Explore Cape Point Nature Reserve on a Cycling Day Tour!

One of the greatest day trips in Cape Town is unquestionably this cycling tour through the Cape Point Nature Reserve! As if riding a bike wasn’t already an amazing part of the day trip, there was more to it!
Schedule for a Day Trip to the Cape Peninsula:
Pickup in the city of Cape Town and its environs

Atlantic Seaboard: Past Llandudno, from Clifton and Camps Bay to Hout Bay
Hout Bay-Harbor for a boat journey to Seal Island (optional)
Chapman’s Peak to Boulders Beach and Glencairn in Noordhoek
Cape of Good Hope’s Cape Point Nature Reserve (bike and lunch)
On the way to Cape Town, Kommetjie
Cape Point, Cape Peninsula Tour

The day journey has just started on this brand-new Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. 16 daytrippers from all over the world set off along the Atlantic Seaboard on the west coast of the Cape Peninsula, beginning with pickup from lodgings located around Cape Town (from Observatory to Gardens to Green Point).

Our guide starts his commentary as we pass the hip Camps Bay and stylish Clifton beaches, offering amusing anecdotes and obscure details about the things that pass by. We take a breathtaking drive via rocky beaches and sheer cliffs as we go along the picturesque Atlantic coastline. Our guide highlights the historic shipwreck off Llandudno Point, a well-liked scuba diving location, as we pass the coastal community of Llandudno, which is surrounded by Baby Lion’s Head, a scaled-down counterpart of Lion’s Head that overlooks Cape Town metropolis.

Boat Trip to Chapman’s Peak from Hout Bay and Seal Island
Hout Bay, a picturesque hamlet on the Southern Atlantic Ocean, is where we start.
Boat Trip to Seal Island, Hout Bay

At the harbor where the Seal Island boat ride begins and ends, we disembark. As an optional extra (own account), day visitors can choose to go on the affordable Seal Island Trip. Seal Island is a small island in False Bay that is home to a massive colony of Cape Fur Seals. Great White Sharks, who hunt seals, use the island as a hunting ground.

As an alternative, you can go for coffee, peruse the curio vendors, and stroll around the charming harbor. We travel up Chapman’s Peak, one of the most picturesque coastal routes in South Africa, if not the entire globe, after leaving the harbor. We pause to take pictures and enjoy the expansive views from one of the cliff-side vantage points overlooking Hout Bay, False Bay, and the ocean.

We descend from Chapman’s Peak Drive to Noordhoek, a rural area with a long sandy beach, and then proceed to Simon’s Town, which is located on the Cape Peninsula’s west coast.

Boulders Beach in Table Mountain National Park will be our next destination.

To get a close-up look at the African Penguin Colony, which is home to almost 2000 penguins, we descend to the viewing decks along the immaculate beaches. Boulders Bay is a well-known site because it is home to one of the few unique land-based colonies of endangered penguins, commonly known as Jackass Penguins, in the world.

Cycling Tour in Table Mountain National Park’s Cape Point
After that, it’s time for our bike trip across Table Mountain National Park’s Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.

Cycling Tour of Cape Point with Day Trippers

We get on the road bikes we’ve been transporting in a huge trailer and discover the varied Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve in the most efficient manner possible: on a bicycle.

It’s a cold day, and after a pleasant drive down a tarmac road that winds through moderate hills, the crisp sea air wakes us up. You can ride at a leisurely speed and keep a look out for baboons, zebra, eland, and other antelopes, as well as some of the more than 250 bird species that can be seen here. The trip is easy enough for cyclists with a modest level of fitness.

We eat a delicious picnic lunch made by our helpful guide at the visitors’ center after working up a strong appetite on the 6-kilometer ride. Fruit juice and biscuits are served alongside the freshly prepared lunch, which is a vibrant and enticing blend of flavors.

After lunch, our energy levels returned, and we mounted our bikes and rode another 7 km through the wild Cape Point Nature Reserve’s indigenous fynbos. Our next bike ride segment takes us down the coastline on an even more picturesque and thrilling road with breathtaking views over the choppy waves, and up a steady slope that is still manageable.

The sky grow stormier and threaten to pour as we ride, but they remain overcast until the very end of our journey. We change from cycling to walking as we reach the Cape of Good Hope, Africa’s most southwest point, and take a picture of this vista.

For stunning stormy vistas polished by a cool breeze, we trek to the top of the cliffs at Cape Point, leaving our bikes behind! We traverse the scenic Dias beach as we continue to walk along the cliffs and cross the Cape of Good Hope. On the opposite end of this slender finger of land, we stop to take in the breathtaking views of the Atlantic, trek to the lighthouse, or sip hot coffee in the restaurant as the rain begins to fall.

We resume our journey to Cape Town via Kommetjie, the day’s last picturesque drive, at around 4:00 pm. Overall, it was a very pleasant day full of amazing sights, clean sea air, and wonderful people!