Planning this trip, this tour was an absolute must for me. In fact, this was one of the very first things I booked. Planning a trip to Cape Town, there was absolutely no way I was not going to see the Cape of Good Hope and all the other lovely spots on the Cape Point.
You see, I have literally been dreaming of going to the Cape of Good Hope since I was at least 16 years old. To be quite honest, being able to check off these travel dreams of mine is more monumental for me than any graduation, birthday, or holiday I have ever experienced. So as you can see, this day was a big deal for me.
Booking this tour, I went to my go to website Viator and starting hunting for the perfect Cape Point/ Cape of Good hope tour that would also include a trip to Boulder’s beach.
After considering many options, I landed on what ended up being a private tour. Oddly enough, the price was comparable to the group tours, with the lovely thing being that the tour was fully customizable and our guide was extremely flexible to whatever we wanted to do.
Our full day tour began with pick up at 9:00 am and included stops at St. James Beach, Kalk’s Bay for Coffee, Boulder’s Beach/Simon’s Town, the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point, Kalk’s Bay for Lunch, and Chapman’s Peak.
Stop 1: St. James Beach
Our tour began with a stop at St. James Beach. This beach is quite picturesque thanks to the brightly colored beach huts lining the beach and the way the mountains meet the water. The morning began a little bit cloudy but there was no shortage in beauty.
Our stop here was probably about 30 minutes long, which was plenty of time to climb on some of the rocks and enjoy the bright beach huts. The most wonderful thing about the tour was there were no time constraints on any of our stops. So whether we wanted 5 minutes or 2 hours at a stop the choice was ours and we were in control.
For more photos from this beach stop, click anywhere in this sentence.
Stop 2: Truth Coffee at Olympia Bakery, Kalk Bay
This stop was not on the original tour itinerary. After our stop at St. James Beach we started talking about how nice a coffee would be and our guide jumped in and asked us if we wanted to stop at one of his favorite coffee places in the area. How could we refuse.
Conveniently right along the way, we stopped at Olympia Bakery for ‘Truth Coffee’. If you’ve read other stories on my site you know I am a sucker for a good cappuccino. Let’s just say this certainly did not disappoint.
Stop 3: Boulder’s Beach/ Simon’s Town
Boulder’s Beach was something I learned about after doing some research about the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Town. This was one of the stops that was non-negotiable for me when selecting a tour. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see hundreds of penguins hanging out on a beach AND have the opportunity to see them up close.
I had seen penguins in the wildlife only one other time on a boat tour of the Ballesta Islands from Paracas in Peru. On this tour we barely saw the penguins from a distance and quite honestly, if you weren’t paying good attention it was hard to tell.
The experience we had at Boulder’s beach doesn’t even compare.
The beach is a protected area so you do pay a small admission fee to enter. The first beach is called Foxy Beach, which is a penguin only beach where you literally see hundreds of penguins just hanging out and waddling around. It is truly quite remarkable.
The pathways continue on to the famous Boulder’s Beach, which is a human beach that the penguins often find themselves hanging out on too.
When you first get to the beach there aren’t too many penguins. The trick is to climb and crawl between some of the ‘boulders’ to be able to spot the penguins who, simply put, are just chilling.
The water levels will determine how far you can go and walk between these boulders. To our luck, we were visiting at a time when the water levels were lower so we could walk around and see all the little penguins hanging out in different nooks and crannies of the boulders.
We were also super fortunate to see an otter who was hanging out on the beach for just a couple of moments.
We spent probably close to an hour and a half here, which made us thankful we had a private guide encouraged us to take our time and just enjoy these beautiful moments.
Stop 3: Cape of Good Hope
This was a pretty quick stop, but honestly the most monumental for me. The main thing to do here is basically see the famous Cape of Good Hope sign. If you want, it is possible to climb the steps to get to the Cape Point Lighthouse area.
For me, not much compares to that feeling where you think to yourself, “Wow, I’m really here.. I can’t believe I finally made it.”
One of the cool things we were lucky to see along the way was some wild Ostriches walking around the Cape as we drove to the Cape of Good Hope.
Stop 4: Cape Point Light House
Our fourth stop took us to the area where you can choose to walk or pay to take a funicular to the famous Cape Point Light House. It was still a bit cloudy out, but we chose to walk our way to the top.
Our guide had advised us that after seeing the main light house to take this trail that’ll take you toward this other smaller light house, which actually sits right a the very tip of the Cape Point. On of the most spectacular things about this point is begin able to look back and see the main light house with all the mountains and different cliffs in the background.
I am so thankful our guide mentioned this as I probably wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
This whole area is so scenic and beautiful. It is absolutely stunning to see the way the cliffs meet the water, which in some cases is aqua blue. At some point, there are also beautiful views of all the mountains and bays that make up the Cape Point.
Along the walk to the walk to the smaller lighthouse, the wind really starts to pick up. To some this may be a little bit scary as on some points of the walk you have cliffs on either side, but for me, I found this wind to be a super grounding force. I felt like the strong gusts of wind was the Cape’s way of saying “Congratulations, you made it!” Being at that final point was a really special moment that as much as I like to try, I really can’t put into words. Nothing like looking out and feeling like you are at the end of the world.
On our walk back to meet our guide, we were fortunate to have the sun come out. With the sun brought the baboons that hang out in search of any goodies and snack that may have been left behind or that they can steal from tourists.
Although they may be seen as more of a pest, I honestly couldn’t control myself when we rounded a corner and a baboon was just casually hanging out.
In fact, there was a baboon sitting on top of a car quite literally holding an energy drink and apple and eating and drinking both the same way a human would.
After grabbing a quick snack and hitting the bathrooms we proceeded on to our lunch stop.
All in all, we probably spent 2 to 2 and half hours here.
Stop 5: Kalky’s Fish and Chips, Kalk’s Bay
Our fifth stop of the day brought us back to Kalk Bay for what our guide recommended as the best fish and chips in the Cape Town area. The place was located right on the dock and was what he called the spot locals go for their fish and chips.
This was way better than sitting down in any restaurant. The experience felt super authentic and it was some of the best fish and chips I have ever had in my life.
Afterwards we took a little walk on the dock by the boats before heading back to our car.
Stop 6: Chapman’s Peak Drive
Our final stop of the day was the view point on the Chapman’s Peak drive. Our guide took us on this drive as he said it was our James Bond Moment for the day.
The road is literally cut into the sides of the mountain and takes you along the ocean side. this road also features some of the most stunning views. If we were going 100km/hr faster it really would have felt life a real life James Bond Movie.
From the view point you have unbeatable views of the ocean and can see both toward the Cape Point as well as towards table mountain.
We were here kind of around the ‘Golden hour’ just before the sunset, which gave everything a super magical, extra special feel.
Afterwards our tour guide brought us back to our accommodation. Our guide actually gave us some great recommendations for the remainder of our evening, which brought us to Camp’s Bay for the sunset.
All in all, I can’t imagine a better day!! There were so many awe-inspiring and beautiful moments it is hard to even imagine that all of this was experienced in just one day.
If there are any other questions please do not hesitate to reach out!
I hope you enjoyed ! 🙂
Hannah On the Go 
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