Table Mountain

The first day of our trip we visited Table Mountain and it was probably the hottest day of our trip. I have never been more glad that we didn't hike up the mountain. In addition, after hearing stories of people waiting on the mountain to rob tourists who are hiking (what are they going to get? my water bottle?) I wasn't so keen on hiking anyway.

I thought we got there early. But not considering the large amount of cars parked on the road winding up the mountain. We had to park at the bottom and walk up the hill to the cable station. We had bought our tickets in advance at http://tablemountain.net/ Definitely buy your tickets in advance. Your tickets are then valid for a couple of days and you get to skip a wait in one of the lines.

We had another long line to wait in to take the cableway up though. Lines are so long because the weather in Cape Town is crazy and the cable station is often closed down. So when there's a nice day, all the tourists in town will show up at the attraction. And while it may be clear in the morning, the strong Cape Doctor winds can blow in the clouds known as the "table cloth" of the mountain that cover the mountain and can shut down the cable station. These sudden winds and clouds can also make hiking very dangerous. Point being: as soon as the weather is beautiful and that table cloth of clouds is off the mountain, get your butt up to the cable station if you want to see the top.

We liked this sign.

When we finally reached the top there were beautiful views of the city below, the entire Cape peninsula, and off into the Winelands. There is a restaurant up there if you want to grab some lunch or a drink and plenty of little hiking paths to explore.