Cape Town as holiday destination

Voted Favourite Foreign City by the UK Telegraph in 2004, Cape Town is one of the places you just have to visit before you die. It's an awesome city. All the vibe you want - great parties, great shopping and loads of galleries and other cultural attractions can't detract from the fact that what makes Cape Town special is the fact that it is set in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Even Sir Francis Drake, who'd pretty much seen it all, called Cape Point the 'fairest cape in all the circumference of the world'. It's a needle-sharp promontory, which - contrary to marketing hype - does not divide the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic. But Capetonians claim it does and you can often see a line of foam heading straight out from the point - possibly all the way to Antarctica - which certainly divides the False Bay Coastline on the east from the Atlantic Seaboard on the west.

And the Peninsula Mountain Chain forms a high-lying spine all the way from Cape Point to Table Mountain above the city. Most of this high lying ground is part of the Table Mountain National Park, which also includes Boulders Beach and its penguins, and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens that showcases South Africa's fabulous floral heritage as well as hosting some great concerts among the flowers. Table Mountain is the soul of Cape Town - its emotional heart and touchstone. Many Capetonians escape to the slopes of the mountain on weekends and after work as a regular - well, it's almost a pilgrimage. There are literally hundreds of walks on the mountain. Cape Town is the epicentre of the Cape Floral Region, which is a world heritage site. Another great thing about the Peninsula and its mountains is that Cape Town has virtually two different climates in one city. When the wind is blowing on one side, the beaches should be warm and sheltered on the other - and even when it's raining on one side, you may get bright sunshine on the other.

It's all a kind of yin yang thing - opposites balancing - the dark and light side of the mountain and all that esoteric stuff. And speaking of which - Cape Town is not just a beautiful city with fantastic beaches, a national park, an awesome mountain and beautiful flowers. No - it's also a great city. It's a place where residents and visitors alike work hard and play even harder.