Hiking Table Mountain in Cape Town

In the Cape Peninsula, we are truly spoilt for choice when it comes to hiking. Some locals spend their entire lives exploring these mountains and never see it all. Some hikes take you to a waterfall, grotto, yellowwood grove, shipwreck or spectacular viewpoint. The routes range from challenging climbs to the top of Table Mountain to leisurely strolls among the fynbos or along city beaches, and will appeal to hikers of all levels of experience – whether aspiring ramblers or diehard adventurers. For visitors, these hikes are the most easily accessible.

1. Lions Head

This short hike (about an hour up in general), gives a fantastic panoramic view of the city and beaches. Just a five-minute drive from the city’s centre, Lions Head is perfect for a sunrise or sunset hike. The full moon hikes are exceptionally popular too.
 

2. Table Mountain
If you want to skip the cable car there are a range of different routes you can take to get up top on the flat top. The most direct route is up Platteklip Gorge, which is also arguably the most challenging one. India Venster has great views of the city all the way up and then there are alternative routes up from Camps Bay and Kirstenbosch too. Just remember, what goes up must come down. 

3. Silvermine
A 20-minute drive from the city centre, Silvermine Nature Reserve is a popular spot for walking and hiking, as well as bird-watching, picnicking, and mountain biking. There are several short, easy-to-manage hiking trails that offer beautiful views of the landscape from False Bay to Cape Point. One such trail is the hike to Elephant’s Eye, a large cave so-named because the mountain looks like the shape of an elephant’s head and the cave the eye.

4. Pipe track walk

This walk starts at the junction of Tafelberg Road and Kloof Nek. The Pipe Track is precisely what it says: a path constructed to service a pipeline running below the series of peaks known as the Twelve Apostles. This pipeline was built to carry water from Disa Gorge in Table Mountain’s Back Table, via the Woodhead Tunnel through the mountain in Slangolie Ravine, to the Molteno Reservoir in Oranjezicht to help slake the thirst of the booming, late 19th century Cape Town.

In several places the path is very stony, but it is an easily accessible and popular walk, with many locals making regular use of certain sections; it is part of the Atlantic seaboard way of life.

5. Skeleton Gorge to Maclear’s Beacon: The Smuts Track

The Smuts Track is one of the most popular walks on Table Mountain, and especially in summer when the Afromontane forest offers shade almost all the way up skeleton Gorge, the toughest section. The climb is steep and unrelenting, although not difficult or requiring more than an ability to climb a wooden ladder and negotiate a few rocky steps. However, many people underestimate the effort required, particularly when they go all the way to Maclear's Beacon. Be prepared; don't make the same mistake.

The walk starts in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, but the heart of this route begins at the intersection of Skeleton Gorge and the Contour Path. The first 40 to 75 minutes is spent in the forest climbing log and stone steps. About two-thirds of the way up a series of wooden ladders eases the way over steep rocks, which can be slippery when, wet.