Footsteps to Freedom offers two really good walking tours -- one of the city and its historical sites and the other of the V&A Waterfront. The guides are friendly and well informed, offer a rare insight into the city, and can help you with tours of the Bo-Kaap and townships. They also have great maps of the city, Peninsula, and Winelands called Serious Fun Guides, which you can pick up at various outlets. Bo-Kaap Guided Tours conducts a walking tour that lasts just under two hours and offers an insider's look of the neighborhood. You can also do a walking tour of Langa township as part of Legend Tours' Walk to Freedom portfolio. The guides explain the social structures and lifestyles of Cape Town's oldest African precinct, as well as the cultural history of the area.

Take some of the mystery out of Table Mountain with a guide who can share information on the incredible diversity of flora and fauna you'll come across. Join walking and climbing tours with the Cape Town School of Mountaineering, or tag along on a group walk open to everyone (most are on weekends). Pick up a Cumhike timetable from any Cape Union Mart outdoor store (found in almost every mall). A self-guided walking tour of city center attractions was recently developed. Pamphlets can be picked up at Cape Town Tourism. Longer walking tours (four days and longer) outside Cape Town can be arranged through Active Africa, specialized birding walks through Bird-Watch Cape.

Adventure Kalk Bay, a group of concerned longtime citizens, has as its goal to promote and preserve the old fishing way of life in Kalk Bay. Toward that end it arranges for knowledgeable guides for village walks and canoe trips (including rentals) and homestays with fishing families.

Tour Operators

Active Africa

Helicopter & Airplane Tours

Helicopters fly from the V&A Waterfront and charge around R5,000 an hour for a three- or four-seater chopper. Civair and NAC/Makana offer tours of the city and surrounding area ranging in length from 20 minutes to several hours. Custom tours can be arranged. Most operators charge between R1,300 and R1,800 for a 20-minute trip and R4,900 to R5,400 for an hour in the air. Adventure Village offers trips in a variety of light aircraft, including helicopters. Flying from Cape Town International Airport, Right Air Charter will fly you over Cape Point and the Winelands with lots in between and will tailor flights to suit. Prices vary according to the number of passengers, but expect to pay around R700 for a one-hour flight.

Tour Operators

Adventure Village

Bus & Car Tours

Large-group bus tours are operated by Hylton Ross, Mother City Tours, and Springbok Atlas, among many others. Expect to pay R250-R350 for a half-day trip, about R400-R500 for a full-day tour. A trip on the hop-on/hop-off Cape Town Explorer bus costs R90 for a day ticket through Hylton Ross. Paradise Touring leads tours all around the Cape Town area.

If you're a little more adventurous, contrast the upscale estates of the Winelands with a trip to a shebeen (an informal neighborhood bar) with Ferdinand's Tours. Exclusively gay tours are offered by Friends of Dorothy.

Quite a few cultural tours are also offered. Thuthuka Tours offers music and gospel tours of the townships. Grassroute Tours tours the townships as well, in addition to offering a walking tour of Bo-Kaap, which takes in the neighborhood's brightly colored facades and rich history. You can develop your understanding of the destruction brought on by apartheid's forced removals while touring District Six with Our Pride-Bonani. A group of MK veterans (former cadres of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe), going by the name Western Cape Action Tours, provide insight into Cape Town's experience of apartheid and resistance. Tours include scenes of struggle and other historical sites as well as development projects, township markets, and housing programs. A half-day tour is R220 per person (minimum two people), a full-day tour including lunch costs R450 a head (minimum four people), and a customized day trip for a single individual is R800. Though these operators specialize in niche tours, most of them cover mainstream trips like Cape Point and the Winelands, too.

Tour Operators

Ferdinand's Tours and Adventures

Boat Tours

Until the middle of the 20th century, most travelers' first glimpse of Cape Town was from the sea, and that's still the best way to get a feeling for the city's impressive setting, with its famous mountain as a backdrop. The Waterfront Boat Company offers trips on a range of boats, from yachts to large motor cruisers. A 1½-hour sunset cruise from the V&A Waterfront costs about R170, and includes a glass of bubbly. Tigger 2 and Drumbeat charters both run a variety of trips in the Hout Bay area, ranging from sunset cruises to full-day crayfishing expeditions. A trip from Hout Bay to Seal Island, in False Bay, with Drumbeat Charters costs R45 for adults, R20 for kids. The only boat trip to actually land on Robben Island is the museum's ferry.

Tour Operators

Drumbeat Charters

Bike Tour

Baz Bus tours the south Peninsula with a trailer full of bikes. You cycle the fun parts and sit in the bus for the rest. It costs about R350. Daytrippers specializes in bike tours but uses all sorts of modes of transportation, from bus to boat to foot, to explore the area.

Tour Operator