Cape Town may be the most geographically dramatic city in the world — where Table Mountain, the Atlantic Ocean, and 370 years of colonial and apartheid history converge in a single extraordinary urban setting. This companion post accompanies a real cape town walking tour filmed in 4K, specifically the video My Walking Tour of Cape Town’s Vibrant V&A Waterfront, which takes viewers to the must-see attractions of the V&A Waterfront and the city’s historic harbour.
About This Walking Tour
This walking tour video explores the V&A Waterfront — the Victoria and Alfred Docks complex, opened in 1860 and converted from a working harbour to Cape Town’s most popular tourist and residential destination from the 1990s. The waterfront hosts the Nobel Square (with bronze statues of the four South African Nobel Peace Prize laureates: Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, F.W. de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela), the Cape Wheel Ferris wheel, the Two Oceans Aquarium, and the ferry terminal for Robben Island — where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years.
The broader Cape Town walking itinerary covers the City Bowl’s Castle of Good Hope (1679, the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa, built by the Dutch East India Company), the Company’s Garden (established 1652 as a vegetable garden for Dutch East India Company ships, now a public park adjacent to Parliament and the national museums), the District Six Museum (a profoundly moving museum documenting the forced removal of 60,000 people from the District Six neighbourhood under apartheid’s Group Areas Act from 1966), and the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood — the cobalt-painted Cape Malay houses on Signal Hill that are Cape Town’s most photographed residential streets.
Highlights of Cape Town
The Bo-Kaap (Upper Cape) neighbourhood sits on the lower slopes of Signal Hill, its steep cobblestone streets lined with houses painted in vivid cobalt blue, lime green, yellow, and pink. The neighbourhood has been home to the Cape Malay Muslim community since the late 17th century, when enslaved and indentured workers brought from Java, Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar, and India by the Dutch East India Company settled here. Auwal Mosque (1794), the first mosque in South Africa, is in Bo-Kaap; the neighbourhood preserves a distinct cultural identity shaped by Cape Malay cuisine, music, and Islamic practice.
The District Six Museum on Buitenkant Street is one of the most important human rights museums in the world — documenting the apartheid government’s 1966 declaration of District Six as a “white area” and the subsequent bulldozing of the neighbourhood that had been home to a mixed, mostly Coloured and Black community of 60,000 people. The maps, photographs, and personal testimonies in the museum are a powerful record of what was destroyed. Table Mountain‘s flat-topped silhouette dominates Cape Town’s skyline from every direction; the cable car to the summit (1,085 metres) provides a 360-degree view of the Cape Peninsula, both oceans, and the Winelands beyond.
A Brief History of Cape Town
Cape Town was established in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company as a refreshment station for ships en route between Europe and Asia — the “Tavern of the Seas.” The Cape Colony passed to Britain in 1806 and the discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) in the interior transformed it from a modest colonial port to the gateway to southern Africa’s mineral wealth. Cape Town served as the legislative capital of the Union of South Africa (formed 1910) and subsequently the Republic of South Africa; Parliament still sits here.
The apartheid system (1948–1994) classified citizens by race and enforced segregation in every aspect of life — Cape Town’s District Six, Bo-Kaap, and Robben Island all bear witness to apartheid’s human cost. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1964 to 1982, then at Pollsmoor Prison until his release on February 11, 1990. The first democratic elections of April 1994 brought Mandela to the presidency. Cape Town hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches at the Cape Town Stadium in Green Point.
Practical Tips
South Africa’s currency is the South African rand (ZAR). English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa are among the 11 official languages; English is universally understood in Cape Town. Cape Town International Airport is approximately 22 km from the V&A Waterfront. The MyCiTi bus system connects the airport to the Waterfront and city centre. Table Mountain cable car runs daily (weather permitting) — book online to avoid queues. Robben Island ferry departs from the V&A Waterfront several times daily; book well in advance as tours sell out. The Bo-Kaap is a short walk or taxi ride from the city centre.
Best Time to Visit
November through April for dry weather and the finest Table Mountain visibility. June through August brings dramatic winter storms from the Atlantic and lush green mountains — atmospheric but cold and windy. The Cape Winelands (Stellenbosch, Franschhoek) are within 45 minutes of the city and combine beautifully with Cape Town walking.
Watch & Explore More
Watch the V&A Waterfront tour above and explore one of the world’s most dramatic city settings. For more African city walks, see Johannesburg: Soweto to Maboneng and Zanzibar Stone Town: Spice Island Labyrinth. Subscribe to @walkingtoursvideoscom for walking tours from cities on every continent.