South Africa · Western Cape
Where to Stay in Cape Town, Western Cape
Cape Town is South Africa's oldest city and legislative capital, set on the southwestern coast near the Cape of Good Hope in the Western Cape.
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Where to stay in Cape Town
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Cape TownSouth AfricaAthlone
Athlone is a district of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa, and holds the Trojan Horse Memorial.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaBo-Kaap
The Bo-Kaap is a historic quarter on the lower slopes of Signal Hill, rising just above the Cape Town city centre.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaCamps Bay
Camps Bay is an affluent seaside suburb on Cape Town's Atlantic Seaboard, strung along the western edge of the Cape Peninsula. The beach is the draw.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaClifton
Clifton is a small coastal suburb on the Atlantic seaboard of Cape Town, built into the steep lower slopes just below Lion's Head.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaConstantia
Constantia is a leafy, affluent suburb spread across a broad valley in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. It is South Africa's oldest wine district.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaDe Waterkant
De Waterkant is a small historic quarter of Cape Town, wedged between the city centre and the harbour on the lower slopes of Signal Hill.Where to stay →Cape TownSouth AfricaGardens
Gardens is a leafy residential suburb of Cape Town, filling the slope of the City Bowl between the town centre and Table Mountain.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaGreen Point
Green Point is a coastal suburb on Cape Town's Atlantic Seaboard, set between the V&A Waterfront and Sea Point below Signal Hill.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaHout Bay
Hout Bay is a coastal valley on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, one of the outlying parts of Cape Town in the Western Cape.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaMuizenberg
Muizenberg is a beachside suburb on the eastern edge of the Cape Peninsula, facing the warmer water of False Bay. The beach is wide and gently shelving.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaObservatory
Observatory is an inner-city suburb of Cape Town, set on a low rise between the slopes of Devil's Peak and the Liesbeek River.Where to stay →
Cape TownSouth AfricaSea Point
Sea Point is a dense residential suburb on the Atlantic Seaboard of Cape Town, wedged between the ocean and the lower slopes of Signal Hill.Where to stay →Cape TownSouth AfricaWoodstock
Woodstock is one of Cape Town's oldest suburbs, wedged between the central City Bowl and Salt River on the low ground below Devil's Peak.Where to stay →About Cape Town
Cape Town is known for its harbour and its history.
What is Cape Town known for?
The oldest city in South Africa and the seat of the South African Parliament, it grew from a trading post near the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Its museums and galleries crowd the old centre, from the Two Oceans Aquarium to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. Inland lie the vineyards of the Cape Winelands.
What are the main landmarks in Cape Town?
Cape Town packs its landmarks into the old town. The Iziko South African Museum, the South African National Gallery, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa carry the city's art and natural history, while the Two Oceans Aquarium draws families to the harbour. Memory sits alongside them.
The District Six Museum and the Slave Lodge record forced removals and slavery, and the old Groote Kerk anchors the colonial-era churches of the centre.
What is the history of Cape Town?
Cape Town began in 1652 as a supply station for passing ships. The Dutch set it up on the shore near the Cape of Good Hope, and it became the first lasting European settlement in what is now South Africa, known in Dutch as Kaapstad. The little station grew into a colonial port.
Enslaved people were brought from distant colonies to build and work it, a history kept in the Slave Lodge. The Cape was a crossroads from the start. Control of the Cape passed between colonial powers before the wider country was unified, and Cape Town was made the seat of its Parliament, a role it still holds as the legislative capital.
Its later history carries hard chapters. Under apartheid the mixed inner-city district of District Six was declared white and its people forced out, a story the District Six Museum tells on the ground where it happened. Groote Kerk and the old churches trace the colonial centuries.
Museums, docks, and Parliament all sit within the compact old town. Cape Town wears its full past, first port and legislative capital alike, in plain view.
Where is Cape Town?
Cape Town sits on the southwestern coast of South Africa, in the Western Cape. The city curls around a harbour where the land narrows toward the Cape of Good Hope, the rocky point that marks the southern end of the African continent. Sea frames it on more than one side.
Inland the ground runs on to the valleys of the Cape Winelands.
What is the climate of Cape Town?
Cape Town has a mild climate shaped by the surrounding sea. Ocean water keeps the city's temperatures even through the year, warm rather than hot in the sunnier months and cool rather than cold in the darker ones. Strong winds are a fixture of the coast.
The Cape of Good Hope catches the full force of them.
How do you get to Cape Town?
Cape Town is the main entry point to South Africa's southwest. International flights land at the city's airport, and roads and rail run on from there along the coast and inland to the Cape Winelands. The long national route links it to the interior and Johannesburg.
Ships still call at the old harbour. Most southern trips begin here.
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Updated July 2026