Understanding Cape Town Walking Tour
If there is only one thing you do in Cape Town, then it must be the LocalPlaces Understanding Cape Town walking tour. It will provide you with insight and understanding of the history and make-up of this fascinating city. In fact, it will make you understand the entire South African story. With this knowledge, you will enjoy the rest of your visit to the city and country much more and make better sense of it all!
This leisurely, 4,5-hour walking tour is easy and slow, covering about 3,5km, with the focus on the background history and context of the city. It provides you with insight into how the city, and South Africa as a country, has come into being. It is the best introductory tour of the city as its history and layout will suddenly make perfect sense to you.
It is a tour for the curiously minded, but it includes plenty opportunity for sightseeing, photography, experiencing the vibe and ambience of the city – and even a stop or two for drinks and the sampling a local delicacy along the way (food and drinks for your own account).
We meet at Ginja restaurant inside the Victoria & Alfred Hotel at the V&A Waterfront and walk along the Canal District to Battery Park, before making our way over the pedestrian bridge into the city’s Foreshore, where jetties once protruded into the sea. We amble along Bree Street and pop in to Heritage Square, before proceeding through the heart of the city (Greenmarket Square) and up St Georges Mall, to the astonishing Company’s Garden.
It is a mesmerizing storytelling experience, told within the context of Cape Town, referring to the architecture, landmarks, and spatial planning of the city throughout. It will provide you with astonishing insight into the Cape Town (and South Africa) of today.
The tour focuses on the background story of Cape Town and unpacks its complex, contested and fascinating history from ancient times to the 20th Century. It focuses on our first two storytelling themes – Ancient to Dutch Times (1200-1795) and British Times (1795-1910). While we briefly mention the 20th and 21st centuries, it is impossible to talk about those in detail on this tour. For a complete Cape Town story, best is to combine this tour in the morning with the Evolving Cape Town Tour in the afternoon, which covers the Recent & Contemporary Times (1910-2026).
We present the Cape Town story in easy-to-listen parts along the way. We start off with the 1870s 2nd Industrial Revolution and the Scramble for Africa, before returning to pre-colonial history. From ancient African Empires to the local San and Khoe people. On to Portuguese seafarers, conflicts at Salt River, the emergence of Britain and the Netherlands as seafaring nations, a shipwreck and the eventual establishment of a Dutch refreshment station for ships. Followed by expansion under the Dutch East India Company and international turmoil in the late 1700s that involved the USA, France, Britain & Netherlands, among others. Next are the eventual British take over of the Cape and an era of migrations, leading to the discovery of diamonds and gold in the north. This results in the devastating Anglo-Boer War, focused on gold, and the growth of Cape Town into an impressive British Colonial City. Our story ends at the formation of the Union of South African in 1910, and the policies that sowed the seeds of Apartheid.
RATES:
This tour lasts 4,5 hours and can be booked for a 9am or 2pm start. Public/open tours are only available at 9am on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays (subject to availability). All other slots only available as private tours.
Public tours:
Special local rate (for anyone residing in South Africa): R400 per person.
Children (12-18): R250 per person.
Children under 12: Free
Special international rate: R750 per person.
Children (12-18): R375 per person.
Children under 12: Free
Public tours run from 9am-1:30pm on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays (subject to availability). Meet us at the dedicated starting point at Ginja Restaurant at the Victoria & Alfred Hotel in the V&A Waterfront and end at the Company’s Garden. Tours are guided by Gerald Garner
Available as a private tour at any time, at a minimum rate of R3000 for up to 4 guests
(or R750 per person if more than 4 guests).
Any food, drinks, or shopping along the way for guests’ own account.
BOOK NOW:
To book your tour, send an email to gerald@localplaces.co.za or a WhatsApp to + 27 82 894 5216.
Please do not phone as we are mostly busy hosting guests.
Send a message and we will contact you as soon as is possible.
We will respond to your booking request and provide an online payment link for you to pay by bank card to secure the booking.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
Guests participate in all LocalPlaces tours at their own risk. Neither LocalPlaces, nor its guides, accept any responsibility whatsoever for any injury, accident or death that may occur while participating in an LocalPlaces tour, whether in a public or a private space.
A tour booking is only secured upon payment.
Provisional bookings will automatically be cancelled if not paid within 48 hours from making a booking.
Bookings cannot be cancelled once paid for any reason whatsoever and no refunds will be offered for cancelled bookings.
Bookings can be postponed to another date if postponed more than 30 days in advance of the booked date. However, bookings cannot be postponed for any reason whatsoever within 30 days of the tour date, as we would lose the opportunity to take another booking for that slot.
STARTING POINT
We will stipulate the starting point for your tour in your booking confirmation letter. Most (but not all) tours start at Ginja Restaurant at the Victoria & Alfred Hotel on the V&A Waterfront.
For private tour bookings, it is possible to arrange pick up and drop off from your hotel or accommodation, possibly for an additional fee, depending on location.
