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Cape Town Life and the team pride themselves on providing you with the best of what Cape Town has to offer. All our service providers have been vetted by the company, and have been carefully chosen for there similar passion of providing you with the best services' that Cape Town has to offer. Our services include baby sitting, a personal chef whether just for one meal or the duration of your stay. A list of services is provided on our services page. Please tick the services that you would like information on, and submit your request to our team.
There are many Tour Companies that you can choose to use in Cape Town, however we have vetted the best operators. Cape Town is a beautiful city, with a rich culture and heritage, and also offers all kinds of activities for the tourist to enjoy. If you have a car rental, why not let one of our Tour Guides drive with you for the day and show you around. There are many types of tours to choose from such as adventures, wine tasting, the cable way, family outings, offering activities for all kinds of age groups.
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ACCOMMODATION SOUTH AFRICA MAJOR CITIES
GUIDE TO THE CITIES OF SOUTH AFRICA
There is never a dull moment in the South African city life. During the day and night the cities are warm and vibrant as the people that live in them. The cities are so diverse that it would be difficult for any kind of person not to find some place where they completely feel at home.
Every South African city has something unique about it. Johannesburg , Cape Town , Port Elizabeth and Durban are four South African cities, each with their own unique attractions and vibrancy. Together, these four cities reflect the full spectrum of contemporary South African life.
Johannesburg is a city that was literally founded on gold when the country discovered gold. Cape Town, also known as the Mother City is where modern day South Africa started with the arrival of Dutch settlers in 1652 while Pretoria is home to most influential politicians. Durban is known for its balmy weather and fascinating cultural contrasts.
South Africa | South African Accomodation | South Africa Tourism | South African Cities | South African Travel | South African Holiday | South African Travel Information | South African Hotels
South Africa | South African Accomodation | South Africa Tourism | South African Cities | South African Travel | South African Holiday | South African Travel Information | South African Hotels
BLOEMFONTEIN
Bloemfontein - the city of roses - is the capital of the Free State. Rudolph Marthinus Brits left the Garden Route town of Swellendam in the 1820’s and crossed the Orange River in search of better grazing for his cattle. In 1840 he found a favorable site near a strong fountain and bartered a piece of land from the local tribal chief. His nephew joined him and over the years dug an irrigation channel to the orchard and his wife’s flower garden. This fountain proved to be a popular stop over with the migrating Voortrekkers and passing travelers. To these people the area became known as Bloemfontein (flower garden), and it has also been called ‘the city of roses’. The Sotho tribes called it ‘Mangaung’, ‘place of the leopard’ but there are none to be found there now.
Bloemfontein became the capital of the Free State in 1854 but the first elected president was accused of treason and forced to resign. It was under the 4th president that the fledgling republic started to develop into a model state. Its growth was boosted by the discovery of diamonds at Kimberley and gold at the Witwatersrand, when it became a major transport centre. Today the town is a focal point for most of the surface transport systems in the country. Approximately a dozen roads radiate in all directions and Bloemfontein boasts the largest railway workshop in the country. The city is also an educational centre of note with several English and Afrikaans high schools and colleges attaining reputations for excellence.
CAPE TOWN
Cape Town - the mother city - is the city on everyone's lips. Where Sydney and San Francisco were once rated the world's most desirable tourist destinations, travel to Cape Town with its scenic beauty and vibrant lifestyle has now taken over. Table Mountain, Clifton and Camps Bay beaches, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, the Stellenbosch wine farms, Robben Island…the list of must-sees goes on and on. Cape Town is instantly recognizable with the flat-topped Table Mountain as a backdrop, the hub of the Western Cape has a diverse range of attractions to offer. From lavish and luxurious to back-packing on a budget, Cape Town has something for everyone.
Cape Town is known as one of the best cities in the world, and for good reason. Boasting fantastic shopping, excellent restaurants, miles and miles of wine estates, adventure activities, superb beaches….and that’s just for starters. Cape Town jazz-lovers are an insatiable lot and there a few choice venues in and around the City Bowl.
The winelands offer gorgeous restaurants in spectacular settings, and the city centre offers urban eateries of the finest quality. There are a number of yachts for hire on your visit to Cape Town during the warm summer months. Double accommodation, superb cuisine, magnificent watersports options and top class service are all simply part of the deal.
DURBAN
Durban is a major holiday resort with high rise hotels crowding each other for space along the ‘Golden Mile’ beachfront. The wide promenade is full of Zulu ladies selling hand-woven baskets and beautiful beadwork, while the men try to lure you into a rickshaw for a ride around town. These comfortable contraptions are brightly painted and decorated with tassels and mirrors while the puller adorns himself with a flamboyant head-dress almost tall enough to topple him over backwards. Rickshaws are more commonly associated with India and it would not be out of place to call Durban the ‘Curry Capital of South Africa’ due to the high population of Asian Indians who originally came to labor in the sugar-cane fields. Durban is now famous for its spice markets and unusual foods like ‘bunny chow’ where half a white loaf is scooped out and filled up with curry.
‘Durbs by the Sea’ as it is affectionately known is a veritable playground for those with fun and sun on their minds. The coastal city offers year-round sunshine, and virtually no winter - this makes it the perfect venue to kick back and celebrate tropical urban life. This friendly city has lots to offer the night proverbial night owl.
Durban boasts a number of cosmopolitan bars, pubs and nightclubs. Wilson’s Wharf, overlooking the Durban Harbour and the Natal Royal Yack club is host to a few choice pubs and restaurants. Sit on the wooden decks with your daiquiri or feast on a smorgasbord of the freshest seafood while watching the twinkling lights of the harbour by night. Try out Havana Grill & Wine Bar for a chilled chardonnay or magical merlot accompanied by a Cuban cigar.
JOHANNESBURG
This ‘Place of Gold’ as the Sotho word for Gauteng suggests, harbours the gold fields of South Africa. These are just part of one of the largest industrial regions in the Southern Hemisphere. No-one could have imagined the repercussions when an unemployed miner found a stone bearing traces of gold in 1886. This seemingly insignificant event led to the discovery of the world's richest natural treasure trove. People flocked to the area from all ends of the earth and the open pastoral landscape changed almost overnight. Shantytowns sprang up and were rapidly transformed into modern concrete cities. Johannesburg became ‘The Gold Capital of the World’, and the entire country was catapulted into an economic boom. Industrial development was confined to certain areas so that city dwellers may still find rural places and leisure resorts to retreat to.
They call it the City of Gold, Egoli, Jozi and Joburg – but for many of South Africa’s brightest stars the city of Johannesburg is simply HOME. Here’s the lowdown on this colourful city…
One thing is for certain, there is no shortage of nightlife in this cosmopolitan city. We are talking fantastic jazz venues, nightclubs, theatres, cigar bars and chill-out spots that stay open way into the early hours of the morning.
KIMBERLEY
The capital of South Africa’s biggest province may not be the largest in the country, but to an intrepid traveler the diamond city of Kimberley aptly passes for the proverbial dynamite that comes in small sizes.
Visit any museum here and gain interesting insights into some of the country’s first inhabitants, trawl the townships that have an intricate mix of different people living together harmoniously, meander through places where the world’s biggest concentration of millionaires once walked or simply relax in the lushlawns of Kimberley’s gracious gardens.
The Big Hole of Kimberley is probably its most well-known assest. It is a hand-dug hole the size of eight football fields. By the time the mining closed in 1914, over forty years of hard digging had resulted in the Big Hole of Kimberley stretching an imposing surface area of 17 hectares. A total of over 22 million tons of earth was dug out from this hole making it the widest man made hole in the world. Over 2 722 kg of diamonds were harvested from the soil.
Adjacent to the Big Hole is the Mine Museum which is an exact replicaof the city in the frenetic days of the diamond rush. If you are notfaint- hearted take the world’s only guided tour of an operational diamond mine which goes a staggering 840 metres below the earth.
PORT ELIZABETH
Port Elizabeth overlooking Algoa Bay is known as the friendly city with sandy beaches, pleasant parks and a thriving nightlife. Settlers Park includes 54 hectares of cultivated and natural gardens in the valley of the Baakens River, with the emphasis on native plants and flowers attracting many colourful birds. Port Elizabeth is a major water sports venue and hosted the 1995 World Windsurfing Championships. There is a public pool in St George’s Park and a tidal swimming pool at MacArthur Baths on Kings Beach Promenade. It is also a city for animal lovers with dolphins performing at the Oceanarium, a snake park, and even a Horse Monument in town commemorating horses that suffered and died during the Boer War. A reminder of a different, short-lived war is Fort Frederick built in 1799. It was intended to defend the original harbour at the mouth of the river, against the French who wanted to colonise the remote eastern regions of the Cape. They found it was too much trouble and never a shot was fired from here.
PRETORIA
In the past, Pretoria was somewhat staid compared to the bustling bright lights of sister city - Johannesburg. However this urban epicenter has come into its own – offering visitors a cosmopolitan playground of restaurants, shopping malls, bustling nightspots and off-the-wall attractions.
Pretoria has been the diplomatic heartland of South Africa for some time. Home to a large number of international embassies means that Pretoria has a somewhat international flavour to boast about. The city also has a large student community, which means that trendy bars and funky hangouts are a dime a dozen.
Many Gauteng-dwellers believe that Pretoria is actually the food-capital of the province. The ever-present diplomatic community in the city demands that a wide variety of restaurants are available to suit ever taste and culture.
Pretoria has some excellent hotels as well as a host of world-class guesthouses and bed & breakfasts.
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