Today's Highlights:

Arriving at the modern and efficient Cape Town International Airport and being issued with your rental vehicle, its a short 20mins drive to one of Cape Town's most sought after suburbs for check-in at De Tafelberg Guest House.

Most tourists experience a feeling of arriving 'home' when they first set eyes on the city and the way it is cradled by old Table Mountain, Lion's Head, Devil's Peak and the Atlantic Ocean in front.

Like the sailors from yester-year, you will see the city from far out. Nestling in a natural amphitheater, majestic Table Mountain as a backdrop and the Atlantic Ocean to the North, Cape Town's iconic setting simply takes one's breath away.

The De Tafelberg Guest House offers the visitor a fantastic view of the city, 4 star luxury and the ideal, central location for exploring the area.
 

Suggested highlights for today:

• Today sees you exploring the historic sights in town and mixing it up with a wonderful culinary experience.

• Cape Town has a rich history of Dutch and British rule, infused with the arrival of the French Huguenots later on and a harbour at the tip of Africa drawing people from all walks of life/the globe for close on 400 years The result is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

• The old slave quarter of the Bo-Kaap, Cape Town Castle, District 6 Museum (featuring the sad Apartheid-era forced removals), V&A Waterfront (visited by 23 million people every year) and Table Mountain, are but a few of the sights on offer.

• Why not try The Test Kitchen in Woodstock for lunch? Elite Travel rates it NO.28 in the world and Best in Africa...confirm your booking months ahead though, this place humms.http://www.thetestkitchen.co.za

Suggested highlights today:

Experience the wonderful diversity of Cape Town's Peninsula. From the only land based African Penguin Colony at Boulder's Beach (Simons Town), to the majestic Cape Point Nature Reserve and the floral wonder of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, this day trip will leave you with an everlasting impression of this pristine part of Africa.
 

• Cape Point Nature Reserve:

As part of the greater Table Mountain National Park, Cape Point at the southern most tip of the peninsular, will simply take your breath away. The mountainous tip of the peninsular makes for a very dramatic back drop to the treacherous ocean down below which the visitor will be able to see by taking the funicular right to the top of the mountain (own account).

The reserve is inhabited by Blesbok, Zebra, Eland, Ostriches and some of the smaller predators. The area is also well known for its marine bird life and typical fynbos (heather) flora.
 

• Chapman's Peak Drive:

This 6 mile heart stopping drive takes you to 1970ft above the sea along a twisting road carved out of the mountain side in 1922. It's regarded as one of the most dramatic sea drives anywhere, named after the British sailor John Chapman, the first Brit to reconnoiter the area in 1607.
 

• Hout Bay:

This quaint fishing village (translated as Wood Bay), is guarded by the majestic Sentinel Mountain and is the closest harbour to Cape Town. It was often used when the winter storms made Cape Town's harbour unusable in a time before man-made breakwater structures. You can visit the well known Seal Island by boat (weather permitting and own account), and witness the area's notorious Great White Shark population feasting on the resident seal population (maybe not for the faint hearted?)
 

• Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens:

Established in 1913, Kirstenbosch is regarded as one of the greatest botanical and horticultural institutions in the world. Only 12km from Cape Town, the 528 ha estate is filled with more than 7000 species and the herbarium is home to a further 750 000. The visitor can enjoy a good meal at the local restaurant, have a picnic, attend a summer Sunday afternoon family orientated music show in a wonderful natural amphitheater or hike around at own leisure.
 

Or:
 

• Groot Constantia Wine Farm:

Originally owned by Governor Simon van der Stel in 1685, this is the oldest wine farm in South Africa. The wines produced here have been admired by the likes of Napoleon, Jane Austen and Charles Baudelaire. The Cape Dutch architecture on the property are some of the best examples around and the work of the architect, Louis Thibault and sculptor Anton Anreith.

A lunch/wine tasting (own account), at any of the top restaurants will not disappoint.
 

Or:
 

• Camps Bay:

Regarded as Africa's 'Riviera', this strip of the Atlantic Sea Board offers magical beaches, excellent restaurants and cocktail bars and very affluent suburbs carved out of the rocky shore at Clifton and Bantry Bay. All of this with The Twelve Apostles mountain as back drop and some of the whitest beach sand to stare over at a picture perfect sunset.

The Cape Town Peninsula has it all: scenic nature, history, wildlife and excellent cuisine in one day.

 

Suggested highlights for the day:

One of the biggest tourist attractions in the Western Cape is the Cape Wine Lands.

• Discover and explore the more than 150 wine farms and estates where both connoisseurs and novice wine-drinkers can enjoy the fruit of the vine. Sample award-winning wines, relax and drink in the atmospheres of the wine lands.

• The town of Paarl gained international attention when, on 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela walked out of Victor Verster Correctional Centre in Paarl ending 27 years of imprisonment and beginning the march to South Africa's post-apartheid era and multi-racial elections. Mandela spent three years in prison here living in a private house within the walls. Today, a bronze statue of Mandela stands outside the prison.

The district is particularly well known for its Pearl Mountain or "Paarl Rock". This huge granite rock is formed by three rounded outcrops that make up Paarl Mountain and has been compared in majesty to Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) in Australia. (However, they are not geologically similar. Paarl Rock consists of intrusive igneous rock, while Uluru is a sedimentary remnant).

Paarl is known for its excellent wine farms, golf courses and being the town where the Afrikaans language was developed or standardized.

The Cape Wine Lands makes for an unforgettable experience.

Today you leave for home, but we will see you again!