Talk:Cape Town

Observations on History
The bit on the history of Cape Town is very short and factually misleading. For example "the Khoi" are described the only group at the Cape before the Europeans arrived, when there were a number of tribes sometimes given the common label "Khoi-San". Another example: the Voortrekkers are described as "pioneers" who "explored" the interior from Cape Town. This ignores the historical and political forces behind the Great Trek: the British occupying the Cape and outlawing slavery. The "Boers" who objected to this left the Cape Colony and travelled over 1000 km North to conquer and occupy land. I appreciate that this is a travel site, but many of us who travel are interested in the history of the places we go to. Why don't you do more a accurate and non-biased summary of the history and link to specialist history sites for those of us who like more.

Planet Hollywood NOT Hardrock
The reference to the Hard Rock Cafe in Cape Town is incorrect. After a bombing by extremists years ago it never re-opened.
 * oh, sorry. Will remove it. (WV-en) Felix

Planet Hollywood did open up after the explosion, but closed it´s doors in 1999. Hard Rock Cafe did not survive either and closed also.

Planet Hollywood NOT Hardrock
It was the Planet Hollywood in Cape Town and not the Hardrock Cafe that was bombed.

Personal experiences (hence NOT NPOV, and unverifiable)
I've travelled to ZA every year for the last decade (sometimes twice a year)


 * I always fly into Cape Town first, and almost always leave from there
 * I've always flown BA (all four classes), and never had any problems except with the heat in the plane on return journeys - the crew have always been superb, yes they are sometimes late, but show me an airline that isn't!
 * I only tip parking attendants on return to the car - and make sure they know that. Tipping is small change for most Europeans & Americans - R10 per hour seems to be generous
 * ALWAYS claim back the VAT. Flying out of Cape Town it is simple & efficient - so what if you don't get all the VAT back, it still pays for your meal while you're waiting
 * Leave plenty of time - possibly as much as 2 hours for 1st & Club class, 3 for economy and economy plus - when checking in for international flights at Cape Town, security staff are slow.....
 * For domestic flights, however, 30 mins is fine (unless you have reams of luggage)
 * Best internal flights are from Nationwide (Nationwide is now defunct. I recommend using Kulula.com or 1time.co.za)
 * Like every city in the world, Cape Town has its rough bits, but there is lots to do in the safe areas - which is most of it
 * DEFINITELY drive along the [Garden Route] if you have time
 * Do not miss Boulders Beach near Simonstown, the penguins are very friendly. If you go to the south beach, there is no walkway, and you can paddle & swim with them
 * Robben island is fascinating, and you do NOT have to be a diehard BP fanatic to enjoy the tour
 * Car hire is very very very cheap compared with most of Europe - it's only expensive if you book in advance with foreign currency

So Go to ZA and especially Cape Town soon 8-) (WT-en) Chrisboote 08:12, 16 November 2006 (EST)

Cleanup of Cape_Town
I'm going to do some cleanup and expansion on Cape_Town, but it might look messy for a short time while I am busy on it. Just bare with me, I'll make sure I don't leave it in a mess.

I think we need at least the following sub-sections in there, Wildlife (Nature reserves, Parks etc), Whale watching (by boat, best places to do it from shore etc), Sunset cruises (there are many operators that offer these), Hiking trails and Townships.

Some of the information currently in there (wineroutes for example) needs to go to Cape_Town

(WT-en) NJR_ZA 14:01, 21 January 2007 (EST)


 * ((WT-en) NJR_ZA completed this clean up on Jan 22 2007 - I reverted his removal of this info, because I think it could be useful in future to have this info here. -- (WT-en) Tim 13:24, 22 January 2007 (EST))

Lost festival
The Talk:Cape Town/City Harvest Festival article contains some information that was accidentally added to the Project:Itinerary article template. I'm not sure how it should fit in, but it might make a good "do" entry. --(WT-en) Evan 08:19, 4 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Seems like the user that added this to Project:Itinerary article template has already added it to Cape Town. It looks like a first time even so I have no idea if it will be any good. --(WT-en) NJR_ZA 13:53, 5 April 2007 (EDT)


 * Delete. (WT-en) Pashley 21:58, 29 August 2009 (EDT)

Confusion about Climate
The article mentions that summer is "very hot", but the highest high temperature is listed at 24deg C. Is one of these in error? Or is it just that I have a different definition of "very hot" (I wouldn't use "hot" to describe anything under 30deg C, and "very hot" starts at 36 or 37. Maybe, in any case, it should be rewritten a bit more neutrally?


 * I think that can do with a bit of a rewording. Climate data however are averages and the person that wrote it might have been there during a very hot week or two. Cape Town is located between the cold Atlantic and the hot Karoo interior; depending on direction of the prevailing wind it can be 30+ one day and barely reach 20 the next. Extreamly hot days can be almost double the average, see 30 year stats at --(WT-en) NJR_ZA 01:44, 30 October 2007 (EDT)

The going out section is horrifyingly out of date, Fez has been closed for two or three years.

Dead Seals
Just looking over the article, I noticed the photo of the seals at the Waterfront, and they look a bit like they were poached. Would it be a problem to get rid of the photo? It gives the (presumably) false impression that the animals are mistreated and certainly doesn't make the Waterfront look like a fun place to visit. (WT-en) ChubbyWimbus 01:49, 29 December 2009 (EST)


 * It's a dreadful picture and should go.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 11:20, 4 January 2010 (EST)
 * I agree its not a nice photo, but sleeping seals do tend to lie around like that, and if the photo was taken at the waterfront that is almost certainly what they are. I dont recognise the location, though, and I agree the photo does not improve the article and could be removed without loss. (WT-en) Peter (Southwood) Talk 13:41, 3 March 2010 (EST)

Tour agency listings
The number of tour listings in his article really lessen its value in my mind. Are they really all necessary and in line with WT policy? --(WT-en) Burmesedays 11:20, 4 January 2010 (EST)
 * I agree. Here's a comment I made on a deletion: "I don't think that safari tours need to be in an article about a city. If they belong anywhere, it's not here." I will check for more tour listings that clearly don't belong. (WT-en) Ikan Kekek 15:40, 6 February 2011 (EST)

Cape Town Dive Festival 2012
SWEPT IN FROM PUB

Cape Town is hosting a dive festival in August. It is not on the same scale as the football world cup or summer Olympics, but we are hoping for visitors from all over South Africa, and possibly a few internationals. The festival is a co-operative event to be organised, subsidised, and run by most if not all of the local dive shops, charter boats and clubs. If successful, they plan to make it a bi-annual event. I would like to put up a temporary article giving basic details and contact details for booking and a small temporary banner on the following relevant articles: The proposed banner is:
 * The actual dive sites selected for the festival (about 12)
 * The launch site and base for the festival (one of the local slipways and already a sub-article of the regional dive guide
 * The regional dive guide,
 * The national dive guide
 * Scuba Diving travel topic in the section for South Africa
 * The local regional travel guide (Western Cape)
 * The host city (Cape Town)

Is this acceptable, and are there any suggestions or existing policy to cover this? Cheers, &bull; &bull; &bull; (WT-en) Peter (Southwood) Talk 11:07, 31 January 2012 (EST)


 * I'm reluctant to approve a banner for a national event like this. This is not a major international event, so it is not going to be driving tourism; instead, it sounds like you want to advertise it via Wikivoyage.  There's a big difference between "Looking for information on the 2012 Olympics?  Here's where it's held," and "Looking for something to do in South Africa?  Here's an event."  I don't think the latter is an appropriate use, especially for an event that will only draw minimal participation from outside the host country.  (WT-en) LtPowers 14:47, 31 January 2012 (EST)


 * A standard event listing in the appropriate city/country article would definitely be OK, but too much promotion would be a concern. That said, given all the great work that (WT-en) Peter (Southwood) has done on dive articles I'd trust his judgement as to whether Wikivoyage is a proper platform for promoting an event like this one, but I've got some concerns that it could be a bit of a slippery slope, and the proposed banner definitely looks a bit like an advertisement.


 * Wikivoyage tends to be very conservative, which isn't always a good thing, so this might be a time where some experimentation would be warranted to see how it goes. In that spirit, I would be OK with adding temporary notices to the relevant dive articles provided they are a bit closer to standard Wikivoyage style (for example, something more like Template:Infobox).  As to a separate page promoting the event, I've also got some concerns about the precedent that would set, but in the interest of encouraging experimentation what about creating an initial page for discussion purposes and seeing how it goes, although the talk page should make it clear that this is just an experiment and not something should be followed as precedent by other events? -- (WT-en) Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 01:14, 1 February 2012 (EST)


 * LtPowers, I take your point. It would be a foot in the door for possible spamming, so I will scrap the idea and just link to the pages from the event website.
 * Ryan, Thanks for the support, but it is a bit of a slippery slope. I have been editing a lot on Wikipedia recently and tend to get policies mixed up between WT and WP. No problem, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. Cheers, &bull; &bull; &bull; (WT-en) Peter (Southwood) Talk 01:06, 8 February 2012 (EST)


 * I don't think a banner such as the one for Olympic host cities would be inappropriate on the main page of the South African Diving Sites article though. If someone is looking for Diving in South Africa then it would likely be of interest but not from the South Africa country page. (WT-en) ChubbyWimbus 10:03, 16 February 2012 (EST)

Car hire listings
The guidelines on the external links page are as follows:

What not to link to: Rental car operators in cities where they are common (10 or more operating in the city).

Before I deleted Drive South Africa for spamming every article they could find about South Africa, there were 10 listings, if you want to call a mere name and telephone number a listing, and I would state very strongly that without a local street address, it is most certainly not a real or at least appropriately complete listing.

I think we should dispense with this section, but I put it below in case any of you disagree.

Car hire


Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:41, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

Latest to be moved, from "Get around/By car":



This at least is a rather complete listing, but that doesn't address the question of whether there should be any car hire listings in this article. Ikan Kekek (talk) 13:39, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

Clarify items under "Get in - By plane"
Request that someone (who knows far better than I) please indicate what's intended for the term "direct" for many of the several airlines and airports listed. Two questions come to mind:
 * Does "direct" actually mean "non-stop"? Precise use of "direct" among travel agents, et al, in North America means you'll stay on the same aircraft for the full flight, but that it stops at one or more places enroute.  In important contrast, non-stop means exactly that.
 * When service from/to another airport is designated as direct, are all flights direct? If not, readers might assume they must forgo searches for other flight types (e.g., involving connections/layovers) that may cost less.

Appreciate your troubles,  Hennejohn (talk) 00:55, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Work section
Basically only says "There are various volunteering opportunities in Cape Town." It would appear no one contributing has any specific knowledge on the subject. I have removed the section, hopefully at some point someone can add something useful. --Traveler100 (talk) 09:01, 26 November 2017 (UTC)

Water crisis?
Is this worth mentioning in the lede or a caution box? ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 18:22, 30 January 2018 (UTC)


 * http://coct.co/water-dashboard/ for more details... ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 18:22, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
 * http://www.capetown.gov.za/Family%20and%20home/residential-utility-services/residential-water-and-sanitation-services/make-water-saving-a-way-of-life

ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 18:23, 30 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Holy s***! If they expect to entirely run out of water in a little over two months, then I agree we need to put a caution box on the top of the Cape town article. And as it's the second largest city and one of the most popular attractions in South Africa it probably merits a mention somewhere in the country article too. ϒpsilon (talk) 18:35, 30 January 2018 (UTC)


 * BTW Peter might have something to add about the water crisis. ϒpsilon (talk) 18:49, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Crime section
Other sites indicate a pretty grimer picture. --151.41.241.116 20:46, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

Lead paragraph
I've never been to Cape Town. The lead paragraph doesn't really tell me very much about why I'd want to go aside from what is out of the cit. Could someone who has been there try to write something livelier and more colourful? Ground Zero (talk) 16:49, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

Hotel Nelson
Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel (Q18378411; website), linked from Grand old hotels, seems to be missing. I assume it should be added, but I don't know the city. –LPfi (talk) 11:07, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

Mount Nelson Hotel
Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel is mentioned at Grand_old_hotels, but I do not see it here.

Looks like it should be added to this article & linked from Grand old hotels. Pashley (talk) 14:17, 17 January 2023 (UTC)