PHOTO GALLERY Cape Town WatefrontMalay QuarterCamps Bay C.TownTable Mtn cable car

Cape Town in South Africa is regularly voted o­ne of the globe's most beautiful cities. Cape Town has an enticing mix of modern vibrancy, fascinating history and exceptional natural beauty.

In the city centre you'll find sleek sky scrapers rubbing shoulders with centuries-old Dutch, Cape Malay and British architecture, while flower sellers and buskers vie for attention in the pedestrian malls below the world famous Table Mountain which majestically envelopes the city.

Cape Town has a Mediterranean type climate. This makes for beautiful, hot summer days with daytime temperatures averaging 29degrees Celsius (Summer : October to March). Evenings are cool

Winter daytime temperatures average approximately 20degrees celsius, with cold nights. Being located at the (almost) Southernmost point in Africa, Cape Town in winter is subject to inclement weather, interspersed by clear cool days.

Cape Town is connected with many international centres by direct flights, as well as having connecting flights to most South African cities, and other regional cities such as Windhoek.

There are train and coach services to other South African cities. Local transport (buses, trains and collective taxis) is cheap but comfort and service patchy. Private taxis or car hire recommended.

Visit the former prison cell of the world's most adored and respected man, Nelson Mandela, which is just a boat ride away.Cape Town literally has it all! Saunter up Adderly Street and you'll find yourself at the Houses of Parliament: up in the visitors' gallery you'll observe the goings-on of the Rainbow Nation's MPs, many of whom did not even have the right to vote just ten years ago.

A short walk away is the enchanting Greenmarket Square, an open-air cobble-stoned market, selling everything from carved African masks to high fashion clothing.
And when you've shopped till you're ready to drop, find a bench in the six-hectare Company Gardens. Originally Van Riebeeck's vegetable garden, back in the 17th Century, it has been landscaped as a reminder of a time when the city was a stopping place for traders and voyagers en route to the Far East.

In the city's Malay Quarter, where rows of charming pastel buildings sprawl along the slopes of another landmark, Signal Hill, the Bo-Kaap Museum tells the story of the Malays, who were brought as slaves from Sri Lanka, the Indonesian islands and India.

The apartheid government may have infamously moved 60 000 Cape Coloureds from their District Six homes before sending in the bulldozers four decades ago, but this is a community not easily quashed - to this day The Cape Minstrels strut through the streets of Cape Town strumming banjoes in a joyous New Year festival which is uniquely Capetonian.

History buffs will get their fill at the Castle of Good Hope, a pentagonal fortification complete with moat and bastions, built to defend the Dutch settlement. Thrill seeking escapists can visit an impressive replica at the recently opened world-class GrandWest Casino and Entertainment Complex. Or pop along to the Ratanga Junction Theme Park for fun, fantasy and adventure entertainment, themed restaurants and variety shows.

Shopaholics are well catered for in this city, most notably at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, South Africa's number o­ne tourist attraction - and equally favoured by the locals - for good reason. For around this working harbour has sprung an abundance of shops, from designer boutiques to food market stalls, two large craft markets, the amazing Two Oceans Aquarium, the Imax Cinema with its gigantic screen, and dozens of restaurants.

The city has become a real centre for 'adrenalin adventures' like abseiling, paragliding, kite-surfing and many other sports. Walkers, cyclists, and golfers are all well catered for as are lovers of just about all aquatic sports.

If it's wildlife of a different sort that you're after, take a hike up Table Mountain - or catch the cable-car - and meet the mountain's famous dassies (rock rabbits), or take a ferry out to Robben Island and get acquainted with not o­nly the tiny cell which Nelson Mandela called home for almost three decades, but the adorable African penguins and Caspian terns.
Better still, head out to Hermanus for a spot of unrivalled whale watching. And adrenalin junkies can come face-to-face with a Great White Shark or two, in a never-to-be-forgotten cage diving experience.

Of course, most people will be content to lap up the Cape's natural wonders like its beaches. Take your pick from Clifton, Camps Bay, Llandudno, Bloubergstrand and Noordhoek; all boasting pristine white sand and gorgeous vistas.

 And then there's the wine! A few days in the famed Cape Winelands, home to the likes of Nederberg, Meerlust and Boschendal, is worth the journey alone. The name of o­ne of the Cape's best known wine estates, Buitenverwachting, sums up, in a word, this fair city: beyond expectations.

• Take the cablecar up Table Mountain and look down o­n o­ne of the most beautiful cities in the world (The more energetic may wish to walk up the mountain !)
• Sample some of the Capes' best wine from estates established 300 years ago.
• Enjoy the sun o­n the magnificent beaches at Camps Bay, Llandudno and many more.
• Enjoy the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront...shops, restaurants and entertainment abound.
• Take a tour of the Cape Peninsula.