Private Peninsula Journey

A private Cape Peninsula tour from Cape Town, combining Atlantic coast scenery, Chapman’s Peak, Cape Point, African penguins and Simon’s Town in one beautifully paced day, reserved for your own party of up to four guests.

The morning begins on the Atlantic Seaboard. We follow the coast past Clifton and Camps Bay beneath the Twelve Apostles, with a scenic stop for the beach, the ocean and the mountain range standing behind it, before crossing towards Hout Bay.

From Hout Bay the road climbs onto Chapman’s Peak Drive, cut into the cliff face above the water, and follows its bends down to Noordhoek and the long sweep of Long Beach. Chapman’s Peak is privately operated and closes for wind, rain and rockfall; when it is shut we reach the same places over Ou Kaapse Weg, and the day loses none of its stops.

Then the city falls away. Inside the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve the Peninsula narrows to fynbos, granite and sandstone running down to the sea, and the ostriches, bontebok and baboons that live there are genuinely wild. At the southwestern tip we stop at the Cape of Good Hope sign and go up to Cape Point, where the old lighthouse stands above the cliffs and the wind. The Flying Dutchman funicular runs up to the lighthouse for anyone who would rather not walk the path — an optional ticket, and worth deciding on before the day.

Turning north along False Bay we come to Boulders Beach and its colony of African penguins, a protected breeding site the birds chose for themselves in the 1980s. Raised boardwalks carry you above the dunes and the nests, close enough for photographs without ever stepping into the colony.

Simon’s Town follows: three centuries of naval history along a Victorian main street, a harbour that is still a working base, and a good place to stop for lunch if you would like one. Lunch is optional and paid for directly by you — say so when you book, and your guide will suggest somewhere that suits the group and the timing of the day.