Tips for planning a trip to Cape Town

In a moment of boredom Gareth decided to plan a driving route to South Africa. It involved driving through Europe and the Middle East, and down the east side of Africa (via a ferry ride across the Persian Gulf). Based on the FCO's travel advice, this was a "safe" route at the time, in that it did not go via any areas through which the FCO advised against travel. Unfortunately, due to deteriorating conditions in Sudan, this is now no longer possible.

We therefore recommend flying. Here are some other tips for planning a trip to Cape Town:

• It is possible to get some really good value flights, e.g. with Ethiopian Air, just beware of long stop overs and stop overs in the middle of the night
• Public transport in Cape Town is not good. Trains are unsafe and unreliable. Taxis can be ok, but not the ones you hail down in the street. It is therefore best to hire a car from the airport. If you can't, or don't want to drive, then be prepared to spend a lot of money on Uber...
• There is loads of stuff to do in Cape Town. Plus it is a good base to explore other areas of the Western Cape, so you could easily stay for 2 weeks and still not be able to fit everything in.
• Cape Town is quite big and sprawling, and lots of the sights are quite spread out, so it is hard to cram too much in to one day. Best to pick one area/neighbourhood per day and explore it properly.
• Robben Island is the most popular tourist attraction in  Cape Town, and gets booked up, so make sure you book it in advance if you want to go.
• We are going to be in Cape Town from February 14th until March 8th, and will hopefully have time for more than just wedding planning during this time, so please keep us updated with your plans and hopefully we will be able to spend time with everyone during our trip!