Organized Tours

These tours concentrate on the city and immediate surroundings.

On Foot

The 3-hour Footsteps to Freedom (tel. 083/452-1112; www.footstepstofreedom.co.za) guided walk departs Monday to Saturday at 10:30pm from Cape Town Tourism and covers all the top attractions in the city center. It's a good way to get oriented and come to grips with Cape Town's multifaceted history. The tour costs R140$19/£10. Caroline Kloppert (tel. 084/774-4292; phyalis5000@yahoo.de) offers Art Walks from the National Gallery through the Company Gardens, visiting various art galleries and art markets before ending at the tourism bureau. These cost R50 ($7/£4) and take place on Friday at 2pm.

By Boat

One of the best vantages of Cape Town is undoubtedly from the sea. Tours cost from R45 ($6/£3) per person, depending on the duration and destination; I highly recommend the 90-minute sunset cruise from the harbor to Clifton (R190/$26/£13). The Waterfront Boat Company (tel. 021/418-5806; www.waterfrontboats.co.za) has an 18m (58-ft.) gaff-rigged schooner called Spirit of Victoria that cruises the Table Bay and Blouberg area, and a luxury motorboat, Condor, that cruises to Clifton Bay. The company also has a whale-watching permit (May-Dec) that allows controlled approach to within 50m (164 ft.). Tigresse (tel. 021/419-1510), a luxury catamaran, is another great way to get to Clifton. Alternatively, get your pulse racing and strap up with Atlantic Adventures (tel. 021/425-3785), who set off at 120kmph (74 mph) across Table Bay in a rubber duck. In Hout Bay harbor, Drum Beat Charters (tel. 021/791-4441) and Circe (tel. 021/790-1040) offer 40-minute trips to see the Cape fur seals on Duiker Island (R38/$5/£3 adults; in-season trips leave at 8:45, 9:30, and 10:15am daily).

By Bus

A large number of operators offer driving tours of the city and its surrounds, but for an informal introduction at your own pace, purchase a day ticket for the City Sightseeing Bus (tel. 021/511-1784; R100/$14/£7 per person), a hop-on, hop-off service that covers much of the city and beyond. The Red Route, on a double-decker open-topped bus, takes in 13 top city sites (including Camps Bay) and leaves every 30 minutes (summer) or hour (winter). The Blue Route -- a mini-peninsula tour -- leaves every hour in an air-conditioned coach but substitutes stops farther afield (Kirstenbosch Gardens, World of Birds, and Mariner's Wharf in Hout Bay) for some of the city sights. With either route your ticket is valid for the day and you can hop on or off at any stage. Catch buses from 9:30am at the Two Oceans Aquarium (V&A Waterfront), or call at any time to find the location of the bus closest to you. The last circuit is usually around 3:30pm but it's best to call ahead.

African Eagle (tel. 021/464-4266; www.daytours.co.za), Hylton Ross (tel. 021/511-1784; www.hyltonross.co.za) and Atlas (tel. 021/460-4700; www.springbokatlas.co.za) are long-standing operators offering a variety of half-day, full-day, and 4-day tours.

By Air

For an aerial tour of the city or peninsula, contact Civair Helicopters (tel. 021/419-5182). Aquilla (tel. 021/712-1913) takes to the sky in microlights, and ThunderCity (tel. 021/934-8007) caters to adrenaline junkies with expensive tastes -- an hour ride in one of their fighter planes costs from around R42,000 ($5,833/£3,000) in a Hawker Hunter to R80,000 ($11,111/£5,714) in a Buccaneer, while 30 minutes in the English Electric Lightening will cost a whopping R100,000 ($13,888/£7,142).

Township Tours

For a more holistic view of the still essentially segregated Cape Town community, and an insight into the Cape Muslim culture of the Bo-Kaap, a so-called "township" tour is essential. A good option is "Trail of Two Cities": A tour initiated for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, and run by Cape Capers (tel. 021/448-3117; www.tourcapers.co.za) introduces visitors to some of the interesting entrepreneurs working in the poorer areas of the city. These include Golden Nongawuza, who, after a vivid dream, started making flowers from discarded cans in his Khayalitsha shack, and Victoria Mxenge, who has a group of previously homeless women learning house building.

Specialist Tours

Daytrippers (tel. 021/511-4766) specializes in hiking and biking tours of the peninsula.