This Cape Town City Pass Review will tell you all you need to know and whether the city pass is worth it or not. If you are planning to visit the Mother City and planning your itinerary for sightseeing, you are in the right place. In this review we will explain how the city pass works in full and give you all the information you need in deciding, including the different packages on offer and who the city pass is best suited for.
Table of Contents
A little bit about Cape Town?
Cape Town is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations and with good reason. The city sits on the Cape Peninsula, where the waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans come together.
Cape Town has a diverse array of beautiful scenery, from the rolling mountains to a huge selection of pristine beaches. There is also tons to sea while in the city, from exploring the eclectic cultural life, to exploring natural wonders like the iconic Table Mountain which was one of the Seven Wonders Of The World. They city frequently appears on many lists of best places to visit and in 2014, the New York Times declared Cape Town as the best place to visit.
The moderate months of summer sunshine are from December till March. The maximum temperature recorded during the summers is 26 degrees centigrade. However, summer sunshine exceeds, and the temperature becomes particularly warm when the berg wind (mountain wind) blows during February. On average, Cape Town receives 3100 hours of sunshine every year. That’s plenty to get make yourself warm and cozy.
The city is world-famous for its abundance of blue flag beaches that line the coast along both the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
About Cape Town City Pass
Here comes the fun part! Cape Town City Pass is a bundling of Cape Town’s most popular tourist attractions, that was organized in partnership with the city of Cape Town and aims to take the hassle out of finding the desirable places to visit and let you make some savings as a traveller. It gives you the right to enter over 90% of Cape Town’s most famous attractions that include some of South Africa’s heritage sites and word-famous destinations.
The majority of the activities are child-friendly and run the range from educational and to active to simply plain fun.
With Cape Town city pass, you can wear out the lines at the selective attractions. One of the key features is that Cape Town city pass is the only pass that provides hop on hop off city sightseeing, which is well-known in the city because of the red double-decker buses that are always making their way round the city.
What’s on offer?
You can explore up to 80 different tourist attraction sights in Cape Town with the city pass.
The city pass is designed to help explore the inner beauty of Cape Town. However, the venues for many attraction sites have different operating hours annually. The operating hours of attraction sites also change every year.
Therefore, it is good to get in touch with the venues and know about the details. Once you know how the system works, feel free to get your Cape Town city pass and roam around the city to explore its hidden beauty.
How does the city pass work?
The selling point to the Cape Town city pass to help you to save money as well as time by eliminating the need to individually buy tickets for what are the popular tourist activities in the city.
It is also meant to add to convenience and safety as it provides you a cash-free entry to the select chosen attraction sites. On arriving at your top experiences, all you have to do is to get your barcode scanned that you receive on purchasing the city pass.
As long as your city pass is active, you can use the Hop on – Hop off city sightseeing bus. The availability of the bus is up to the validity of the city pass.
The three necessary steps involved are
1. Choose a pass.
The initial step involves choosing a pass. Visit the official website and choose the pass that meets your requirements. You can select a one-day explorer pass, unlimited pass, or unlimited premium pass. Once you have chosen the city pass that best fits your requirements, you can proceed to buying. The whole process of purchasing is done online.
2. Get your pass
Once you have chosen and purchased your perfect city pass, you will receive an email consisting of a receipt and a barcode. The barcode is the receipt you receive after the purchase has been made, and is valid for the given period that you have purchased it for. It is a digital barcode that you can present on your mobile phone, or you can print it out on paper if you so choose.
3. Present your pass
With the city pass, either on your phone or on a photocopy that you made, you can quickly wander about the sites. The barcode is valid for one use at the attraction site that you wish to visit. All you have to do is to carry these barcodes everywhere you visit. Show these barcodes at sightseeing sites, and they will be ready to let you in.
Different packages of Cape Town City Pass
There are three different packages available for the city pass, each with its advantages and disadvantages.
Free hop on hop off transport included!
With every city pass, you will get the access to the Hop on Hop off sightseeing transport bus. The bus travels on a predetermined route which is basically a loop around Cape Town, and runs the route repeatedly at certain time intervals. So you simply board the bus and then get off at whichever top you wish to disembark on, visit the sites, and then return to the same pick up spot to catch the next bus when you are done.
List of packages available are
- One day city explorer pass.
- Unlimited pass
- Unlimited premium pass
Let’s take a look at the features of all these three city pass packages
One day city explorer pass
The one day pass is the cheapest package available, and offers you access to only three attractions from the following list:
- Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens
- Groot Constantia – wine estate tour and tasting
- Imizamo Yethu Township Walking Tour
- World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park
- Drumbeat Charters – Seal Island Cruise (Hout Bay)
- Circe Launches – Seal Colony Cruise (Hout Bay)
- Hard Rock Cafe – Free Mojito Cocktail
- The Cape Wheel – priority entrance with a Blue Route Pass
- City Sightseeing Waterfront Harbour Cruise
- City Sightseeing Waterfront Canal Cruise
- Muriel’s Munchies
You might look at the list above and not know one attraction from the other, what the differences are or even what to choose. Examples of the more popular choices from the above list are the following:
- Groot Constantia wine tasting and tour: You can visit the wine estate, which was founded in the year 1685. Legendary wine with distinctive taste is found in the estate of wine. You can also visit the museum and historical cellar with a broad wine tasting tour.
- Kirstenbosch botanical garden: This beautiful botanical garden is located on the slopes of the table mountain. This garden has a breathtaking view, and it was the first garden recorded in the UNESCO heritage site.
- Fish and chips in Hout Bay: The fish and chips at Hout Bay offer delicious, simple tasting fish and chips. With a wide range of ice cream flavors and espresso coffee.
Advantages of using one day city explorer pass
- Hop on hop off bus ticket included
- Fast-entry
- Instant confirmation
- Mobile ticket
Disadvantages
- Only three attraction sites can be visited
- Once you have scanned the third site, your city pass expires.
Unlimited pass
The unlimited pass is ideal for you if you are looking to do some serious sightseeing. One of the fantastic qualities of the unlimited pass is that you can visit your favorite attraction sites for a couple of days. In other words, you can explore Cape Town thoroughly. The unlimited pass offers 3 to 4 consecutive days.
The number of days you want to add on in your city pass depends on your choice. An unlimited pass also saves your time and money. You can visit 90% of the attractions sites without paying any money. Unlimited pass provides several attraction sites; however, a very few, we are going to discuss. If you want complete list of all of the attractions that are available, you will find them all on the official website.
Attraction sites offered by unlimited pass:
- Table mountain aerial cableways: It’s the number 1 attraction site. You can see the glorious hilly table mountains with cable cars. Breathtaking scenery and view with photo taking a chance. It sounds like heaven!
- Waterfront charters sunset: Enjoy the renowned sunset of Cape Town with a ride on the cruise. Sit and relax and enjoy the sunset with a glass of original wine.
- Two oceans aquarium: Two ocean aquarium is the place to visit with kids. Around 3000 different water species are present. They are ranging from small tiny creatures to yellowfins.
- Flying Dutchman funicular: Enjoy the peaceful ride without hiking using the Dutchman funicular. You can visit the light upper house using the funicular.
Advantages of the unlimited pass
- You can enjoy the attraction sites of Cape Town for 3 to 4 days, or you can extend your days.
- It is the most popular packages used by tourists
- 50% reduction in admission prices
- Provides a full-color guide
Disadvantages
- The package is for a limited number of days
- If you want to take part in any extra activity, you have to pay from your pocket
Unlimited premium pass
The Cape City City Pass unlimited premium pass offers the same features as the unlimited pass. An unlimited city pass also offers 3 to 4 days of tourist sightseeing. You can extend the period of your stay, depending on your choice.
The unlimited premium pass also offers to hop on hop off bus ticket, and yes, this provides one premium feature. You can visit one of your favorite attractions sites with a discount.
With an unlimited premium pass, you can visit 90% of your favorite sites but with one fantastic feature!
It offers all of the attractions included in the unlimited pass, plus certain premium only attractions and activities which are listed below.
- Great white shark tours: These are the world’s most famous and wanted predacious fish. They are around 6 meters in length. These are the ocean’s peak predators; therefore, they are much less copious compared to other species of fish.
- Cobra experience: Explore Cape Town with a three iconic chauffeur driver. It’s a 45 minutes driving experience in the iconic cobra car.
- Tandem flight co.: Do you want to view Cape Town uniquely? Well, tandem flight co. It offers paragliding to experience this wonderful moment.
- Dyer island cruise experience: Are you eager to see whales, great white whales, penguins, and dolphins? Well, that’s your chance. Experience this sightseeing of these beautiful water species with a cruise drive. An onboard biologist is available to give you the knowledge of these creatures.
Advantages of unlimited premium pass
- Enjoy the premium chance by visiting the unique sites with 50% off
- Easy to use
- Saves time and money
Disadvantages
- If you want to try something new, you need to pay extra cash
- Not commonly used
Cape Town City Pass Prices
The prices of the Cape Town City pass packages range from R449 for adults and R249 for children if you are buying the One Day Explorer pass, up to R2,716 for the 5 day premium pass. The unlimited passes can be bought for anywhere between 1 and 5 days, with the more days increasing the price.
City Explorer Pass
1 Day: R449 for Adults R249 for Children:
Unlimited Pass
1 Day: R895 for Adults R495 for Children
2 Day: R1,295 for Adults R795 for Children
3 Day: R1,495 for Adults R995 for Children
4 Day: R1,695 for Adults R1,195 for Children
Unlimited Premium Pass
1 Day: R2,995 for Adults R1,995 for Children
1 Day: R3,195 for Adults R2,195 for Children
Who Cape Town City Pass suited for?
There is a lot offered by the city pass but how valuable it is also depends on what you how you tend to carry out your visit to the city. The city pass will be ideal for you the following:
- If you have not visited cape town before and are planning a vacation with a lot of sightseeing
- Visitors or tourists who are planning to spend at least three to four days to explore Cape Town
- Visitors who want to view multiple tourist attraction sites to enjoy their vacations
You might not find it to be as useful if the way it is designed does not fit well into your travel plans. For example, the city pass might not offer the same kind of value for people who are visiting cape town only for the weekend of for travellers who are interested in seeing only a particular attraction site.
Is Cape Town City Pass worth it?
Whether the city pass is worth it depends on they type of travelling you are plan on doing. If you are already familiar with Cape Town and want to have experiences that are off the beaten path, then you might not find much value in the city pass as it offers the already highly popular attractions.
However, if you are new to Cape Town or are on a sightseeing trip, you can find a lot of value in the city pass. It simplifies the act of getting around the city as you can simply hop on and off the sightseeing bus. This is both convenient, as you don’t have to expend much effort on getting transport, and can also save a good deal of money.
The city pass is also great for tourists because it gives you the most popular sightseeing attractions in one packaging, instead of having to do the research to find out what’s hot or what’s not. It also offers great value by saving you a lot of money on attractions if you are planning to do a lot of sightseeing.
Of the different packages, Unlimited pass is the best as it offers more flexibility from being valid for 3 to 4 days, and gives access to most of the places you will want to visit. With the unlimited pass, you can save 50 percent on fees, which is great value for money.
Conclusion
The Cape Town City Pass offers great value and well worth it. If you compare the prices on your own, you will see that it provides great savings. It not only saves you money, but saves you the time and energy of researching and looking into the popular and affordable attraction sites.
If you have chosen to stay in Cape Town for a week or longer, it’s best to use the popular unlimited pass. Just make sure that you visit as much of the attractions as you can in these five to six days to get the most value you can and enjoyed every bit of it.