A pleasant stroll through the The Company's Garden will pop you out at Wale Street, at which point you’ll want to turn right. Follow the main road right beyond the Slave Lodge down Bureau Street, Spin Street and onto Albertus Street. Watch out for locals shouting out to friends and family in the Magistrates Court here.
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After 5 minutes or so down Albertus Street you should see the District Six Museum straight ahead of you. After exploring this museum, head right along Castle Street until you reach the Castle of Good Hope on your right. Once you’ve finished exploring there, head back into town along Darling Street towards and beyond the impressive City Hall. Continue along this road until it becomes the much narrower Shortmarket Street.
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Following Shortmarket street, you’ll soon reach Greenmarket Square and King's Cafe, should you fancy a drink or a bite to eat. Otherwise, from here you should head left down long street and right at Wale Street after a few blocks. Follow Wale Street for 10 or so minutes and you’ll find yourself climbing up into the colourful neighborhood of Bo-Kaap.
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Once in Bo-Kaap, you’ll want to head right over a couple of blocks to Longmarket Street, which you can then turn left onto and hike up. It’s a steep walk up, but it shouldn’t take any longer than 10 to 15 minutes. Once this road runs out, you’ll want to head a little farther up the hill using the trails following alongside a barbed wire fence. Look for the obvious gap in the barbed wire that will lead you to The Noon Guns.
This is a downtown historical walk that takes you to some of Cape Town's most famous attractions in the Bowl area. Starting at The Company's Garden and finishing at The Noon Guns, put on some sturdy enough shoes and give yourself 3 to 4 hours to complete this walk and all the interesting attractions along the way.
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Top Tips
Although this walk doesn’t cover too many kilometres, if you plan on going into all the attractions listed you can expect it to be a good half-day’s excursion.
Keep your wits about you when climbing up through Bo-Kaap and to The Noon Guns. It can get quite quiet as you climb higher up Signal Hill.
Consider timing the walk so that you can have lunch at the pleasant Greenmarket Square.
If you have a tip about Cape Town Walk 1 and would like to share that information with the community, contact [email protected] and we’ll post it right here in the directory.
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