woke up super early to meet for the 7am game drive to see all of the morning animals! Driving through the reserve while the sun was rising was surreal! We had breakfast and packed up for departure. A peacock even came to our window to say goodbye! 10/10 would recommend. The only drawback was I hoped to get a little closer to the animals and I also should have brought a more professional camera. Next time!

TABLE MOUNTAIN CABLE CAR

One of the daytime activities was a ride up Table Mountain using the aerial acable car! It’s about a 20 minute uber ride up to the entrance (about halfway up the mountain). The ticket was about $10 USD and the views were incredible!

WHERE TO STAY IN CAPE TOWN

LOFT 606 PENTHOUSE AT SIGNATURA - V&A WATERFRONT

Our first Airbnb was located near the V&A Waterfront area of the city. This location was great because it walkable to the mall, shopping, spa, restaurants and easy for uber to find! Waterfront Airbnb

Photos from the listing

CAMPS BAY OCEANFRONT VILLA
Our last location was a oceanfront villa in Camps Bay/Bakoven area steps from the ocean, beach and coastline! The views were breathtaking! There were 3 primary suites with balconies and an elevator. There was a covered pool where we watched the sunset!

Camps Bay Airbnb