Gindernation

Hi, I'm planning to travel to Cape Town in mid-August. With the civil unrest and high alert level, what is the current situation with tourism? Are many of the touristy areas restricted or closed? I was debating to either spend time in Camps Bay or visit Franshoek. But I read that alcohol sales are not allowed. Does that impact the vineyards in this case?

konagirl2

The adjusted Level 4 will be reviewed on or before 25 July, so you'll have to keep up to date with the SA Government pages: https://www.gov.za/covid-19/about/co...-alert-level-4

Museums, galleries, theatre are currently closed (so that includes e.g. Robben Island, but the cable car is operating to Table Mountain and places that can control entry numbers like the National Park / Boulders Bay / Kirstenbosch Gardens can open). Currently all alcohol is banned (sale or dispensation, e.g. an unpaid tasting) so most wineries are closed for tasting visits. But restaurants were allowed to reopen at reduced capacity in the last review so several winelands restaurants and the olive oil producers and so on are operating. There is a curfew so restaurants close at 8 pm so that workers can get home for curfew at 9 pm. As an example of the Test Kitchen restaurants, only Pot Luck Club is open currently and state they have to ensure customers are off the premises by 20:00 - the other restaurants will reopen on 25 July subject to changes in the regulations. This may all change, in particular the tourist focused things like wineries and safari lodges have made a petition to Government to allow them to dispense alcohol for tastings, dispense alcohol to all-inclusive guests, allow off-site sale for international tourists and similar. I would wait for the next update of the gazette (in less than a week) to see whether you feel the restrictions would impact your holiday - which depends very much on the focus. For me, I like the outdoorsy stuff and I can live without the alcohol if need be, but I completely understand if you have designed an itinerary around food and wine then it could be a big impact.

vbnet

According to some of my pals on tripadvisor, museums are closed, restaurants are allowed take-away meals. No alcohol sales, that includes the wineries.

konagirl2

The SA Government keeps tweaking the legislation, so while initially restaurants were only take-away, on 11 July they were allowed to open at 50% capacity or 50 people or less. But no alcohol. The alcohol ban is to reduce the number of people admitted to hospital (and in SA it works) so it may be that on / around 25 July wine tastings or all-inclusive accommodations that can control the dispensation (e.g. safari lodges) may be allowed to serve alcohol, because they are demonstrably not contributing the hospitalisations. We will see.

konagirl2

Great news that SA has gone back down to an adjusted Level 3. So there is still a curfew that starts at 10 pm, so restaurants and bars will have you out by 9 pm. But restaurants, lodges etc can serve you alcohol again, until 8 pm (because of the curfew). And you can buy alcohol for off-site consumption Mon-Thu 10 am to 6 pm. Museums are open again and there are no travel restrictions except the curfew. Happy travels (jealous!)

https://www.gov.za/covid-19/alert-le...id-19-lockdown

hoseks

We spent 4 days in Cape Town July 8th-12th, under level 4. We were able to do everything that we wanted (with the exception of Robben Island), still had great food (takeaway), and enjoyed the sites. With relaxing to Level 3, I imagine it will be even better.

Lovethecabin

We were also there during level 4 July 15-18 and had a very enjoyable time. Level 3 wouldn't concern me at all.

Shingi

Just resurrecting this thread to ask about Cape Town hotel recommendations. We are booked for a month long trip to SA for all of February and the first four days of March and those four days of March will be in Cape Town. Just in case we do manage to get to SA this time (our 3rd attempt) we’ll need a nice hotel for four nights. I have been looking at the Raddison Blue Waterfront which looks rather nice but it would be good to hear other recommendations. We would prefer to be based around the waterfront but are open to other suggestions. Thank you. I hope it does go ahead as we have been told we will get the new club suite for the CPT/LHR flight.

Jaydm101

The Raddison is pretty good, the other hotels in and around the Waterfront- Table Bay, Silo, Cape Grace etc are a bit pricier as you've probably seen.

I'm going back in December and January, and by then it should be off the UK red list. It should be off now if the Government were actually 'following the science ', which they clearly aren't.

konagirl2

The Radisson Blu is just slightly on it's own out on Mouille Point with the Stadium behind it. If you are going to use taxis to go out for dinners and drive out for day trips then it is good hotel, it just might feel a bit isolated at night. The waterfront is popular because you can feel safe walking around it in the evening, hence why hotels there cost a bit more. It depends on your travel style, do you need/want the facilities of a hotel (? concierge, pool, fitness centre). There are a lot of very nice guest houses and very affordable self-catering places that will include shared pool / fitness centre etc all over. But if you want to walk and eat at the waterfront rather than getting taxis to restaurants in different areas for dinner, then you've probably already seen the choices.

We are much more independent travellers and not high-end, we've really liked De Waterkant Cottages who have large townhouses with parking, plunge pool, jacuzzi for about Ł200 per night. There are lots of similar examples away from the waterfront. For character guest houses you can look around upper Kloof Street / Gardens that have a number of historical houses as bed & breakfast / boutique guesthouses (e.g. at the high end Return Africa's Welgelegen and boutiques around Hofmeyr Street and surroundings, also MORE Cape Cadogan or Belmond's Mount Nelson but perhaps much more expensive than the Radisson).

thijsseh

You are right, but as 'following the science' is clearly not applied, I am less confident than you (and less confident than I'd like to be) that SA will indeed be off the UK 'red list' (or with the disappearance of the green and amber lists, probably 'the list').