Cape Town
Our running guide to doing Cape Town beautifully on a real-world budget — where to eat, what to do, and where to stay, with the markup left out.
Cape Town is the rare big-name destination that rewards the affordable-luxury approach instead of punishing it: the views are free, the food is honest, and the gap between the tourist-priced version and the real one is enormous. This is our living list of the places worth your time — organised the way you’d actually use it.
Where to eat
- The Codfather, Camps Bay — fresh fish cooked to order, no markup for the view.
- Kalky’s, Kalk Bay — cash-only harbour fish and chips.
- Truth Coffee Roasting — world-class coffee at an everyday price.
- Protégé, Franschhoek — the smart winelands splurge.
- Kleinsky’s Delicatessen, Sea Point — a New York-style deli and a great cheap lunch.
What to do
- Table Mountain — the iconic view (go on a clear morning, or at sunset).
- Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden — a world-class half-day for a few dollars.
- Zeitz MOCAA — Africa’s great contemporary art museum, in a grain silo.
- District Six Museum — the one serious thing not to skip.
- Oranjezicht City Farm Market — the cheapest five-star morning (or evening) in town.
- Kalk Bay — a bohemian harbour village, free to wander.
- Clarke’s Bookshop — a slow morning in the city’s great Africana bookshop.
- Faeeza’s Home Kitchen — a hands-on Cape Malay cooking class in the Bo-Kaap.
- Great Heart Wines — an employee-owned Franschhoek tasting.
- The Franschhoek Wine Tram — the fun, car-free way to taste the winelands.
Where to stay
Stays coming soon — Leeu House and Blackheath Lodge.
Borrowed Luxury 