Where to stay in Cape Town
The centre, De Waterkant, Sea Point, Camps Bay or Kalk Bay — five districts that change your evenings, not your days.
- First visit
- The centre or De Waterkant
- For the sea
- Camps Bay and Clifton
- In between
- Sea Point
In Cape Town you do not choose a hotel but a side of the mountain. The centre sits under it and everything is walkable by day, but it empties after dark; the Atlantic seaboard has the sea and the sunsets and no street life; the southern suburbs are cheapest and furthest. The difference is how many times a day you get into a car.
The centre and De Waterkant — everything on foot
The Company's Garden, the museums, Bo-Kaap and Bree Street are within a twenty-minute walk, and the Waterfront is one MyCiTi bus. De Waterkant is the quieter, prettier part of the same circle, cobbled and full of small hotels. The catch: once the offices close the centre empties, and after dark you go back by cab.
Sea Point — the best compromise
An ocean promenade, restaurants along the main road and a seawater pool at the pavilion. Ten minutes by car or bus to the centre, the same to Camps Bay. The difference from the centre is that the promenade stays busy until sunset; after dark you take a cab from here too.
Camps Bay and Clifton — the sea and the price
White sand under the Twelve Apostles and sunsets over an ocean that sits between fourteen and eighteen degrees even in summer. There are restaurants, but they are all on one street and all facing the water. For museums, the peninsula and the wineries you get into a car every day.
Kalk Bay and Simon's Town — the south coast
Forty minutes from the centre by car. The Southern Line commuter train runs along the False Bay shore to Simon's Town, direct on weekdays. A fishing harbour, bookshops, and Boulders with its penguins on the edge of Simon's Town. In summer the sea is around seventeen to twenty-one degrees, several warmer than on the Atlantic side, which the Benguela current chills. Choose it on a second visit or for a longer stay.
The winelands as a base
Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are forty-five minutes out and have rooms on the estates. It works for a night or two at the end of a trip, not for the whole stay: everything else is then an hour away, and you do not drive in the evening.
What to avoid
- Choosing on price alone. The difference between districts here is not room quality but whether you walk out in the evening or call a cab every time.
- Camps Bay on a first visit. It is beautiful, but the Kloof Nek pass separates it from the centre and everything except the beach means the car — and the beach is cold.
- A room with no parking if you have a car. Street parking in the centre works and is paid to an attendant, but not left overnight.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Which district suits a first visit?
The centre or De Waterkant, because the museums, Bo-Kaap and the Waterfront are on foot or one bus away. Sea Point is better if a walk by the sea before sunset matters.
Is Camps Bay worth the premium?
For a holiday by the water yes, for sightseeing no. The centre is over the pass, and every museum, winery and peninsula trip means a car.
Is it safe to walk at night?
You do not walk after dark in any district, the centre and Sea Point included. That is not a reason to stay in — the ride apps work well and are cheap — but a line in the budget.
Ready for Cape Town?
Where to next
What Cape Town costs
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Johannesburg · 1262 km
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How well does Cape Town suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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