We hiked our way up using the Platteklip Gorge trail. While it was very exhausting we made it in 2h. I would recommend hiking up in the morning and walking around the top in the afternoon. After that you can take the cable car down if needed.
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You can do a half hour, flat, easy walk on the Pipe Track, the crazily popular, one and a half hour steep hike up Platteklip, the more adventurous routes up via India Venster or Kasteelpoort, or if you are really not into any effort at all, zoom up with the cable car and mill about on the large flat Table top. There are dozens or routes, of all kinds of duration, desolation, views and difficulty. Whichever one you choose, you won't regret it. I have hiked Table Mountain dozens and dozens of times (I live here), and each hike is equally memorable. Whether you want to spend the day on the mountain, or just do a quick-up-and-with-the-cable-car-down-after-work, Table Mountain has something for you. Don't miss out, you'll regret it when you post your Cape Town visit on FB and people comment with things like 'I hope you hiked up Platteklip' and add a selfie with unparallelled background views.
Two words of warning: be prepared. Whatever the weather, take some warm clothing, a snack and drinking water. A wear proper shoes.
On the morning we were due to climb India Venster it was very foggy and Riaan warned us it may not clear. We took the gamble and it totally paid off. As we arrived at the foot of our climb the sun was rising and we were above a blanket of cloud. Stunning views and a fantastic walk up a steep bouldery path. Lots of scrambles and climbs which made the views even more spectacular. Riaan was a brilliant guide, knowledgeable about the history and geography of the mountain but with lots of stories to tell. We felt very safe at all times. The best activity we did by far in Cape Town. Thanks Riaan
We hiked the mountain with our guide Hendre who was fantastic! She was a fun and knowledgable guide. I did this hike with my two boys aged 11 and 15 years and we did the 'B' grade scramble which was challenging in places but a lot of fun! The cloud came in for the last quarter of our hike but until that point the views were incredible.
This is definitely a company that I would recommend and use again for this sort of activity.
The communication between Riaan and myself was excellent (one of our hikes had to be cancelled due to inclement weather).
This is a must do hike!
We spent a long time poring over Hike Table Mountain's website to see which of the many route options we wanted to try - from botanical splendour to heart-stopping scrambles, there were so many sides to this magnificent mountain. Eventually we settled on the 12 Apostles route - simply because of the spectacular views it offered, changing all the way up the ascent, from Lions Head to ocean and city. A 3 hour hike seemed just right without too much difficulty as neither of us were really experienced mountain hikers.
We knew that Cape Town weather was unpredictable and we needed to call to confirm the day before. As the weather looked a little ropey, we did just that and Riaan text back to say it was going ahead despite looking a bit overcast. Looking at the forecast the rest of the week (bright sunshine) we were a bit worried about going ahead. But we decided to trust the experts and our guide Liesl came to pick us up at 6.45am the next day. Perhaps because of the weather, it was just the two of us with our guide so it was a great private hike.
Driving part way up the foothills behind Camps Bay it became pretty clear that we were not going to get the views we'd hoped for. The entire mountain was completely shrouded in dense fog and remained that way for the three hours of our trek. Of course we were disappointed, however we soon realised that a hot sunny morning would have made for a very difficult climb. And the sections where we were scrambling close to the edge or clambering up iron ladders on a sheer cliff face could have been a little scary if we weren't cosseted in our cool blanket of fog. Liesl did her best to explain what the views would have looked like, with good humour, and we got some great footage of the fog rolling through the valleys - it was very atmospheric and beautiful. We had to stop to catch our breath quite a few times and learned a lot about the endemic plant species whilst we did so. We never did spot one of those tiny ghost frogs though (they're the size of your fingernail!)
Reaching the summit felt like a real achievement, even if we couldn't see more than a foot in front of us, let alone the city and ocean below. We waited for a while at the top to see if the teasing fog would open up as forecast but it never did. So we scaled back down on the cable car - finding out then and over the next couple of days that weather-wise it's really only the wind you need to worry about with Table Mountain. If that cable car was closed for high winds, we'd have been hiking all the way back down again!
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