Escape to the cape
Cape Town is one of the world's top ten holiday destinations, due to its striking Table Mountain backdrop, glorious beaches, enchanting vineyards and rugged landscapes - TheMoveChannel looks at what it has to offer visitors and potential second home owners...
Cape Town has a lively cultural scene, particularly when it comes to music and dining. Cape Grace on the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, (that is Alfred not Albert), has a strong West Coast influence, with fresh local ingredients such as the dahnia fried prawn salad and the catch of the day.
One of the Cape's most characteristic climactic phenomena is the famous Cape Doctor, a southeasterly wind that buffets the Cape and lays Table Mountain's famous ‘tablecloth' - a layer of cloud that covers the City Bowl.
It can be a welcome breeze in summer, but it can also be a wild gale, particularly in spring. When it really blows you know you're clinging to a peninsula at the Southern end of Africa and there's nothing between you and Antarctica.
The Cape Point Nature Reserve is on the tip of the Cape Peninsula. The reserve has incredible natural beauty, with views over the Indian and Atlantic oceans, and can be explored on foot or by car.
Boulders Beach in Simon's Town is home to the Cape Town Penguin Sanctuary, which has a walkway so as to view the penguins without disturbing them, and a fantastic little swimming beach next door.
One of South Africa's most famous faces, Nelson Mandela, spent many years imprisoned on Robben Island. Today, you can take a boat tour to the island and learn about its history.
The Table Mountain Cableway allows you to zip up the front face of the Mountain and experience breathtaking views across Cape Town and the scenic peninsula. The car rotates 360 degrees as you ascend the mountain and at the summit there is a restaurant, cocktail bar and souvenir shop.
Back on lower ground, Green Market Square is a vibrant market place in the Centre of Cape Town, selling African jewellery and clothing.
Both Cape Town and the Western Cape offer an eclectic choice of homes and investments, from beach front bungalows and large family homes in the leafy suburbs, through to off-plan designer penthouse apartments in the city and cottages in the wine-lands.
Space Home Search & Relocation is a property search company based in Cape Town, which offers a search and home relocation service for people wishing to move to, or invest in, the Western Cape.
Mandela Rhodes Place in the heart of the Old Town has luxury one and two bed apartments overlooking an atrium packed with Bars, boutiques, restaurants and Cape Town's first city winery.
Cape Town no longer offers the LA lifestyle of flitting between locked cars and fenced houses and, alongside the huge decline in violent crime, interest in living in Cape Town's central business district has sky rocketed.
Under ten years ago, 60 per cent of Cape Town's city Centre buildings were empty, but now that number is down to just five per cent.
Picture by a glitch