Tips and Highlights of our 4-days Gay Travels to Cape Town in South Africa. Our first trip together to the African continent brought us first to South Africa, specifically to Cape Town, the so-called Mother City. To experience as much as possible from the metropolis in the Western Cape county, we split our trip into two parts. We spent the first days of our Gay Couple City Trip Cape Town in the heart of Cape Town staying in a gay-friendly hotel in Green Point.
For the following three days, we as gay couple travel bloggers decided to explore the south side of Cape Town along False Bay. In our Cape Town Journal Part 1, we will focus on our highlights of the first four days visiting the popular V&A Waterfront, the Museum of Contemporary Art Africa MOCAA, and our adventurous hike to the top of Lion’s head. Enjoy our Cape Town Stories and Photos and experience Southern Africa‘s Mother City with our Gay Couple City Trip Cape Town through a Couple of Men‘s eyes.
A Gay Couple’s City Trip to Cape Town
After an 11-hour flight from Amsterdam directly to Cape Town, we arrived at the African continent ready to explore a new city, a new country, yet even a new continent. The legislative capital city of South Africa is mostly known for the significant Table Mountain, V&A Waterfront, several museums as well as other unique nature monuments like Lion’s Head and the Cape of Good Hope, beautiful white beaches, and South African Penguins. The city of Cape Town developed tremendously for the FIFA World Cup in 2010. After our first four days in Cape Town, we planned to relocate from the city center to the south side, staying at St. James. Read all about it in our second article about Cape Town. But now, let’s get started with our Gay City Trip Cape Town Part 1!
How to get to Cape Town?
Our favorite airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines offers flights starting from €500 to Cape Town and Johannesburg. A special tip for German travelers: SkyTeam member KLM Royal Dutch Airlines brings you from 10 German Airports via Amsterdam-Schiphol, to over 160 destinations around the globe.
Our first nights in Cape Town
Like we mentioned earlier already, we stayed in a gay-friendly hotel in Green Point, a central suburb of Cape Town. The Antrim Villa on Antrim Road is a welcoming and bright place with a stylish and modern interior, a pool in the backyard, and a very delicious and freshly prepared breakfast buffet. Don’t worry if you arrive late: There is always a bowl with fresh fruits available. And for the little hunger some snacks and drinks to purchase 24hours. We stayed in a room with a pool view, waking up with the sun shining to the huge window. To reuse the water, two buckets are placed in the shower to collect the used water. All in all, we had some great first nights in a gay-friendly place in Cape Town.
Plan your Trip: Hotel Antrim Villa in Greenpoint on TripAdvisor
From Mouille Point to V&A Waterfront
From Greenpoint district, it was just a short walk around the Cape Town Stadium to Green Point Lighthouse and Mouille Point Beach crossing Main Road and Helen Suzman Blvd. Since we arrived late at night, it was an overwhelming view of the Ocean having the Table Mountain and Lion’s Head as a backdrop. We took our time to walk hand-in-hand along the shoreline to visit the V&A Waterfront shopping center to get some last missing items for our Namibia South Africa Safari. And, of course, to enjoy the beautiful architecture and inviting atmosphere of the Waterfront harbor area. If you are fancy enough, you can take a ride on the Cape Wheel or a Hop-on Hop-off Cape Town Canal Cruise.
Plan your Trip: Things to do at V&A Waterfront
Rovos Rail Namibia Safari
Starting at the Atlantic Coast of Namibia, we boarded the Rovos Rail luxury train ‘Pride of Africa’ to make our way through Namibia and South Africa to South Africa’s capital city Pretoria. Our story with photos and tips about our Southern African Train Adventure from Walvis Bay to Pretoria now on our blog!
Visiting the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa
A must-do for your Cape Town gay travel bucket list: A visit to the MOCAA (Museum Of Contemporary Art Africa), the largest museum of contemporary African art in the world. But what is so spectacular about the MOCAA? The exhibition spaces are constructed into a former grain silo that was built in 1921. The size of the building, the spectacular entrance hall, and the clean architecture and design made us speechless already by entering the building. But before we visited some different exhibitions on each floor, we took the elevator to the rooftop with a spectacular view of Cape Town’s city center and the stylish The Silo Hotel on top of the MOCAA.
Plan your Trip: Get your Tickets for the Zeitz Museum MOCAA
One-Day Hike to Lion’s Head with Table Mountain View
After we spent some first days in the city center of Cape Town, it was time to explore some highlights of the surrounding nature monuments. But instead of making our way to the top of Table Mountain, we decided to hike Lion’s Head. We took an Uber to the parking lot on the east side of the mountain from where we started our 1,5 hours hike. The well-maintained trail leads us clockwise around the mountain with stunning views of Sea Point and Camps Bay. The last part of the trail can be hiked in two different ways, one taking a loop around the south side of Lion’s Head and a more challenging one. The letter trail requires hikers to climb along chains and bails fixed into the stone. The final view from the 669 meters high platform of Cape Town and the Atlantic Seabord is breathtaking. Wow!
Plan your Trip: Lion’s Head Activities | Table Mountain Activities
Gay Travel Southern Africa
How to travel to the southern part of the African continent? Where to stay in Namibia and South Africa? What to do and where to go? We collected the most important information for your South African gay travel adventure with detailed articles, travel information and links to important and official websites.
Gay Travel Cape Town Part 2
The next stop on our Gay Travels to Cape Town was the southern suburb of St. James. Located right at the shoreline of False Bay, we spent some wonderful relaxing days at the St. James Guesthouse Homestead exploring the Cape Peninsula. South African Penguins, the Cap of Good Hope, and the beach es of Muizenberg. And we found the colored beach huts in St. James and at the Muizenberg Beach.
Read all about it in our Gay City Trip Cape Town Part 2 >
Interesting Posts for your Gay Travels:
- Our Tips & Highlights: Gay Travel Cape Town Part 2 >
- Read all about our Gay Pride Trips around the world >
- All about our Gay Travels around the world as openly Gay Couple >
- Reviews of Hotels around the world: Gay-friendly tested Hotels >
- Good to know: Our Gay Travel Guide Southern Africa >
- Adrenalin thrill: Sky Diving Adventure in Namibia >
- Luxury Train Journey: Our Namibia South Africa Namibia >
- Looking for the Big 5: Game Drives at Etosha National Park >
- The biggest Dunes in the world: Our Visit at Sossusvlei >
Our Tips & Highlights for your Gay Couple City Trip Cape Town
Of course, we came prepared to read a lot about the troubled history of South Africa and Cape Town, including the topics of Apartheid, the history of European colonization, and the townships. But in our case, we didn’t face any trouble or homophobic behavior during our time in Cape Town. One recommendation we would like to share with you as well is traveling to Cape Town by using Uber. According to the hotel staff, our friends and followers from Cape Town as well as some online guides, the US-American ride-sharing app is considered to be the safest way to get a ride in the Mother City.
Do you want to know more about our gay travels around the world? Stay tuned on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. See you again soon!
Karl & Daan.
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Please note: Our Southern Africa Train Safari was made possible in close collaboration with Rovos Rail, KLM, and Incento. A special thanks for tips and support goes to our wonderful readers, followers, new and old friends from all over the world and South Africa. Nevertheless, our texts, photos, videos, and our opinion are our own, as always.