Blog - Cape Town Holiday Accommodation - Places to Stay in South Africa

1. Sundowners at La Med
For a totally chilled out summer cocktails by the sea experience head down to La Med in Camps Bay. It’s where pretty much anybody who’s cool in Cape Town hangs out every now and again and you’re never short of some fantastic eye candy. The odd impromptu parachute landing by locals throwing themselves off Lions Head only add to the cool factor of this Cape Town Sundowner institution.

2. Curry at Bukhara
There’s nothing quite like a curry and a few beers after a game. Head down to Church Street in Cape Town’s City Bowl to experience one of the best in Cape Town. Get a table on the Verandah and enjoy the hustle and bustle of Cape Town below but be warned it gets packed to the rafters every night so you’ll need to book in advance.

3. Shopping at the Waterfront
The Waterfront with it’s iconic picture postcard views has become the central tourist location in Cape Town. Only a few minutes from the Stadium at Greenpoint you can shop until you drop, take a trip on a Catamaran or even book a helicopter flip over the Peninsula.

4. Surfing at Muizenberg
When in Cape Town do as the Capetonians do. Muizenberg is the home of learning to surf in the Cape and in October 2009 grabbed the world record for number of surfers riding the same wave, a staggering 103. There’s plenty of surf schools just off the beach and for a few quid you can grab a board, wetsuit and an instructor for an hour.

5. Shark cage diving
You won’t get many locals promoting shark diving because of the alleged increased shark activity in the area due to companies artificially chumming the ocean so you get a glimpse of the 20 ft killers. However, if you fancy an up close and personal experience with a great white then here’s your chance.

6. Laze on the beach
The water in Cape Town is icy cold all year round and the swell is dangerous for all but the most experienced swimmers. The best way to enjoy the beach is from the comfort of your sunbed. Clifton’s 4 beaches are without doubt the busiest and coolest in Cape Town.

7. Hiking in Silvermine
Unknown to many Capetonians, Silvermine forms part of the Cape Peninsula National Park and has some of the best walks in Cape Town. Choose a trail of between 1 and 4 hours and you’ll get to see some of the most stunning scenery in the world.

8. The Old Biscuit Mill
An organic market in the same vein as Spittalfields in London. Lots of freshly made natural eats and treats as well as some pretty cool stuff to buy. It’s only a short drive from the Greenpoint Stadium in the up and coming area of Woodstock. If you want a taste of multi-culteral Cape Town then it’s well worth a visit.

9. Winelands tour
No trip to Cape Town is complete without a tour of the wine route. Crawl from wine farm to wine farm tasting their wares. Having done this several times myself the first two wine farms are fantastic … and you really savour the delicate differences between wine growers. After that it all becomes a blur.

10. Moyo for supper
Speir wine farm is one of the biggest in the Cape and also home to Moyo restaurant. Reserve a tree-top table and enjoy a truly African evening of fantastic food and great impromptu singing, drumming and dancing from the resident musicians. World Cup 2010 - 10 Things to do and see in Cape Town (between matches of course

There’s some confusion surrounding the ticket allocation and collection for the forthcoming 2010 World Cup in South Africa. There are two types of tickets. Individual match tickets for each of the 64 games and Team Specific Match Tickets (TSTs) which are a series of tickets to follow your national team and may include between 3 and 7 tickets. (Code TST5 = 5 games etc). If your team gets knocked out your TST ticket remains valid to follow the team that progresses into the next round of the competition.

You can only collect your tickets from the designated Ticket Collection Points in each of the 9 host cities in South Africa. You must be the person who applied for the tickets and must present the credit card used to pay for the tickets. You will also need another from of ID such as your passport. Tickets will not be delivered to your home address.

Tickets are still available for the tournament and yesterday Fifa announced another PMA (participating member association) phase of sales which will take place through the Fifa.com website from 9 Feb - 7 April, 2010. This will coincide with the 4th planned sales phase whereby match tickets will be available on Fifa.com and at branches of FNB Bank (in South Africa) on a first come first served basis.

Sales of World Cup tickets in the host country have so far been met with apathy. More tickets have been sold to watch England’s games than Bafana Bafana, the South African national team. This is no great surprise in a country where Man Utd and Liverpool are the two biggest supported teams. Having lived in South Africa for some time I wouldn’t be overly concerned by the lack of enthusiasm thus far. South Africans are notoriously laid back about committing to any event until the day before it’s due to take place. For more information about tickets for the World Cup visit Fifa.com.

Yes, but the prices vary wildly depending on when you travel. If you decide to stay until after the final on July 11th then you can fly home on the 13th for £2,698 or stay an extra couple of days in the Mother City and return on the 15th for only £472 with British Airways, a colossal saving of almost £2,200.

This pattern of volatile prices continues across the board and with most airlines. Emirates, however, are very consistent with return prices around the £2,800 mark … ouch! If money is not an issue and you’re looking for a direct flight then try either BA or Virgin. If money is an issue and you don’t mind traveling 15 - 20 hours then focus on SAA and other European airlines. From our research KLM is a good choice, lots of availability and fairly consistent prices of between £1,000 and £1,600 for a return flight during the World Cup. South African Airways is also a great option and with a travel time of only 15 hours (1 stop in Johannesburg) it’s possibly the best choice at the moment.

In general, aggregate sites are a great way to search. Try opodo.com or travelsupermarket.com. Once you’ve found an airline and roughly know your travel dates try searching cash back sites such as quidco.com. You can often shave up to 5% off the price of your flight by clicking through from one of these sites.

Our advice for travelers is to book early. Don’t hang around for a last minute bargain because chances are there won’t be any. As a regular traveler to South Africa myself, the closer to your departure you get the more expensive and less choice there is.

BA have announced that they will be following the lead of many budget airlines and charging passenegers to pre-book their seats. The prices will range from £10 to £60 depending on which seats you require. Passengers will be charged £10 on short haul flights, £20 on long haul or business economy and £60 on long haul business flights. Seats in an emergency exit row will cost £50 and can be booked between 10 and four days prior to departure. The good news is that if you don’t reserve a seat when you make a booking you will be able to book your seat, free of charge, within 24 hours of departure. Read more

I’ve been asked a few times about the best places to stay in Cape Town for the World Cup 2010 so I thought I’d share my local knowledge to help ‘newbie’ visitors find the perfect place. I’ll base this on 3 factors: Cost of accommodation, Proximity to the World Cup stadium and Style (is it a cool place with good restaurants, bars and nightlife). The World Cup stadium itself is in Greenpoint which is very central to everything cool and stylish that Cape Town has to offer. There will also be fan parks in Bellville (Northern Suburbs), Athlone (Southern Suburbs) and in front of City Hall (City Bowl). Read more

Having trawled through literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of Holiday Accommodation details I’m still bemused to find that owners think that advertising their holiday rental accommodation is similar to advertising a washing machine on Ebay. The recipe goes like this; add a few photos taken with their mobile phone, write a small ’sellers description’ and then post it on as many random (and hopefully free) sites as they can hoping for someone to ‘make them an offer’.

I even encountered a very proud owner who rejoiced in the fact he hadn’t updated his website in 10 years and that guests were ‘amazed’ at how much better the establishment was in real-life. This is the same as buying an old Toyota on Ebay and pitching up to collect it to find you actually bought a New Mercedes Benz. Yes, you’d be surprised too!

The holiday rental marketplace is crowded, particularly in Cape Town, and competition is fierce. The only way you will be successful is by being smart and being ‘better’ than the person next door. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be offering tips and advice for getting you to the top of the tree and in turn increase your enquiries and bookings. It’s not rocket science and we won’t be asking you to learn anything new, we’ll just be pointing you in the right direction to kick-start your business and move it into the 21st Century. Stay tuned or even better sign-up to receive our updates in your inbox, that way you won’t miss a trick.

Here’s the rather disturbing advice and Travel guidelines from the British Government for UK travelers to South Africa. You can read it in full by clicking this link. And if you’re planning on traveling to South Africa don’t be too disturbed by this advice, the government are quite rightly telling us all the bad stuff we should be aware of. (I’ve read the one for Spain and France and it’s equally disturbing!).

• There is a high level of crime, but most occurs in townships and isolated areas away from the normal tourist destinations.
• The standard of driving is variable and there are many fatal accidents.
• More than 460,000 Britons visit South Africa every year (Source: Statistics South Africa). Most visits are trouble- free. The main types of incident for which British nationals required consular assistance in South Africa in 2007 were for: replacing lost or stolen passports (over 750 cases); deaths, mainly from natural causes (over 50 cases); and dealing with arrests or detentions, for a variety of offences (17 cases). You should keep photocopies of your passport with you in a separate place to your passport.
• There is an underlying threat from terrorism. Attacks, although unlikely, could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.
• We recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling. You should check any exclusions, and that your policy covers you for the activities you want to undertake.
• South Africa authorities state that officially only one blank passport page is required for entry. However, recently several visitors have been refused entry and sent back to the UK as some officials are insisting on two blank pages. We advise that you have two blank pages in your passport on arrival.

Yesterday we gave important safety tips and numbers for holidaymakers to Cape Town. A couple of friends have said they’ll forget all that before they arrive and is there a place they can get this information when they arrive at Cape Town International Airport. And the answer is yes. There is a Cape Town Tourism kiosk in the arrivals hall where you can get a handy credit-card sized safety information leaflet. As you walk out into the airport from the luggage carousels look straight ahead, it’s just to the right of the cafe. Failing that visit any Cape Town Tourism office and pick one up. The kiosk also has a great little ‘Cape Town official visitors guide’ which contains stacks of info on safety, things to do and see as well as places to eat and stay. If you’re staying in self-catering accommodation in Cape Town then ask your host for safety information. They should all carry details in their accommodation welcome packs. (Owners: If you don’t have this info then add it .. quickly!).

Following a news report on the BBC last night about crime in Cape Town, particularly focussing on gangsters and the underworld of drugs in Grassy Park I thought we’d share some safety advice for overseas travelers to our lovely City of Cape Town. Read more

Tickets from the first phase ballot will be drawn from the FIFA hat today. All successful applicants will recieve notification within 3 working days by email. If you’re not one of the lucky people this time you can always apply in the second phase of ticketing starting on May 4th, 2009. However, unlike the first phase, the second phase will be on a first come first served basis so you’d better have quick fingers and your credit card at the ready on the stroke of midnight to stand a chance of getting the tickets you’re after. There’s also a 3rd, 4th and 5th phase of ticket sales with the latter being conducted at the point of sale. This will only happen with any remaining seat still unsold after the first 4 phases so more than likely it’ll be the expensive tickets for the ‘not so great’ games!. You can read more on the Fifa.com website. AND remember to add your property to onelocation if you haven’t already. There’s a few more free places left and in about 3 days thousands of lucky ticket winners will start scouring South Africa for World Cup Accommodation.