Lady’s Itinerary for 2 Days in Cape Town

Today I want to share my itinerary for 2 days in Cape Town. South Africa Tourism has brought me here to experience the best of the city, and I can’t wait to discover the restaurants, hotels, sightseeing opportunities, and other highlights.

2 Days in Cape Town

My 2 days in Cape Town start with foraging. I never thought I would forage for my lunch in the middle of a city, but I’m told Cape Town has enough food within its borders to provide me with a healthy meal. I’ll believe it when I eat it.

Our expert foraging guide, Charlie Standing, first takes us to a natural spring called the Newlands Aquifer on the aptly named Spring Street.

The water is fresh and clear, and according to Charlie, people come from all over the city to fill up jugs and bottles with it.

Not far away, he shows us how to collect Natal plums and pine nuts at the entrance to the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town.

Our next stop is right on the side of the highway. What looks like a grassy hill is actually Cape Town’s District Six, a piece of land from which thousands of inhabitants were forcibly removed during the apartheid era.

But we aren’t here for politics; we’re here for food. Nestled among the weeds and grasses is an abundance of fresh fennel.

Not long later, we arrive at the beach at Mouille Point, where local mussels grow on the rocks and indigenous June spinach sprouts along the pathways.

We pick some of the latter, sampling the bitter, salty taste while breathing in the fresh coastal air.

Back in the city, we stop at a park in Verdehoek to pick some Cape gooseberries and nasturtium flowers before heading back to the kitchen.

In our case, the kitchen is in the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel, a luxury hotel that has put us up for our 2 days in Cape Town and invited us for a foraging feast.

We sit down at the chef’s table, and soon lunch arrives. All of the ingredients that we foraged for on our food tour are present in the dishes.

The chef has made them into an incredibly delicious and amazingly memorable meal. The experience is one of the most unique things to do in Cape Town.

Cape Town Restaurants

But not every meal we eat requires such hard work. We also eat at Baia seafood restaurant at Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

There we enjoy a beautiful lunch with floor-to-ceiling views of the city’s iconic Table Mountain. The local Sauvignon Blanc from Klein Constantia doesn’t hurt, either.

And speaking of things that don’t hurt, our dinner that night is an herbal-inspired Fynbos dinner (Fynbos meaning “fine-leaved plants”) at five-star The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town.

The multi-course tasting menu offers everything from ceviche with local buchu dressing to braised oxtail with wild garlic chives. It’s a highlight of our 2 days in Cape Town.

Back at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel, we dine at the Lord Nelson Restaurant, a historic dining room with an ornate pressed ceiling and elegant botanical tapestries.

We enjoy our meal under the expert care of our server and sommelier, both of whom guide us through the menus to make sure our seafood, steak, and Sauvignon Blanc are to our liking.

2 Days in Cape Town: Sightseeing

When we’re not making the most of the city’s restaurant scene, we spend our 2 days in Cape Town discovering its cultural heritage and natural wonders.

We take a walk through the lush Company’s Garden, passing by historic government buildings and museums.

Nearby we wander through the colorful Bo-Kaap Quarter, a historic neighborhood where residents out-do one another by adorning their homes with competitively bright hues.

One afternoon we take the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain, Cape Town’s most famous natural landmark, to get a glimpse of the city below.

And for views of the mountain itself, we head over to Signal Hill, where paragliders start their areal tours of the city and hikers prepare for urban trailblazing. They’re great things to do in 2 days in Cape Town.

Away from the bustle of the city center, we drive out to Hout Bay, where pretty beaches and big boats greet us. A seal swims in the shallow water, and shops and restaurants sell all things maritime.

Over in Camps Bay, another beachside area, we stop for sundowners at one of the many waterfront bars.

2 Days in Cape Town: The Verdict

As the sun sinks below the ocean, we reflect on our 2 days in Cape Town, going over all the great restaurants, hotels, sightseeing, and activities that have featured in our trip.

The most memorable of them is the foraging. But where we’re going next, the only ones finding food in the wild will be the lions. To be continued…

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