The most popular time for visitors is the summer from October to March, though some visitors from more temperate climates might find the height of summer (December and January) uncomfortably hot. The city also becomes very crowded then as the local holidaymakers descend on the city for their summer school holidays. The most popular tourist attractions are, in order of popularity: The Victoria & Alfred waterfront, a popular shopping venue with thousands of shops, fine hotels, a world-class marina and an aquarium; Table Mountain, which can be accessed either by walking or a cable car; Signal Hill with the Noon gun, Cape Point; and Boulders Beach, home to a colony of penguins. The Cape Peninsula and the region around Cape Town offer wonderful walking and hiking opportunities from right in the middle of the city where the mountains can be accessed very easily (such as Lion's Head and Devil's Peak) to further afield in the surrounding mountain ranges.

Boat trips can be undertaken from the Victoria & Alfred marina to visit Robben Island. It is a well known spot for windsurfers/kitesurfing, mainly in the summer seasons (September to February).

Other boat trips can be undertaken from Simonstown (the main South African naval base) on the False Bay coast to Seal Island and Cape Point and from Hout Bay, a fishing harbour on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, to Duiker Island which has a population of 6000 seals in breeding season dropping to 1500 seals in the off season.

One of the world's largest population of whales in the breeding season (August to November) can be found off the coast of the Cape Peninsula and the surrounding coast of the Western Cape. Many local observation points allow sightings from close by.