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6 p.m. – Kick off your stay with a Long Island tea cocktail at Café Caprice (37 Victoria Road, Camps Bay, +27 21 438 8315), enjoying a gentle sea breeze a stone's throw from the sandy beach and its swaying palm trees. Frequented by the city's beautiful and trendy, if you're lucky you might rub shoulders with celebrities like singer Robbie Williams or actor Leonardo di Caprio. For something even more swanky, try Riboville (130 Adderely Street), which occupies four stories in a former bank building. The 125-year old building exudes an air of refined elegance, with original marble walls, wooden lifts and brass doors. Wine cognoscenti will enjoy the selection of over 650 bottles of wine stored in the former vault.
7:30 p.m. – Hop in a sedan taxi plying its trade in the inner-city or call Rikki's (0861745547) to book a ride in one their brightly-liveried traditional London cabs and cruise to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Built around Cape Town's working harbour, where seals are a common sight, the mega-mall offers something for everyone. Having whet your appetite earlier, why not grab a succulent Ostrich (the world's largest flightless bird) fillet with red wine sauce at Belthazar Restaurant (Shop 153, +27 21 421 3753) or for those with a wilder palate, a game kebab typically featuring meat cuts from Wildebeest, Kudu, Eland and Impala buck. Also situated at the V&A is Nelson Mandela Gateway (+27 21 4134217), where you can buy tickets (150 rand p/p return, usually six tours a day ending 3 p.m. daily, including Sundays and holidays) to visit Robben Island Museum and see the cell which held South Africa's first black state leader for 26 years. The island is a World Heritage site and a former leper colony.
10 p.m. – Jazz lovers might try the lively entertainment at Manenberg's, one of the city's top jazz venues specialising in South African jazz popularised overseas by artists such as pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and trumpeter Hugh Masekela. Join other jazz aficionados at 105, Clocktower Precinct or call +27 21 4215639. If jazz is not your fancy, take a trip to Green Point, a mix of pubs, bars and restaurants and famed for its gay scene. Try the Bronx action bar (+27 21 4199216, 22 Somerset Road) with its retro-1970's disco lights and pumping music that will keep you gyrating until the early hours of the morning. The club is an institution in the pink heartland of Cape Town.
Saturday
9 a.m. – If the weather forecast is hot and sunny, hire a car for the 40 km ride to Boulder's Beach, stopping along the way to watch the whales cavort in False Bay, before arriving at your destination and mingling with penguins. Or stay in the city centre and soldier on towards the Castle of Good Hope (Buitenkant and Strand streets), a pentagonal fortification built by the Dutch between 1666-1679 and South Africa's oldest surviving building. Try to catch a ghostly glimpse of Anne Barnard, the castle's former first lady whose apparition is said to haunt certain sections of the ramparts, with daily guided tours offered to the dungeons and torture rooms.
10 a.m. – Trundle slowly across Buitenkant street and make your way towards the centrally-located Green Market Square, where you can haggle with traders selling a wide selection of Africa's arts and curios. Pick up an exquisitely carved chess set, hand-made sandals or decorative beaded necklaces at reasonable prices. Along the way pass the classic music venue City Hall (Darling Street) and the Mutual Heights residential complex. This 91 metre (300 ft) art deco building, with carved stone vignettes depicting various images of the country's colonial history and its indigenous tribes, was the continent's tallest building after Egpyt's pyramids when completed in 1939.
12:30 p.m. – Hop onto a taxi and make your way to the historic Bo-Kaap or Cape Malay district, where many of the predominantly Muslim residents are descendents of the slaves captured in Indonesia and Sri Lanka during the 17th and 18th century. Visit the Noon Gun restaurant (273 Longmarket Street, +27 21 4240529), a family-run establishment which arguably has among the best views of the city and Table Bay. In a strictly non-alcoholic setting, sample their delicious home-made victuals, such as "koeksisters", a sweet-tasting donut and "samoosas" – a triangle-shaped pastry filled with chicken, meat or vegetables.
2 p.m. – Roll back to the CBD and go shopping in Long Street with its excellent book shops, bric-a-brac stores and designer clothing outlets. Visit the Turkish baths at the top end of the gently inclining road if you have the inclination for a steam detox or book an unforgettable shark-cage diving trip at Homeland Shuttle and Tour Operations (+27 21 4260294. 307 Long Street, a few metres ahead of the Turkish baths). At the top end of Long Street, take a left and walk one block down past the planetarium and into the shaded paths of the Company Gardens (Queen Victoria Street), established by the city's founding father Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to passing ships. Buy some peanuts at a local vendor and feed eager squirrels from your hand, see colourful Koi fish or check your watch against a 1787 sundial. The gardens are surrounded by several museums and the country's national parliament.
7 p.m. – It's impossible to visit a port city without eating seafood. For a sumptuous dinner where diners create their own deep-water delights from an emporium of sushi and seafood, try the Codfather in Camps Bay (37 The Drive, +27 21 4380782). Tickle your tongue with a platter of grilled crayfish, king-sized Mozambican prawns and octopus. If you are in the mood for live entertainment while dining, give the Gold Restaurant (96 Strand Street, +27 21 4214653) a bash. Customers can start off their dinners with an interactive drumming session before being entertained in a cobbled courtyard under the stars with the sights and sounds of Malian puppeteers, singers and dancers. The venue is situated in the Gold of Africa Museum, which displays a wide variety of west and southern African gold artefacts and where a resident goldsmith can make special jewellery on request at its in-house workshop.
10 p.m. – Remain in the city centre and tackle Long Street after hours when it transforms into a heaving mass of hedonistic club-hoppers. Visit Zula Sound Bar (194 Long Street, +27 21 4242442) for deep djembe beats, techno pulses or live bands. A plethora of clubs along the city's main dance artery will reward even the most jaded clubber. Alternatively take a taxi southward for more thumping bass at the vibrantly bohemian atmosphere of Observatory suburb. Situated about 5 kilometres from the city "Obz" is synonymous with Cape Town's laidback attitude, a place where one can shoot back a few tequilas at Roots, a reggae-inspired venue replete with dried palm fronds and beach bar or get up close and personal with musicians at The Independent Armchair Theatre (135 Lower Main Road, +27 21 4487656) as it showcases the country's top up-and-coming bands.
Sunday
10 a.m. – Go even earlier to beat the expected throngs heading for Table Mountain, the flat-topped range which has been hulking over your presence since your arrival in the city. Take a 10 minute trip by cable car (www.tablemountain.net or +27 21 424 8181 for info) with its rotating floor ensuring visitors a 360 degree view of the city. If you have the energy, walk to the 1,086 metre summit via one of the numerous hiking trails, such as the strenuous Platteklip Gorge route. Note that cable car trips are weather dependent. Grab a quick croissant or a champagne breakfast at the self-serving restaurant, which opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. an hour before the last cable car departs down.
12 p.m. – Take a taxi along the Atlantic Seaboard to the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa, situated between Camps Bay and Hout Bay, and unwind in the tranquil setting nestled at the foot of the mountain and overlooking the ocean. Try a head-to-foot massage in the glass-roomed spa situated further up the mountain, where African-mined crystals are combined with products containing some of the area's rich unique "Fynbos" (literally fine bush) flora, to create a truly invigorating rub down. And if you have the time, watch a magnificent sunset as the blazing orange orb sinks over the horizon.
