Places to visit in Western Cape, South Africa
34 places to visit in Western Cape, South Africa, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Cape Floral Region Protected Areas, Cape of Good Hope, Cederberg Wilderness and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Western Cape volume.
7 UNESCO World Heritage sites · 9 Famous places to visit · 18 Hidden gems
UNESCO World Heritage sites in Western Cape (7)
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Cape Floral Region Protected Areas
A World Heritage group of reserves and parks along the Western Cape and Eastern Cape coast and ranges, protecting the fynbos vegetation. Despite its small area, the Cape Floral Region holds an extraordinary share of South Africa's plant species, many found nowhere else.
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Cape of Good Hope
The rocky south western tip of the Cape Peninsula, inside Table Mountain National Park and reached by a short walk from the car park. Cliffs, fynbos and wild beaches surround the sign that marks the point, and baboons and ostriches are often seen along the track.
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Cederberg Wilderness
A rugged range of orange sandstone peaks north of Cape Town, known for odd rock formations such as the Wolfberg Arch and Maltese Cross. It has hiking trails, ancient San rock paintings and the rare Clanwilliam cedar, which gives the range its name.
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Pinnacle Point
A headland on the coast near Mossel Bay with a series of caves that show human use of shellfish and ochre about 160,000 years ago. A clifftop golf resort stands above, and guided walks take visitors to the archaeological caves.
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Robben Island
A low island in Table Bay, a short ferry ride from Cape Town, used for centuries as a prison and place of exile. Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in custody here, and former prisoners now guide visitors around the site, a World Heritage Site since 1999.
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Table Mountain
The flat topped sandstone mountain that rises behind Cape Town, about 1,085 metres at its highest point. A cableway carries visitors to the top, and several trails climb from the city side. Its views over the bay and Robben Island are among the best in the country.
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Table Mountain National Park
A national park proclaimed in 1998 to protect the Table Mountain chain and the wild land of the Cape Peninsula, from Signal Hill down to Cape Point. It shelters fynbos found nowhere else, and walkers, climbers and cable car riders all share the flat topped mountain above Cape Town.
Famous places to visit in Western Cape (9)
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Blombos Cave
A small sea cave on the southern Cape coast where archaeologists found engraved ochre pieces and shell beads about 75,000 years old. They are counted among the earliest known examples of symbolic art. The site is a research area and is not open to casual visitors.
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Bo-Kaap
A hillside district below Signal Hill, once known as the Malay Quarter and the historical centre of Cape Malay culture. Its steep cobbled streets are lined with brightly painted houses, and the Nurul Islam mosque, built in 1844, is among the oldest in the country.
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Boulders Beach
A sheltered beach among granite boulders near Simon's Town on False Bay, famous for its colony of African penguins. The birds first settled here in 1982 and now number in the thousands, and a boardwalk lets visitors watch them close up.
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Cape Agulhas
The southernmost point of Africa, a flat rocky shore marked by a plaque where the Atlantic and Indian oceans are said to meet. A red and white lighthouse built in 1848 stands nearby, and is one of the oldest working lighthouses in South Africa.
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Cape Point
A dramatic headland at the southern end of the Cape Peninsula, topped by an old lighthouse built in 1860 and a newer one from 1919. A funicular and a steep path climb from the car park to the viewpoint above cliffs that drop to the sea.
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Castle of Good Hope
A pentagonal bastion fort built in the 17th century by the Dutch East India Company. It once stood on the shore of Table Bay but now sits inland after land reclamation, ringed by a moat, and it is the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa.
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Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
A botanical garden on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, founded in 1913 to protect South Africa's native flora. It shows thousands of Cape plants, and a curved treetop walkway called the Boomslang rises through the canopy of the arboretum.
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Lion's Head
A 669 metre peak between Table Mountain and Signal Hill, with a spiral path to the top that takes about two hours. It is a favourite for sunrise and full moon hikes, with views of Camps Bay, the city and the Atlantic coast.
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V&A Waterfront
A working harbour turned shopping and dining district in Cape Town, named after Queen Victoria's son Alfred and Victoria herself. It has restaurants, markets, a large aquarium and the Zeitz Museum, with Table Mountain behind and ferries to Robben Island.
Hidden gems in Western Cape (18)
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Afrikaans Language Monument
A concrete and granite monument on a hillside above Paarl, opened in 1975 to mark the 50th anniversary of Afrikaans as an official language. Its tall curved columns and a large dome stand for the influences that shaped the language.
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Bontebok National Park
A species specific national park established in 1931 to save the bontebok antelope from extinction. At 27.86 square kilometres it is the smallest of the country's national parks, lying beside the Breede River near Swellendam.
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Cango Caves
A show cave system in the Swartberg foothills north of Oudtshoorn, filled with large dripstone chambers. A guided tour runs through the biggest halls, and a longer adventure route squeezes through narrow tunnels to reach deeper sections.
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Chapman's Peak
A mountain on the western side of the Cape Peninsula, between Hout Bay and Noordhoek. Its western flank drops hundreds of metres into the Atlantic, and Chapman's Peak Drive is cut into the cliff face along it.
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Company's Garden
A large public park in the heart of Cape Town's city centre, and the oldest garden in South Africa. It began as a vegetable plot for passing Dutch ships and is now a national heritage site with oak lined paths, ponds and museums at its edges.
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Dassen Island
A flat low island off the west coast, about 9 kilometres from the mainland, with a lighthouse built in 1893. It is a nature reserve and breeding site for African penguins, and access is limited to researchers and managers.
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De Hoop Nature Reserve
A nature reserve on the Western Cape coast, protecting fynbos, a wetland and a long stretch of white dunes and shoreline. Southern right whales come close inshore here in winter and spring to calve.
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Devil's Peak
A 1,000 metre peak that forms the eastern end of the Table Mountain range above Cape Town. Trails climb to it from the Rhodes Memorial side, and it is known for the strong south easterly wind that pours over the mountain in summer.
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District Six Museum
A museum housed in an old Methodist church in the former inner city district of District Six. The floor is covered by a large map of the district with handwritten notes from former residents, recalling the people forced out under apartheid.
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Groot Constantia
The oldest wine estate in South Africa, set in the Constantia valley south of Cape Town and now a provincial heritage site. Its Cape Dutch manor house, cellars and vineyards are open to visitors for tours and tastings.
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Iziko South African Museum
The country's first museum, founded in 1825 and standing on its present site in the Company's Garden since 1897. Its natural history collections cover fossils, minerals and wildlife, and it holds notable rock art and a planetarium nearby.
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Karoo National Park
A wildlife reserve of 750 square kilometres in the semi desert of the Great Karoo, near Beaufort West. The Nuweveld part of the Great Escarpment runs through it, and it has fossil trails and mountain zebra.
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Rhodes Memorial
A large monument in the style of an ancient Greek temple, set on the slope of Devil's Peak close to Table Mountain. It honours the politician Cecil John Rhodes, and a wide stone stairway lined with bronze lions leads up to it.
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Signal Hill
A flat topped hill beside Lion's Head, overlooking Cape Town's city bowl and the Atlantic seaboard. The Noon Gun, fired each day from a battery on its slope since 1806, can be seen at 12 o'clock, and the summit is popular at sunset.
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Swartberg Pass
A mountain road on the R328 that crosses the Swartberg range along the northern edge of the Little Karoo. It is a gravel pass with sharp switchbacks and wide views, and it is the only road access to the remote valley of Gamkaskloof.
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West Coast National Park
A coastal park 88 km north of Cape Town, built around the Langebaan Lagoon inside the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve. It is a major wetland for migrant birds, and wildflowers carpet the hills in spring.
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Wilderness National Park
A protected area around the seaside town of Wilderness, between George and Knysna, and part of the Garden Route National Park. It takes in a chain of lakes, rivers, estuaries and beach, popular for canoeing and birdwatching.
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Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa
A museum of contemporary African art inside a converted grain silo on the Cape Town waterfront, opened in 2017. Architect Thomas Heatherwick carved out its atrium from the concrete tubes, and the building has nine floors of galleries and a rooftop sculpture garden.
Collecting in Western Cape
What are the best places to visit in Western Cape?
LOQAH lists 34 places in Western Cape. The best known include Cape Floral Region Protected Areas, Cape of Good Hope, Cederberg Wilderness, Pinnacle Point and Robben Island. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Western Cape?
34, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Western Cape?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Western Cape before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Western Cape and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
More in South Africa
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