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The Grand Parade was the site Cape Town’s founder Jan van Riebeeck selected for his first fort in 1652. The structure was levelled in 1674 and until 1821 the area was used as a parade and exercise ground for the troops. As buildings went up around the perimeter, greengrocers established fruit stalls, precursors of today’s weekday flea market. The site is now used as a car park and as an events venue.

Overlooking the Grand Parade is Cape Town’s imposing City Hall. Built in 1905 in the elaborate Italian Renaissance style, it presents its elegant façades on four different streets. A 39-bell carillon tower was added in 1923, which is a half-sized replica of London’s Big Ben. It was from the balcony here that Nelson Mandela addressed the world in 1990 after spending 27 years in prison. On that day, 250,000 people streamed to the Grand Parade to celebrate the release of the country’s future president. Today, the City Hall is home to the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since the ruling authority was intolerant of any religion other than that of the Dutch Reformed Church, the Lutheran Church began life as a hall that had to be officially described as a “warehouse”. Wealthy Lutheran businessman Martin Melck built it with the intention of modifying it into a place of worship once the religious laws were relaxed, and the first service was held there in 1776. A few years later, the sexton’s house was added.

The German-born sculptor Anton Anreith embellished the church from 1787 to 1792, designing a more fitting front elevation and adding a tower. Today, both the church and the sexton’s house are national monuments.

Next door is the 1781 Martin Melck House, declared a national monument in 1936. It is a fine example of an 18th-century Cape townhouse.

The oldest functional building in South Africa, the pentagonal Castle of Good Hope was built during 1666-79 with slate quarried on Robben Island and sandstone from Lion’s Head. Back then it stood sentinel over Table Bay but an extensive programme of land reclamation started in the 1930s has left it stranded inland. Its imposing walls enclose a military museum displaying artifacts dating to the Dutch and British occupations, and the William Fehr Collection of old paintings, period furniture and other colonial relics. Notable features include the 17th-century staircase that leads to the exquisite De Kat Balcony and a bell cast in Amsterdam in 1697.

This Neo-Classical home was built in 1701 when Strand Street, then close to the shore, was the most fashionable part of Cape Town. The building was enlarged in subsequent centuries; a second storey was added, and renowned French architect Louis Michel Thibault remodelled the façade around 1795 in Louis XVI style. The De Wet family was the last to own the house. After the death of her husband in 1880, Maria De Wet lived here with her sister until her death in 1906.

Over the years, the sisters assembled the fine antiques that can still be seen in the museum today. Maria De Wet, apart from being a renowned society hostess, also took the first steps to protect Cape Town’s historic buildings. It was due to her intervention that the destruction of part of the Castle of Good Hope was prevented when the new railway lines for the city were being planned.

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South Africa’s oldest cathedral began life as a relatively modest church that opened its doors on Christmas Day of 1834. The grander cruciform cathedral seen today is a Neo-Gothic masterpiece designed by Sir Herbert Baker, with the foundation stone laid by the future King George V in 1901. It is sometimes referred to as the People’s Cathedral, in recognition of its contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle under Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, whose 1986 appointment to that rank led many white Anglicans to abscond in protest. A museum near the main entrance evokes this period.

The cathedral’s magnificent Hill Organ, which first stood in London’s Church of St Margaret (next to Westminster Abbey) in 1675, was donated to St George’s by an English businessman in 1909.

Located in the Old Town House, this national monument was built in 1755 in the Cape Rococo style. It initially served as the “Burgherwacht Huys” (house of the night patrol) and the magistrate’s court. In 1839, it was claimed as a town hall by the newly formed municipality. After renovations in 1915, the building was handed over to the Union Government for use as an art gallery.

The original collection was donated to the city in 1914 by the wealthy financier Sir Max Michaelis. It was added to by Lady Michaelis after the death of her husband in 1932. The collection consists of a world-renowned selection of Dutch and Flemish art from the 17th-century Golden Age. The portraits are particularly interesting, offering an insight into Dutch society at the time.

In addition to the permanent collection, the gallery holds a series of temporary exhibitions that have been designed to appeal to both locals and visitors alike. After hours, the gallery becomes a cultural centre, hosting chamber-music concerts and lectures.

The first building on this site was a lodge that housed the slaves who worked in the Company’s Garden. One of the oldest buildings in Cape Town, it was built around 1679 on land that originally formed part of the garden. It is thought that up to 9,000 slaves – along with convicts and the mentally ill – lived in the building during its time as a slave lodge. By 1807, new premises from which to administer the Cape colony were needed, and the Slave Lodge suited most requirements. Many slave inhabitants of the lodge were sold, while others were moved to the west wing of the building. The vacated area was turned into offices, and in 1811, the west wing followed suit. The people responsible for the conversion were the builder Herman Schutte, the sculptor Anton Anreith and the architect Louis Michel Thibault. As well as government offices, the lodge also housed the Supreme Court, the post office and the public library. The present building once extended into Adderley Street, but this portion had to be demolished when the road was widened. However, the original façade, designed by Thibault, has been restored to its former splendour.

Iziko Museums of Cape Town have transformed the Slave Lodge into a major site that increases public awareness of slavery, cultural diversity and the struggle for human rights in South Africa. The history of slavery at the Cape is illustrated with 3D and audiovisual displays, alongside exhibits of text, images and maps that trace the hardships suffered. A section about life at the lodge is based on archaeological and archival sources, as well as on the memories of people who trace their roots to the time of slavery in the Cape.

The museum also hosts regularly changing temporary exhibitions, on subjects ranging from the experience of individual colonial subjects to life in ancient Egypt.

Surrounded by historic buildings and terrace cafés, pedestrianised Greenmarket Square hosts a vibrant pan-African crafts and clothing market, whose vendors are often more comfortable speaking French or Swahili than they are English or any indigenous tongue. The square also attracts an ever-changing cast of street performers.

Yet it was not always like this. Established in 1696 as Burgher Watch Square, it served as the city’s main slave market from 1710 until the era of abolition. It then became a vegetable market, before being converted into a car park.

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This natural history museum is both a research and education institution. Of special interest in the collection are the coelacanth, reptile fossils from the Karoo, and the Shark World exhibition. There are also exceptional examples of rock art, including whole sections from caves.

The planetarium presents a diverse programme on the wonders of the universe.

This museum, housed in a building opened in 2000 by Nelson Mandela, narrates the story of South African Jewry from its beginnings, setting it against the backdrop of the country’s history. The interactive exhibits celebrate the pioneering spirit of South Africa’s early Jewish immigrants and their descendants.

The Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum is housed in the oldest house in the area (1763), still in its original form. Bo-Kaap has traditionally been associated with the Muslim community, and the building’s characteristic voorstoep (front terrace) and courtyard both emphasize the social aspects of Cape Muslim culture. The museum focuses on the history of Islam in the Cape of Good Hope, highlighting its local cultural expressions.

South Africa’s premier gallery houses outstanding collections of British, French, Dutch, Flemish and South African paintings. Selections from the permanent collection change regularly to allow for a full programme of temporary exhibitions of contemporary photography, sculpture, beadwork and textiles. These rotating exhibits provide a great insight into the range of artworks produced in this country, the African continent and further afield.

Across the road from the Slave Lodge is the Groote Kerk (big church), one of the best known buildings in Cape Town. Upon their arrival at the Cape, the Dutch held religious services on board Jan van Riebeeck’s ship, Drommedaris. Later, they switched to a small room at the Castle Good of Hope, but quickly realized the need for a permanent site. A first, temporary structure at the northeast end of the Company’s Garden was replaced by a thatched church on the same site in 1700, on the orders of Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel.

The church was completely rebuilt in the 19th century, and the new building was dedicated in 1841. All that remains of the original church today is the Baroque belfry, which, unfortunately, is now almost obscured by tall modern buildings.

Of interest inside the church is the splendid pulpit supported by carved lions, which replaced the original podium in 1789. It is believed that sculptor Anton Anreith’s original concept included the symbolic images of Hope, Faith and Charity, but this was rejected as being too papist.

The façade of the church has high Gothic-style windows divided by bold pilasters. In front of the building stands a statue of Andrew Murray, who was minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Town from 1864–71.

Since the development of the V&A Waterfront began in 1995, the property value in neighbouring seaside suburbs such as Green Point and Mouille Point has soared. Beach Road, only a stone’s throw from the sea, is today lined with expensive high-rise apartments, trendy restaurants and upmarket office blocks.

Green Point Common backs the residential strip. It started in 1657 as a farm granted to Jan van Riebeeck, but the soil proved unfit for cultivation. The sports complexes and clubs now on the common have athletics, rugby and cricket fields and tennis and squash courts, while the Cape Town Stadium borders the Green Point Urban Park. Nearby, Green Point’s red and white candy-striped lighthouse, which was built back in 1824, is still functional. Its resonant foghorn is notorious for keeping Mouille Point’s residents awake when mist rolls in from the sea.

Further along Beach Road lies the suburb of Sea Point. It, too, has undergone intensive development over the years and today sports towering apartment blocks, hotels and offices. Sea Point is one of Cape Town’s most popular entertainment districts beyond the V&A Waterfront, and its Main Road teems with restaurants, bars, malls and night spots. In the afternoon, the 3-km (2-mile) Sea Point promenade is abuzz with joggers, rollerbladers, children, people-watchers and residents walking their dogs.

The full 10-km (6-mile) Prom, as locals call it, actually starts at Mouille Point near the V&A Waterfront, and ends with a large parking area and the open-air Sea Point Swimming Pool, which is filled with filtered seawater and has an impressive diving pool.

Small sandy coves that are packed with sunbathers in summer dot the rocky shoreline. The tidal pools here are always a source of amazement, particularly for children, who enjoy scrambling around looking for tiny sea creatures. Other amenities along the promenade include a maze, a mini-golf course, outdoor gyms and children’s playgrounds.

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Sea Point Swimming Pool

⌂ Beach Rd §(021) 434-3341 # Oct–Apr: 7am–7pm daily; May–Sep: 9am–5pm daily ¢ Only in bad weather

Probably the city’s most distinctive landmark when viewed from the lofty heights of Table Mountain, the 55,000- seater Cape Town Stadium was custom built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and hosted eight games in the tournament, including the semi-final between Uruguay and the Netherlands. Today, the stadium is the home ground of two sides in the South Africa premier football league, Ajax Cape Town and Cape Town City, and has also hosted the South African leg of the annual rugby Sevens World Series. It is also the city’s top concert venue, with previous performers including the likes of Lady Gaga and U2. Despite this, the stadium has run at a massive loss ever since its construction, and is regarded by many Capetonians as a burden on the taxpayer that should be torn down.

Offering fine views skywards to Signal Hill and Lion’s Head, Greenpoint Park and Biodiversity Garden occupies 12.5 ha (31 acres) of common land that King George V donated to the people of Cape Town for recreational purposes in 1923. The area was redeveloped as a biodiversity garden in conjunction with the neighbouring Cape Town Stadium, and is now the city’s most important central green area, attracting a medley of picnicking families, puffing joggers and nature lovers.

Centred on a lily-covered artificial lake fed by the same springs that encouraged Jan Van Riebeeck to establish Cape Town in 1652, the park is planted with a variety of habitats indigenous to the Western Cape, including renosterveld, strandveld and various types of fynbos. Other features include a scattered menagerie of bird and other animal sculptures made from cut-out steel, beads and wire, and a well-labelled section dedicated to medicinal plants and their traditional uses.

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