Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town is South Africa's legislative capital and its oldest European-founded city. Set against the iconic Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula, it is one of the world's most scenic cities and a major tourism, port and tech hub.
Highlights
- Table Mountain (one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature)
- Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned
- Cape Winelands (Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl)
- V&A Waterfront and Cape Point Nature Reserve
History
Founded in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company as a refreshment station, Cape Town is South Africa's oldest city. Successively Dutch, British and finally part of independent South Africa, the city was the centre of apartheid-era resistance and now serves as the seat of South Africa's Parliament.
Economy
Cape Town leads South Africa in tourism, financial services, retail, real estate and tech. Its tech scene is the country's largest, and the Western Cape province has Africa's lowest unemployment among major economies.
Neighborhoods
City Bowl is the historic centre; Atlantic Seaboard (Sea Point, Camps Bay, Clifton) holds expensive ocean-front living; Southern Suburbs (Constantia, Newlands) are leafy and old-money; Cape Flats hosts the bulk of the city's population in former apartheid townships.
Distances from Cape Town
Calculate distance and flight time from Cape Town to other major African cities: