Hout Bay: it looks so enticing, thanks to the iconic view of the harbour from the beginning of Chapman's Peak Drive...but there's not much there, and what is there feels somewhat down at heel. There's an unremarkable beach, some average restaurants, a huge informal settlement and the World of Birds...with a car, OK, you do Chapman's Peak Drive, pop over Constantia Nek, cruise to Llandudno...otherwise, I would avoid.
Colona Castle, don't know it. But you are close to Kalk Bay, which is far more diverting than Hout Bay; kind of cool in a sleepy boho way (however, when I was there in April, it was blighted by HUGE roadworks in the middle of the village; not sure what the current status is)...although Muizenberg itself, which the hotel is perched above, is a proper dump...it may be up-and-coming, but it's got a lot of up-and-coming to do. The whole area is generally on the up as people look for sea vistas beyond the stratospherically priced Atlantic seaboard, but there's not much in the way of tourist infrastructure as yet.
Last edited by ThudAndBlunder; Dec 12, 2012 at 5:47 am