Cape Town, South Africa — Activities
Cape Town Culture
Cultural offerings in Cape Town range from high-brow opera to pop concerts in the park, comedy clubs and poetry readings. The city is particularly big on jazz, too. Listings can be found in the Friday editions of The Cape Argus, Cape Times and Mail & Guardian or online at www.tonight.co.za. Tickets for many events can be booked through Computicket (tel: 083 915 8000; www.computicket.com), which also has kiosks in malls including the V&A Waterfront.
Theater
Fugard Theater
The Fugard opened in February 2010 in the historic District Six area, and is named after Athol Fugard, one of South Africa’s best-loved theater personalities. The converted warehouse and church is now a 270-seat theater, which is home to the Isango Portobello Theater Company. The company’s previous shows, A Christmas Carol and The Magic Flute transferred to London, and won awards as the best Off-West End productions.
Caledon Street, District Six
Tel: (021) 461 4554.
Website: www.thefugard.com
Vaudeville
Is it a theater? Is it a supper club? A live music venue? Vaudeville is all of those and a whole lot more. It’s a raunchy cabaret with sexy showgirls, acrobats , strongmen, risqué singers, tap dancers, highwire acts and even breakdancers. Eye candy galore for both men and women. The show comes with a good three-course meal and makes a highly entertaining, extravagant, exuberant experience.
11 Mechua Street, off Lower Bree
Tel: 0861 787737.
Website: www.vaudeville.co.za
Baxter Theater
The Baxter houses a theater with 666 seats as well as a concert hall, and stages a variety of shows including opera, children’s theater, comedy, classical concerts and mainstream and experimental theater productions. Always worth checking because its' mission is to provide a variety of entertainment to suit all ages and tastes.
Main Road, Rondebosch
Tel: (021) 685 7880.
Website www.baxter.co.za
Music
Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
The Philharmonic is one of only two full–time professional symphony orchestras in South Africa. It was formed in 1914 and performs regularly at the City Hall in Grand Parade, at the Artscape Theater Center and at the Kirstenbosch Sunset Concerts held every Sunday evening in summer. Apart from traditional symphony concerts, the orchestra joins Cape Town Opera and City Ballet for their opera and ballet seasons. Performance details are available from its website.
Tel: (021) 410 9809.
Website: www.cpo.org.za
Opera
Cape Town Opera
The city’s opera company is famous for successfully Africanising the classics. That’s based on its self-declared mission to transform opera and the performing arts by bringing on board previously disadvantaged artists. Its 2010 season includes Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss and the more unusual African Songbook, a tribute to the life of Nelson Mandela.
Tel: (021) 410 9807.
Website: www.capetownopera.co.za
Cape Town Tours
Walking Tours
With its cosmopolitan buzz, street musicians, markets, beautiful architecture and some glorious weather, Cape Town is perfect for exploring on foot. Three relatively traditional tours are offered by Wanderlust, while Coffeebeans Routes offers a more unusual slice of life with jazz, reggae, art or football tours that take you where you may never otherwise think to go.
Wanderlust
Tel: (021) 426 4252.
Website: www.wanderlust.co.za
Coffeebeans Routes
Tel: (021) 424 3572.
Website: www.coffeebeanroutes.com
Bus Tours
A hop-on, hop-off, open-top bus tour is an excellent way to orient yourself. City Sightseeing offers the ‘Red Route' tour, which can be conveniently hailed anywhere along the route and takes in the V&A Waterfront, Sea Point, District Six, the lower cable car station and Camps Bay.
A longer ‘Blue Mini-Peninsula Tour’ runs every 45 minutes, covering the city, plus Kirstenbosch gardens, the bird gardens at Hout Bay, a local township and Camps Bay. The township stop can be tied in with a tour of that area conducted by a local guide.
City Sightseeing
Tel: (021) 511 6000.
Website: www.citysightseeingsa.co.za
Boat Tours
Numerous companies offer harbor tours, champagne cruises, sundowner dinner trips and fishing excursions from the V&A Waterfront. Whale-watching tours are available between June and November, lasting three to fours hours. Thrill seekers might enjoy a high-speed, one-hour motorboat trip to Clifton beach. Alternatively, boat trips to view Cape Fur seals on Duiker Island are run by Drumbeat Charters from Hout Bay, lasting 35 minutes, while an hour-long cruise adds a shipwreck sighting in Maori Bay.
Drumbeat Charters
Tel: (021) 790 4859.
Website: www.drumbeatcharters.co.za
Bicycle Tours
If you’ve got the energy, this is a great way to admire the Cape peninsula’s stunning scenery. Daytrippers organizes a half-day mountain biking session offering sweeping views across the city on a fairly strenuous journey with some exhilarating downhills and a few challenging climbs back to the bus. It also offers extended trips lasting from five days onwards. Downhill Adventures runs a full day trip to the winelands ending with a much-deserved wine tasting, or a half-day dirt track exploration around Table Mountain.
Daytrippers
Tel: (021) 511 4766.
Website: www.daytrippers.co.za
Downhill Adventures
Tel: (021) 422 0388.
Website: www.downhilladventures.com
