Try the Long Street Backpackers , 209 Long Street (00 27 21 423 0615). A bed in a dorm costs R65 (£5.50), in a single room R100 (£8.50), and it’s R160 (£14) for a twin room. TAKE A VIEW From the revolving cable car (00 27 21 424 8181; ; Nov 8.30am-7pm, Dec-Feb 8am-9pm; R105/£9) – a glass bubble that rotates up to the summit of Table Mountain the views are dizzying. Try to reach the top (1,087m) at the first opportunity in case the weather deteriorates; a cloud cloth often descends on the table-top. TAKE A RIDE In a helicopter whirring over the city, out to the Winelands or down to Cape Point. Nac Makana , East Pier Road, V&A Waterfront (00 27 21 425 3868; ) offers trips from 20 minutes to an hour (from R475/£40 a person). WINDOW SHOPPING The V&A Waterfront (00 27 21 408 7600; ), Cape Town’s original Victorian harbour, was revamped in the 1990s and is now a swanky new development of shopping malls, restaurants, bars, hotels and museums.

Although still very much a working harbour, it is Cape Town’s top tourist attraction; safe, sanitised – and a bit cheesy. For a more vibrant view of Cape Town, head to the area between Long Street and Strand, where you’ll find bustling narrow streets, dotted with caf? markets and buskers; check out Saturday’s Grand Parade market and the flea market on the cobbled Greenmarket Square. Shops in the City Bowl shut at about 1pm on Saturday, and are closed Sundays. LUNCH ON THE RUN The Long Street Caf?n edgy Long Street (00 27 21 424 2464) has a buzzing atmosphere: French bistro-style d?r, dark wooden floors, a clattering of plates from the open kitchen, old leather sofas and World Music-cool Toasties from R16 (£1.50). CULTURAL AFTERNOON Robben Island (00 27 21 413 4200; .za; adults R150/£13, children 4-17 R75/£6.50) became one of the most infamous island prisons in the world thanks to the incarceration of political prisoners including, among others, Nelson Mandela. Measuring just six square kilometres, and now a World Heritage Site, tours feature harrowing tales from former inmates. Catamarans leave from the Nelson Mandela Gateway on the V&A Waterfront for the half-hour journey to the island.

The tour (including crossings) takes about three and a half hours, and includes a trip around the island and prison TAKE A HIKE Along the promenade. Start at the Mouille Point lighthouse , built in the 1820s and painted in cheery red and white stripes, and follow the path above the crashing surf as far as the Olympic-size saltwater pool at Sea Point. Separated from the road by a bank of grass, lined with palms, and overlooked by high-rise apartment blocks, this stretch of coast feels like a cross between Bournemouth and Nice. AN APERITIF Enjoy the stunning coastline with a sundowner (a bottle of chilled Cape wine, of course) on the beach. If you prefer to have a bar to lean on, fashionable Camps Bay is a popular spot with locals (although they steer clear of it in December when the crowds descend), as is the Bascule Bar in the Cape Grace hotel, West Quay, V&A Waterfront (00 27 21 410 7100, ), which boasts over 360 malt whiskies. DINNER WITH THE LOCALS Tank – sushi and fish a speciality – in the trendy Cape Quarter (terraced cottages from the 1700s which once housed freed slaves and artisans) at 72 Waterkant St (00 27 21 419 0007, ) is one of Cape Town’s hottest new restaurants. In a courtyard surrounded by stylish boutiques you can eat outside or inside (past the fluorescent blue bar) while checking out the gigantic fish tank Dinner is around R220 (£19) a head.

Five Flies 14-16 Keerom Street (00 27 21 424 4442) is a handful of little rooms around a central cobbled courtyard – the entrance hall has wood panelling and black-and-white harlequin tiled floor – with a higgledy-piggledy charm Two courses cost R100/£8.50, three courses R135/£11.75. Blues , 69 Victoria Rd (00 27 21 423 8278), is a popular if pricey restaurant in Camps Bay overlooking the beach. SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH Wander down to the Anglican Cathedral Church of St George in Wale St, where Desmond Tutu banged on the door, symbolically demanding to be installed as the first black archbishop of South Africa. It was also from here that he led 30,000 people to the City Hall in 1989 signalling the beginning of the end of apartheid Sunday Mass is at 7.15am, 8am, 9.15am and 7pm. OUT TO BRUNCH Come Sunday, locals drive or catch the Metrorail (0800 656 463, R10/90p) from the ugly eyesore that is the rail and bus station through the southern suburbs to Kalks Bay on the False Bay seaboard for brunch. Kalks Bay has a buzzing fish market on the harbour where you can watch the fishermen in traditional wooden boats bringing in their catch before wandering over to the Olympia Caf?nd deli, 134 Main Rd (00 27 21 788 6396, daily 7am-9pm).