Table Mountain hike in Cape Town is a leg-muscle burner
After some warmup hiking in Cape Town, South Africa Day 1, the big trek lay ahead on Day 2 with the mountain that towers above the city—the one with the flat top fittingly named Table Mountain. Luckily we knocked a good chunk of the elevation out of the way with the beautiful drive up through the city’s Hollywood Hills-like neighborhoods.
We got to the trailhead of Platteklip Gorge to start the hike, which is the most direct path, meaning straight up and, while not particularly technical, it was indeed a difficult 2,457-foot climb up rocks that have been expertly laid to create a combination of stepping and climbing rocks.
The trail was not super busy on the way up (it was much busier near the bottom on the way back as it was approaching Sunday afternoon) and we were already most of the way there when we were informed by other hikers that the funicular gondola was not operating because of the high winds. This meant we would be hiking back down, which was not the plan and would not be easy. My 11-year-old daughter wasn’t pleased but she came around quickly to the reality of our suddenly much-longer hike.
Getting to the top was well worth the work. We entered a gap in the rocks, which was the warmest spot on the entire hike, before arriving at the flat top, with views of the entire city. We stayed up there for 30 to 40 minutes and by the time we started the climb down, despite the abundant sunshine, we were chilled to the bone by the brisk winds.
After starting up at 8 a.m., we were on top by 10 a.m. and back by 11:30. From there we Uber-ed to the Oranjezicht City Farm Market for well-earned beers, smoothies, bao buns, and other treats before strolling through the luxury local shopping in the TimeOut Market in the nearby Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. While some continued shopping from there, I walked with one of my brothers along the Atlantic Ocean Santa Monica-like waterfront promenade all the way back to the Sea Point neighborhood where we were staying. While the walk was flat, past the stadium built for the 2010 World Cup, a golf course, a lighthouse, the statue of Nelson Mandela’s glasses, and lots of beachfront entertaining viewing, it was indeed three miles on some already aching legs and feet from the Table Mountain climb.
After a short break at our AirBnB, we ventured back out to end the day with a walk to view the sunset on the ocean and then pizzas and fancy cocktails—which the Cape Town bartenders do with such creativity—at Ariel Modern Italian.