21 Tips I Wish I Knew Before Visiting Cape Town

my name's Camden and I just spent the last two months living in Cape Town and these are the things that I wish I knew before I got there so first thing is load shedding load shedding is where the government actually shuts off the power to conserve energy and it happens on a daily basis now we're not going to get into the reasons why it happens we're just going to get into the management pieces so we can get to all the other tips because we're gonna fly through these today so if you have any questions leave them in the comment section down below but a couple things that you can do to manage this first download this app this app will actually show you exactly what time load shedding is going to occur on that day so you can be best prepared and that's really your best defense against load shedding because you can do things like making sure that your phone is charged making sure that your laptop is charged and the other piece is actually making sure to ask your accommodation place whether that be a hotel or Airbnb if they experience load shedding not everywhere does and that's because some places have generators that keep the power on even during load shedding but just to be safe I probably asked the hotel before booking if they experience load shedding if they don't great no problem go ahead and book that thing but if they do experience low shedding just ask yourself is that going to be something that matters to you if it does maybe look at another hotel and if you're doing airbnbs which I highly recommend there's some great values to be had in Cape Town from an Airbnb perspective make sure to ask the Airbnb host do they experience load shedding in all likelihood the Airbnb will so it's really important to ask if they have a UPS and no I'm not talking about like the shipping company from the US it stands for an uninterrupted power supply basically it's this little battery device that charges up throughout the day and then whenever load shedding does occur that backup battery keeps a few things running and that's typically attached to the Wi-Fi unit so at least when the power gets shut off your Wi-Fi will still be working one other really important tip when it comes to the load shedding make sure to ask the hotel or Airbnb host which zone they're in for low shedding the government doesn't just shut the entire City's power off at once they do it by kind of neighborhood hood and zone so you gotta know which zone you're gonna fall under to actually be prepared for it and one last safety note for when load shedding happens make sure to note that the power lines including the street lights often get cut out so make sure you're looking both ways before crossing the street because you do not want to get nailed by a car when you're thinking oh it's my turn to go because I'm not seeing red light or green light for anybody else no the power is actually just off so make sure to be very diligent during those times and note that in South Africa it's actually kind of like the UK and that the roads are flipped and the side of the steering wheel is on and the car those are also flipped so if you're coming from America be prepared for that total flip it can really screw you up if you're coming from the US I know a lot of the world doesn't have to deal with that but for somebody like me that's important to note so keep that in mind as well in just a minute I'm going to tell you about the different areas of town that way you can pick which area you want to be in depending on the experience you want but before we get into that some other really important tips the first one which I made a mistake on this is don't go down Cape Town thinking that you can just bring any old universe reversal adapter for the walls and be able to charge all your stuff you can they use something called the Type M adapter so make sure that you have one of those if you don't already I left a link in the description for one on Amazon it's like super cheap I think like 10 bucks so make sure you have one of those going in also another mistake I made was right when I got off the plane I went to the ATM and I pulled out a bunch of cash don't do that you do not need cash in Cape Town we literally didn't even get through all of our cash because everywhere accepts credit cards and tap to pay there's really modern infrastructure in Cape Town believe it or not so don't feel like you got to pull out a bunch of cash you could totally just use your credit card so don't make that mistake unless you want to use cash if you want to go for it another really important thing that I wish I knew SIM cards you can always go and buy SIM cards locally right but in Cape Town they're really expensive compared to other places so I've actually just been using an esim I tried out a company called erlo and they actually worked really well and they're really affordable I think it was like four dollars and fifty cents for one gig which I used one gig just to test it out out make sure it was working and then you can just top it up from there so again if you want to try that out as well I'll leave a link in the description so you can test that but the e-sims really really useful you don't actually have to get a physical one it's all electronic you can download it before you leave on your trip it makes things super simple I'd highly recommend it and it worked well for me so it might work well for you as well and another thing to note about Cape Town is in terms of public transportation I think a lot of people freak out and are saying oh man I need to book private drivers how am I going to get around don't worry about that in Cape Town they have Uber and it is the safest and most efficient way of getting around we were ubering all the time there and it was really quick there were a ton of Ubers available basically at any hours of the day and they were all awesome really cool experiences getting to talk to some of the locals as well because there is a bit of traffic in Cape Town so be prepared for that and maybe that's another reason to get that esim is because you will need data to be able to call the Ubers to wherever you are the next tip is to not over pack thinking that you won't be able to find whatever it is you want in Cape Town Cape Town is a really modern city with big malls and regular shopping so don't think you gotta over pack in the DNA Waterfront there's a massive mall that blows away most malls in America so you'll be able to get whatever you need down there's also another thing to keep in the back of your mind and just be prepared for ahead of your trip is tipping culture very much exists in Cape Town typically somewhere between 10 and 15 is more than enough but you will be expected to tip at restaurants movers things like that so be prepared for that and make sure to give generous tips because the locals really are awesome and they do a wonderful job catering to the tourists another thing that I really wish I knew going down there was the hiking is very legit these are not small hikes and everybody kept talking about Table Mountain being the big hike but lion's head that's just your casual stroll in the park go ahead and take that hike if you don't want to tackle Table Mountain I'm not the craziest hiker I was not gonna hike up Table Mountain so I was like yeah I'll do this Lions head one and I almost did it in flip-flops that would have been a huge mistake I didn't do it in proper shoes and the tip here is bring proper shoes make sure that you have a good pair of sneakers or hiking boots because the hikes here are very legit even going up lion's head which again is supposed to be the Casual one there are Parts where you are like hanging on to chains climbing up so it is very Steep and the proper Footwear can be so important because there's just so much little dirt and sand that runs over the rocks that it can get really slick so you're definitely gonna want proper shoes and then if you're gonna do Table Mountain if you're gonna hike that I got no tips for you just good luck to people doing that you guys are on another level I'm not there I took the cable car up and it's something I definitely recommend but the tip here is if you are going to take the cable car up do note that the line for that thing gets really really packed there's only one car that goes up one car that goes down so it definitely is a long wait and one of the things that you can do to prepare for that is one get there as early as possible in the morning but two buy your tickets online I'll link in the description where you can actually buy those tickets and again I'm in no way shape or form Affiliated but a part of the line is a lot of people get there and buy their tickets there and then have to go in another line to actually wait for the lift so you can easily save yourself like an hour if you just buy your tickets online definitely something that you're going to want to do and another tip that's really important if you're going to go to Table Mountain but basically anywhere in Cape Town is always make sure to have an extra layer packed the wind is very real in Cape Park it's really windy and it's often a cold cold breeze and anytime the clouds roll in I just it gets chilly in a heartbeat so make sure to have an extra layer so you're always warm and a money saving tip if you do drive up to Simon's town to go to Boulders Beach that's where you can find all the Penguins on the beach super cool experience definitely recommend doing it but most tourists don't actually know that you can go on a free section of Boulder's Beach still see the Penguins without having to pay all the money to see them up close now Sarah and I did do the paid version and that's what I'm showing you right here and it's awesome you definitely get an awesome look at all the Penguins but realistically you're probably not going to spend more than 10-15 minutes there and you are going to be fighting crowds so if you are that budget traveler and looking to save the money you can definitely do the free option you won't see as many penguins but it's definitely going to save you some cash now I promise I'm about to break down which neighborhood you should stay in depending on what type of experience you're looking for but two quick safety tips the first is about drinking the water from the tap if you look online it says that drinking the tap water in Cape Town is perfectly safe but our local friends actually said I don't know how much of that I would actually drink they all do drink filtered water and choose bottles and we did drink from the tap for the first few weeks and we were fine but we did notice that our stomachs were a little bit uneasy it was nothing like Bali nothing like Mexico where you definitely want to avoid it but if you're somebody who does already have somewhat of a weak stomach and you know it's going to get upset a little bit easier maybe avoid drinking the water and stick to the bottles and another safety one is just don't walk with your phones in your back pocket make sure they're in your front pocket and covered if at all possible I did mention in my last video that I had a colleague who actually had their phones stolen from them and a lot of the safety officers down there in Cape Town will say hey just keep the phone in the front pocket not the back one it's I guess a lot more enticing for somebody to steal if it's in the back pocket so keep it in the front but let's talk about how to avoid those areas so you don't even have to worry about your phone being stolen and let's break down where you should stay so there are a lot of different neighborhoods in Cape Town and they're all drastically different so if you're anything like me when you think of Cape Town you're thinking the city and that's called the central business district and the central business district is a really cool place to check out it's probably not the place that I'd recommend staying unless you're looking for two things nightlife and access to the best restaurants it definitely has all of those but it's the best experience it can be really loud it can get a little bit Shady at night to be perfectly honest I probably wouldn't recommend staying there for anybody if you want to be close to it the next best place is something called The Gardens which is a little bit hip or a little bit trendier and a little bit safer than the central business district but it's walking distance to that area so if you still want to be really close to all the restaurants and bars then you might want to check out the gardens but even for me that's a little far because you're really far away from the beach so getting closer to the water there's the VA Waterfront and I don't recommend anybody stay in the VA Waterfront that is just a tourist trap if I've ever seen one I mean the prices are outrageous you're not going to get any local culture it's great if you're going there for the mall if you need to shop but other than that I'd avoid that area like the plague like not for me but maybe if you are looking for that sort of thing the VA Waterfront but I will never tell anybody to go and stay there now Green Point is the first place that I actually might recommend Green Point is awesome because you are close to the central business district probably like a five minute Uber so really close to all the nightlife and the great restaurants and everything but it's a much safer area it's one of the first places that becomes very very walkable pretty much at any hour of the day and they have a lot of good restaurants you're close to the ocean you have a big park right across the street like green point is very nice but my absolute favorite is actually called seapoint C point is just a little bit further down the road from Green Point now that does mean it's a little bit further from that Central business district but you're still about a 10 to 15 minute Uber ride and seapoint was just perfect seapoint was like that place that felt like the beach Town it had everything I wanted they have good restaurants they have the Waterfront that you can walk along I don't know seapoint to me was my absolute favorite and what I'd probably recommend for most families and first-timers going to Cape Town now if you really are concerned about safety and you really just want the laid back Beach experience I wouldn't say Green Point or seapoint that's why I might start pushing you a little bit further out to either Clifton or camps Bay Clifton and campus Bay they're where the rich people are I mean it is really expensive over there but it's really really nice now while Clifton and camps Bay are going to be the safest they're also the furthest away from the central business district so if you know that you are going to want to participate in some of the nightlife and go and try all the restaurants downtown it might not be the best option for you and I'd probably recommend camps Bay over Clifton because they actually do have a main street where there are some restaurants and I think their Beach is awesome both Clifton and camps Bay though are where the best beaches are so if you're somebody who's looking to just Lounge on the beaches they by far have the best beaches Green Point seapoint you're on the water but there's not sand you're not going to go swimming in those camps Bay in Clifton that's where you're going to do that but to me seapoint is the best if you want to see where I actually stay you can click on this video right here and if you want to see what I loved and hated about Cape Town you can see it here hope this was helpful and we'll catch you guys next time

Channel: Camden David

Views: 27,980

Keywords: Camden David, cape town south africa, cape town, cape town tips, tips i wish i knew before visiting cape town, what to know about cape town, cape town travel, travel tips cape town, cape town travel tips, what to know before going to cape town, tips for trips to cape town, cape town south africa travel

Id: W3ekqCY-HC4

Length: 12min 47sec (767 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 03 2023