How do I get around Cape Town?

Uber and Bolt are your default. Download both before landing: Bolt tends to run R10-20 cheaper on the same route, but Uber has more drivers after midnight. Airport to the City Bowl runs R250-350 (roughly $15-21 USD), and you'll see the fare before confirming. Within the central band (Green Point, Sea Point, Camps Bay, the Waterfront) most rides land between R50-100. Surge pricing kicks in hard after rugby matches at DHL Stadium and on Friday nights along Long Street, so check both apps. Mind you, the wait times are short during daylight. Two to four minutes in the City Bowl. Ten to fifteen if you're out in Hout Bay or Simon's Town.

MyCiTi is Cape Town's rapid bus system and the only public transit worth recommending to visitors. The airport route (A01) drops you at Civic Centre station for about R100 on a loaded myconnect card: buy the card at the airport kiosk for R35 and load R200 to start. Buses run every 20 minutes during peak, every 30 off-peak, and stop entirely after 21:00 on most routes. The system covers the Atlantic Seaboard corridor well (City Bowl to Table View), but it won't get you to Kirstenbosch, Constantia, or anywhere on the False Bay side. For those, you need wheels.

Rent a car if you're spending more than two days. Cape Town's geography demands it: Table Mountain to Cape Point is 60 km of coastal road, the Winelands sit 45 minutes inland, and no bus or ridehail makes the Chapman's Peak Drive experience work the way a steering wheel does. Rates start around R400/day from companies at the airport. You drive on the left here. The N2 into the city from the airport has a sharp merge that catches newcomers; the M3 toward Muizenberg is more forgiving. Parking in the City Bowl is tight but manageable with the PayStay app (R10-15/hour). One genuine warning: do not leave anything visible in your car. Not a jacket, not a phone cable, nothing. Smash-and-grabs happen at red lights in certain spots along the N2 corridor and near Woodstock after dark.

Skip Metrorail entirely. The commuter train network still exists on paper, but services are unreliable, carriages are overcrowded, and personal safety is a real concern on most lines: locals avoid it too. The exception some people mention is the Simon's Town line for the coastal views, but even that comes with enough caveats that an Uber to Kalk Bay costs R200 and removes all the risk. Minibus taxis (the white Toyota HiAces with route numbers) are how most Capetonians move, but the routes are unmarked, payment is cash-only passed forward through strangers, and the driving style will spike your heart rate. Not dangerous in the mugging sense, just in the four-lanes-into-two sense.

Walking works in specific zones. The Sea Point promenade stretches three flat kilometres along the Atlantic: the salt spray hits your face, joggers pass in both directions, and the ocean noise drowns out traffic. The V&A Waterfront is self-contained and pedestrian-friendly. Long Street up to Kloof Street feels walkable by day, though the hills will remind your calves that this city is built against a mountain. After dark, stick to well-lit strips with visible foot traffic. The gap between neighborhoods (say, Sea Point to Camps Bay over Lion's Head) looks short on a map but involves a winding road with no sidewalk and fast traffic. Uber those gaps. They cost R60-80 and take six minutes.