The Cape Peninsula Tour in Cape Town, South Africa is probably one of the best ways to explore the Cape of Good Hope and it’s surroundings especially if you are on a budget or don’t have your own vehicle.
Typically it’s a full day tour and will have quite a few stops along the way to maximise the time. In this travel blog, I’ll give you my first hand account with info and photos of the Cape Peninsula Tour with Baz Bus.
Cape Peninsula Tour Itinerary
The Itinerary with Baz Bus for the Cape Peninsula Tour went like below. I’ll detail out each section further on in this post with a bit of info and photos from each stop as well.
- Pick up from hotels in Cape Town
- Drive to Haut Bay, optional boat trip to Duiker Island Seal Colony.
- Drive scenic Chapman’s Peak Drive, enjoy scenery and have snack.
- Continue to Penguin Colony at Boulder’s Beach in Simon’s Town.
- Enter Cape Point Nature Reserve
- Eat Lunch
- Bike, Visit Lighthouse, Hike to Cape of Good Hope
- Return to your hotel in Cape Town
That’s just a very quick overview of the cape peninsula tour itinerary. Some things are optional and have additional cost which I’ll cover below in the more detailed sections. Also, depending on your itinerary, you may or may not have biking. I noticed on their website they don’t list biking, but when I went, we did about a 1 hour section of biking in the Cape Point Nature Reserve.
1. Haut Bay and Duiker Island Fur Seal Colony
I got picked up from my hostel in Cape Town right on time and met Mike and David from Baz Bus. There were about 6 other people on the tour with me, so it was a nice small group. Mike and David were the tour guide and driver for the day.
It was a beautiful weather day and drive along the coast with incredible views of the 12 Apostles Mountains while our guide told us a bit about the area and some of the famous people who live on the Cape Peninsula.
We arrived to Haut Bay for our first stop and made our way to the boat ticketing area. The visit to Duiker Island Seal Colony is completely optional, but at around $7USD, I think it’s worth it if the water is calm and it’s a nice day. So we got on the boat and made our way to the seal colony which was about 15 minutes off the coast.
The boat gave us plenty of time to take photos and made it’s way around various points on the island. The island is amazing as it’s home to thousands of fur seals. The best season to see them is January to March, however are present throughout the year as you can see in my photos above which was during July.
2. Chapmans Peak Drive
After about an hour at Haut Bay and visiting the seal colony at Duiker Island, we made our way towards Boulders Beach in Simons Town. To get there though, if the conditions are good, you can take the famous Chapman’s Peak Drive. This is a road the goes along the coast and provides you with amazing views that make this part of South Africa so famous.
Thankfully, the conditions were good, so we were able to take the Chapman’s Peak drive and stopped off at a viewpoint to take pictures and enjoy a small snack for about 15 minutes.
3. Penguins at Boulders Beach
Following the small stop at Chapmans Peak Drive, we continued on towards Simons Town and Boulders Beach to visit the penguin colony that call this place home.
You may be surprised, but yes, there are penguins in South Africa and they are really cute. This is only one of a few locations that you can see them and boulders beach has amazing scenery to go along with the penguins, so is a beautiful spot to go to.
Like Duiker Island, this is also an optional activity. At around $11 it would be a shame to keep this off your itinerary though. To see the penguins and see their now protected habitat thanks to the fact that it is now a state park is worth the money.
In total we were given close to an hour to explore the African Penguins habitat and view them interacting and playing. There are nice boardwalks from which to view them safely and not to damage their habitats or get too close to them.
4. Biking in Cape Point Nature Reserve
After the visit with the adorable African penguins at boulders beach, we continued on and entered the Cape Point Nature Reserve. It was here that we stopped and got assigned a bicycle that we would ride through the nice roads of the Cape Point Nature Reserve for the next hour.
So, for the following hour we biked a section of road on the Cape Peninsula. The weather was great and not too hot and had amazing views looking over sections of the flat part of the Peninsula. It wasn’t too difficult to bike as there were too many big uphill or downhill sections. It was a nice way to spend the trip as it gave us all some exercise after spending some time in the van in the morning.
We finished our biking after a few kms and loaded the bikes back onto the trailer to continue to one of our final locations which would be the Cape Point Lighthouse and Cape of Good Hope. Before all this though, we had a delicious lunch provided by Baz Bus.
5. Cape Point Lighthouse
On arrival to the Cape Point Lighthouse, we were given some instruction and times on where to meet and when. We had plenty of time given to explore the lighthouse area, hike to the cape of good hope and enjoy the afternoon ahead of us.
For me, I decided to head up to the Lighthouse first. The views all around this area are stunning and especially so for where the lighthouse is located up a nice hill. If you don’t want to hike to the top of the hill, they do have funicular to take you to the top for an extra cost. I’d advise though, if you aren’t too tired, the hike to the top has a lot of great viewpoints to take spectacular photos.
6. Hike from Lighthouse to Cape of Good Hope
If you still have energy, there is a great hike you can take across well maintained boardwalks from the Cape Point Lighthouse to the Cape of Good Hope. It’s follows the edge of some rocks and gives you great views of some of the amazing beaches along the Cape Peninsula. I highly recommend this hike. It should take about 45 minutes or less.
If you decide you don’t want to hike though and want to go directly to the Cape of Good Hope, Baz Bus can drive you there.
The hike gives you up close views of the beaches along the way and plenty of places to stop and take photos as well.
After hiking along the cliffside and viewing some spectacular beaches, we finally made it to the Cape of Good Hope. While some claim this is the most southerly location in South Africa, it isn’t. That designation goes to Cape Agulhas a bit futher away.
None the less, this is an amazing location and geographic feature to end the tour. Being down here you feel like you are truly at the end of the world and feels really isolated with no big buildings or anything for miles.
After the rest of the group got to the Cape of Good Hope following their hike, we got back in the van to finish the cape peninsula tour and head back to Cape Town. The day finished as we got dropped off back at our hotels around 6pm. A perfect full day tour to see this spectacular part of South Africa.
Where to Stay in Cape Town
*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links through booking.com, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.
There are so many places to stay in Cape Town ranging from luxurious to budget. I’ll mention where I stayed, but feel free to use the form below to look for your own hotels as well.
The B.I.G Backpackers – This hostel is located in the great and safe green point part of Cape Town. Not too far from the waterfront and within a short taxi ride to Table Mountain, it’s a great place to stay on a budget. The staff are friendly, breakfast is ample, and in the colder months, they even have a fireplace to keep you warm in the hangout areas.
Booking.comMore Info about the Cape Tour
- The tour without the extras cost about $71USD, however if you book online through Baz Bus, you can get a discount and pay around $60USD. This to me is a great deal for everything you see along the way.
- Bring sunscreen and sunglasses if you are sensitive to the sun as you do spend a lot of time outdoors.
- The weather is this part of the world can change very fast. If you want the best chance for great weather, it’s best to come during their summer time which is December to February. However, even when I went in July, we had a perfect weather day with plenty of sun.
So there you have it. The Cape Peninsula Tour I took in Cape Town. I definitely recommend this tour and especially with Baz Bus who ran it professionally. There are many other things to do in Cape Town as well, so be sure to plan for multiple days if you are staying there.
If you have any questions or comments, please let us know in the comments below!