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travel14 March 20261 min read

What twelve days in Cape Town actually cost

Not a budget breakdown — just an honest one. What I'd do again, what I wouldn't, and the one street I went back to twice.

Neké Akua in a pink slip dress against the split yellow-and-magenta walls of Bo-Kaap, Cape Town.

The Bo-Kaap mornings

I went to Cape Town expecting Table Mountain and left thinking about a street of pastel houses instead. Bo-Kaap in the early morning, before the tour groups arrive, is the best free thing I did on the whole trip — cobblestones still wet, shutters just opening, nobody asking me to move for a photo.

Neké Akua in a pink dress beside a white staircase against a magenta Bo-Kaap wall.

The expensive parts were the parts I'd planned for: the safari add-on, the good dinner overlooking the water. The cheap parts were the parts I didn't expect to love — a second coffee just to sit longer, the walk back instead of a cab. If I went again I'd budget less for things and more for time.

  • Cape Town
  • South Africa
  • budget

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