BRU! You’re going to Cape Town! I’m willing to bet you are likely interested in one of two things for your Cape Town trip, Great White Sharks and Table Mountain. You’re on your own with the sharkies but we can certainly help with the mountain stuff. Table Mountain cannot be missed when in Cape Town – literally, it’s huge, you can’t miss it. Seriously though, you’re going to want to make it up there for some of the best vistas you’ll ever see.
We’re here to answer your questions like “How to get to Table Mountain?”, “Where do you park at Table Mountain?”, “What’s the deal with the cable car?”, “What hiking trail is the best?”. Alright, let’s just get into it, you’ve got a trip to plan.
How To Get To Table Mountain (Parking and Transportation)
PARKING: Parking at Table Mountain for the Cable Car or for Hiking is free. There is street parking all along Tafelberg Road, before and after the Lower Cable Station. There is also a parking lot off of Tafelberg Road at Camps Bay Dr. called “Kloof Nek Parking”. As you might imagine, it gets busy so come early or in the late afternoon.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: I recommend downloading Google Maps for directions and route planning. It is well integrated into the Cape Town MyCiTi network (public transportation for Cape Town). You can use Google Maps to plan your route as you go and that way you don’t need to remember which bus to take and where. Also, be sure to download an offline map of Cape Town before you head out. You can find more on that here. This will allow you to use the app for directions even if you don’t have cell service while you’re traveling. You can buy MyCiTi fares at the station kiosks or pick up a MyCiTi card at the airport when you arrive (we recommend this).
To get to Table Mountain you will take either route 106 or 107 to “Kloof Nek Road”. Then you will walk just a few steps over to the parking lot I mentioned before where you can hop on the free shuttle (route 110) up to the cable station. The shuttle runs from open until 7 PM.
TIP: If you want to take the Pipe Track Trail (6 miles, moderate), that begins right at the parking lot, you won’t need the shuttle.
CITY SIGHTSEEING BUS (“HOP-ON, HOP-OFF”): Another option to get to Table Mountain is the City Sightseeing Bus. These are seen in most major cities in the world, they are the big red busses – often double-decker. You can get 1 or 2-day passes (buy online here, on-board, or at one of their locations around town) and use it to go all over the city while getting a bit of a tour as you go. This route will take you straight to the Cableway. A day pass for an adult is around R220 ($12 USD).
Tired of reading? Watch our Best Way To Hike Table Mountain travel vlog on YouTube! Be sure to like and subscribe if you enjoyed our video 😊
Once you’ve made your way to the mountain, you will likely want to get to the top, for this, you have two options – hiking or taking the Cable Car.
Getting to The Top (and back down): Table Mountain Cable Car
Taking the Cable Car up the mountain is a little thrilling and a lot of fun. While it is a bit pricey (adult RT fares begin at R300 / $16 USD, child RT fares start at R150 / $8 USD – student and senior discounts available), it’s really an event unto itself. Whether you are tired after a hike and want to take the cable car down (like us), you have little ones, or maybe you are working with limited mobility and hiking isn’t an option – the Cable Car will take you to those killer views in style. At the top, you can enjoy flat paths around the grounds and grab a snack or two. There are restrooms at the top as well, no worries there!
However, if you’ve packed your sneakers and feel up for it we’ve got you covered.
Getting to The Top: Hiking Table Mountain
There are dozens of options for trails up to the top, and you can even do it with a guide if you prefer, but no matter what route you choose, you will be rewarded with gorgeous landscapes and views of the bay at every turn. Table Mountain is still my favorite hike we’ve done.
Selecting your route can be a little confusing simply because there are so many options. We chose Platteklip Gorge to the Upper Cable Station because we knew we wanted to cable car back down and it seemed to be about our speed. We loved this trail but it is rated ‘hard’. This path is about 1.6 miles straight up so some climbing is involved and will take you about 2 hours up. Another trail, similar in difficulty is India Venster – plan to take the cable car down unless you’re an experienced hiker as this one is harder going down.
Other excellent options include Lion’s Head Path (moderate, 2.6mi, 1h 45m), Kasteelspoort (hard, 7.2mi, 5h), Devil’s Peak Loop (moderate, 4.4mi, 3h 15m), Skeleton Gorge Trail (hard, 2.9mi, 2h 30m), and the Pipe, Corridor and Woody Ravine Tracks Loop (moderate, 5mi, 3h 45m).
We recommend checking out AllTrails.com to choose the hike for you. It’s free and full of excellent info on difficulty, how to get to the trail, and what to expect. It also has tons of reviews from other hikers.
TIPS: As with any hike, be sure someone knows where you are and when you started. With Table Mountain specifically, we recommend hiking when there will be other hikers around as there are sometimes reports of petty theft. When the weather is beautiful or on the weekend, the trails will have plenty of other hikers. Most importantly, if you plan to take the Cable Car down you must make sure you start your hike with plenty of time to catch a ride down. The last car goes down at 8:00 PM (20:00) and you don’t want to be stuck on the trails at night!
We hope you found this Table Mountain guide helpful as you plan your journey to the top of Cape Town! If you want to see our hike up Table Mountain, check out our video on YouTube!
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