Free Walking Tours in Cape Town
Best walking tours in Cape Town with local guides:
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Tip-based walks through the Cape Town city centre and the Bo-Kaap
On a free walking tour in Cape Town, the price is yours to set. Booking a place on GuruWalk costs nothing and needs no credit card, and at the end you give the guide what you think the walk deserved.
Many of Cape Town's walks tell the city's history in the centre, between Greenmarket Square, St George's Cathedral, the Iziko Slave Lodge and the Company's Gardens, on a typical route of about 2.9 kilometres, and some cross into the colourful streets of the Bo-Kaap. 16 local guides run them in about two hours on average, and walkers have given the city's free tours 4.8 out of 5 in more than 2,750 reviews.
Choosing between the Bo-Kaap, apartheid history and Kirstenbosch in Cape Town
From colonisation to freedom in Cape Town's centre
The themes of Cape Town's essential tours include the Khoekhoen people, slavery at the Cape, colonisation, apartheid and its fall. Most of the time they stay in the centre, around Church Square, Greenmarket Square, the Iziko Slave Lodge and the Castle of Good Hope, and walkers have reviewed them 1,642 times for an average of 4.8 out of 5. Several also stop at the District Six Museum and City Hall, and some add the Bo-Kaap, so with 9 free walking tours in this group it is worth reading the stops of each before you book.
Cape Town's Bo-Kaap: mosques and colourful streets
The Bo-Kaap, with its mosques and colourful streets, is where several of Cape Town's cultural tours go, a group rated 4.9 out of 5 in 1,597 reviews. Some walk Chiappini Street and Rose Street, past the Auwal Masjid, a landmark of the history of Islam at the Cape, and the Atlas Trading Company, and some end at the Bo-Kaap Museum. Others take on the forced removals of District Six, or the V&A Waterfront.
Apartheid to democracy, from St George's Cathedral to the Mandela Rhodes Building
Protest, faith and power are the threads of Cape Town's political tours, which trace the road from colonialism and apartheid to democracy. At Greenmarket Square the guides tell the story of the Purple Rain protest. At St George's Cathedral it is Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the struggle for justice, and from there the walks reach the Mandela Rhodes Building, often by way of the Iziko Slave Lodge and Church Square. Some carry the story past liberation, into corruption.
Kirstenbosch and the Company's Garden on foot
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is the setting for some of Cape Town's nature tours, which list Skeleton Gorge, Nursery Ravine and the Boomslang canopy walkway among their stops. Closer to the centre, others turn the Company's Garden into a trivia walk, past the Iziko South African Museum and the Planetarium.
A Cape Town city-centre route, from Greenmarket Square to Church Square
A typical Cape Town walking route covers about 2.9 kilometres, and the tours last from an hour and a quarter to two and a half hours. The routes differ, but the city-centre ones keep returning to these eight places, listed in the order they usually come:
- Greenmarket Square, a historic marketplace linked to the anti-apartheid struggle.
- St George's Cathedral, where guides talk about faith during apartheid and the legacy of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
- Auwal Masjid, a stop on many Bo-Kaap walks, for the history of Islam at the Cape.
- Iziko Slave Lodge, where the enslaved people of the Cape Colony were held in colonial times.
- District Six Museum, about the community that was forcibly removed under apartheid.
- Company's Gardens, with a stop in front of the Tuynhuis, today the office of the President.
- Castle of Good Hope, the pentagonal fort built by Dutch settlers and the oldest surviving building in South Africa.
- Church Square, usually the last of these stops, for the history of slavery and colonial power.
Cape Town City Hall, where Mandela gave his first speech after his release in 1990, turns up on some tours, along with the Adderley Street Flower Market, St George's Mall, the Grand Parade and a piece of the Berlin Wall.
Some walks skip the centre entirely and head for places such as the V&A Waterfront or Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
From Heritage Square to the Bo-Kaap: before a Cape Town walk
How much do walkers tip after a Bo-Kaap walk?
Free tours in Cape Town don't have a fixed price. At the end, each person contributes to the guide the amount they consider fair based on their satisfaction. As a guideline, GuruWalk recommends between €15 and €50 per participant.
Cape Town on foot: a two-hour commitment?
Cape Town's free walks last about two hours on average. The shortest take an hour and a quarter and the longest two and a half hours.
At what hours do Cape Town's guides set out?
Through November, Cape Town's walks go out between 8:00 AM, the earliest, and 5:00 PM, the latest. The free tours in Cape Town run in English, and each one lists its own times on the booking page.
Do Cape Town walks meet at Heritage Square?
Some Cape Town free walking tours meet at Heritage Square. Meeting points vary from tour to tour: Heritage Square on Shortmarket Street and the Cape Heritage Hotel are among them, others meet on Burg Street, and the walks outside the centre have their own spots. Your booking gives the exact one.
Is Cape Town's city centre walkable without a guide?
Yes. Greenmarket Square and Church Square are public squares in the centre of Cape Town, and you can walk to them on your own. A local guide, free to book, adds the stories behind them and the places around them: who was held at the Iziko Slave Lodge and who was forced out of District Six. Groups have limited places, so reserve ahead.
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