The single most common way a Cape Town day goes sideways is trusting a Table Mountain cableway booking to guarantee a ride. It doesn’t. Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Current online prices: adult return R475 or one-way R300, child (4 to 17) return R230 or one-way R165, SA senior citizens R130 return or R70 one-way. Buy only through tablemountain.net or the ticket office; tickets sold anywhere else aren’t valid. High wind or low cloud closes the cableway at short notice, sometimes for the full day, and a ticket you can’t use is either valid the next open day in the same booked week or refundable online, never a walk-up guarantee.

Cape Town’s activity list rewards people who would rather do something than just look at it, and the honest version splits neatly into land, air and sea. On land: Platteklip Gorge The free alternative to the Table Mountain cableway starts at the lower cableway station on Tafelberg Road and climbs about 2 to 3 hours to the summit. It is steep, exposed, and unshaded for almost the entire route, so start early and carry more water than feels necessary.