Dubai - South Africa

leonidas83

Hello guys,

Travelling to Dubai at the end of October for a few days & then onto South Africa(Capetown) for two weeks. Just seeing does anybody have any good advice concerning either of these countries. (Things to look out, good attractions, sites, etc.)

Have a good idea already of what to look out for & what things to do already but just seeing could anyone give me a first hand perspective of either of these countries.

Any advice is much appreciated.

sarkozy

There's a few threads in this section if you search for them.

Can't tell you about Dubai (only been to Abu Dhabi). I can say some things about Cape Town.

The weather ought to be OK as they're coming out of winter, but it can be changeable. Cape Town by day is probably SA's safest large city, if you stick to the 'city bowl'/commercial or government districts. For example, if you're staying somewhere in the bowl and are getting a bus or train in from the airport, it's fine to walk there, especially in a group of two or more. By night, not knowing the place, you can walk safely in the bowl along Long Street and Kloof Street and the streets off those streets. Anywhere else further out, call for a taxi.

If you have two weeks, I'd suggest at least 4-5 days to do Cape Town itself justice. You can decide to extend that if it means spending more time hiking Table Mountain and exploring the cape itself. In Cape Town, there's amazing eating in the Long Street/Green Square/Bowl area (but do ask about other places to eat that are reachable by taxi). I think the Waterfront is overrated - it's just a shopping centre. But you go there to get to Robben Island - and for this, it's best to book in advance (this can be done online). If you're bored in the cinema, there's a good arthouse cinema on Kloof Street and a big cineplex in the Waterfront.

The District 6 museum is worth a stop. The red hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus is pretty good, but make sure you do the long one that goes out to the Cape and Hout Bay. Or do both. Exploring the Bo Kaap neighbourhood is well worth it. Then you've got Table Mountain (which I actually never got up myself) - spectacular. And you've got a proper tour of the cape - I did one which included a cycling segment which was really nice (by then I'd spent over a year in Lesotho away from home and the Atlantic and the Cape felt like home, except for all the baboons and ostriches). I never made it into the Botanic Gardens, but it's meant to be genuinely spectacular and the area it's in - Constantia - is quite pretty. And there's lots of live music and arts going on in CT, so if you're into that, check it out. And if you really, really want to (I definitely didn't), you can go great white shark diving and visit some townships to stare at poor people. Neither appealed to me.

Generally food is very good value, and accomodation is varied, so there's loads to suit all kinds (there's some good backpackers near the top of Long St. where it meets Kloof St.

But while you're in the region, you've got to get out and see more of Western Cape. Most will recommend a wine tour in order to see Stellenboch and Franchoek, which are very pleasant places to visit, drink some wine and have excellent food. On the wine front, I learned that you're best sticking with South Africa's 'indigenous' varietals. For white, chinin blanc (which isn't strictly indigenous, but it's crisp and fruity) and for red, pinotage, which is a truly South African grape. The only other thing to do, for me, is to go for the very experimental blends. Just don't go for the 'Old World style' wines - they always disappoint. All the sparkling wines are good (and their Reisling is DRYYY).

So that's one option. Another, time permitting, is to go north along the coast towards Namibia and into the southern tip of the Namib desert, which stretches right from the Atlantic ocean hundreds of miles inland. There's lots to write about all the interesting natural beauty and animals you can encounter there and the coast has some particularly lovely bays and coves.

You'll pass through more of the real country that way, too, which is well worth doing because central Cape Town is a bubble.

One last word - SA fast food/food chains - there's actually some quite good chains worth checking out. Nandos - now people in Ireland know what it is, and it's nearly as good as the real thing. Steers is their Supermacs, and actually it's quite good for what it is. Spur is an American steak house chain, I wouldn't bother. Kauai is a health-food style fast food place that does really nice ostrich burgers. Lovely with a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. Ocean Basket is mediocre fast food. And Vida e Caffe is a good Portuguese/Brazilian-style coffee chain. Try all the beers. Windhoek is, I think, especially good, but Hansa is good, and Castle is more standard. CT has some micro-brews, too.

And it'd keep an eye out for a proper braai (barbecue) - if you're hostelling, these should be happening.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

leonidas83

sarkozy wrote: »

There's a few threads in this section if you search for them.

Can't tell you about Dubai (only been to Abu Dhabi). I can say some things about Cape Town.

The weather ought to be OK as they're coming out of winter, but it can be changeable. Cape Town by day is probably SA's safest large city, if you stick to the 'city bowl'/commercial or government districts. For example, if you're staying somewhere in the bowl and are getting a bus or train in from the airport, it's fine to walk there, especially in a group of two or more. By night, not knowing the place, you can walk safely in the bowl along Long Street and Kloof Street and the streets off those streets. Anywhere else further out, call for a taxi.

If you have two weeks, I'd suggest at least 4-5 days to do Cape Town itself justice. You can decide to extend that if it means spending more time hiking Table Mountain and exploring the cape itself. In Cape Town, there's amazing eating in the Long Street/Green Square/Bowl area (but do ask about other places to eat that are reachable by taxi). I think the Waterfront is overrated - it's just a shopping centre. But you go there to get to Robben Island - and for this, it's best to book in advance (this can be done online). If you're bored in the cinema, there's a good arthouse cinema on Kloof Street and a big cineplex in the Waterfront.

The District 6 museum is worth a stop. The red hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus is pretty good, but make sure you do the long one that goes out to the Cape and Hout Bay. Or do both. Exploring the Bo Kaap neighbourhood is well worth it. Then you've got Table Mountain (which I actually never got up myself) - spectacular. And you've got a proper tour of the cape - I did one which included a cycling segment which was really nice (by then I'd spent over a year in Lesotho away from home and the Atlantic and the Cape felt like home, except for all the baboons and ostriches). I never made it into the Botanic Gardens, but it's meant to be genuinely spectacular and the area it's in - Constantia - is quite pretty. And there's lots of live music and arts going on in CT, so if you're into that, check it out. And if you really, really want to (I definitely didn't), you can go great white shark diving and visit some townships to stare at poor people. Neither appealed to me.

Generally food is very good value, and accomodation is varied, so there's loads to suit all kinds (there's some good backpackers near the top of Long St. where it meets Kloof St.

But while you're in the region, you've got to get out and see more of Western Cape. Most will recommend a wine tour in order to see Stellenboch and Franchoek, which are very pleasant places to visit, drink some wine and have excellent food. On the wine front, I learned that you're best sticking with South Africa's 'indigenous' varietals. For white, chinin blanc (which isn't strictly indigenous, but it's crisp and fruity) and for red, pinotage, which is a truly South African grape. The only other thing to do, for me, is to go for the very experimental blends. Just don't go for the 'Old World style' wines - they always disappoint. All the sparkling wines are good (and their Reisling is DRYYY).

So that's one option. Another, time permitting, is to go north along the coast towards Namibia and into the southern tip of the Namib desert, which stretches right from the Atlantic ocean hundreds of miles inland. There's lots to write about all the interesting natural beauty and animals you can encounter there and the coast has some particularly lovely bays and coves.

You'll pass through more of the real country that way, too, which is well worth doing because central Cape Town is a bubble.

One last word - SA fast food/food chains - there's actually some quite good chains worth checking out. Nandos - now people in Ireland know what it is, and it's nearly as good as the real thing. Steers is their Supermacs, and actually it's quite good for what it is. Spur is an American steak house chain, I wouldn't bother. Kauai is a health-food style fast food place that does really nice ostrich burgers. Lovely with a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. Ocean Basket is mediocre fast food. And Vida e Caffe is a good Portuguese/Brazilian-style coffee chain. Try all the beers. Windhoek is, I think, especially good, but Hansa is good, and Castle is more standard. CT has some micro-brews, too.

And it'd keep an eye out for a proper braai (barbecue) - if you're hostelling, these should be happening.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

Thanks very much for your detailed reply, we plan on going shark diving, doing a safari, wine tasting, taking in the view from table mountain & visiting robben island while in Capetown but you've given me much to think about. Cheers

sillysocks

Have visited both places, but at different times of the year to when you're going, but here's a few suggestions.

In Dubai there's a great shopping centre called Ibn Battuta. When I say 'great' its not the biggest in Dubai, and probably not the best shopping but its a good experience. They basically have the shopping centre split into areas and each one is decorated to look like an area in the world, and its done amazingly well (as most things in Dubai are!). There's an Ice Bar in another shopping centre which is a nice novelty too (especially when we were there as it was 50 degrees outside and had to get fully into furs etc for the Ice Bar!). There's the indoor skiing in the Mall of the Emirates which we didn't do so can't comment on it. Beaches are great for some relaxation too.
There's no real city centre in Dubai that you can stroll around, most places involve hopping in a taxi direct to where you want to go but its fairly easy get around. If you are staying in a hotel email them and find out about the price of a transfer from the airport - most do it, and do it in really snazzy cars for not much more than the price of a taxi. The arrivals area can be a bit overwhelming if you're arriving on your own for the first time - not majorily bad but a lot nicer to be met by the hotel and whisked away!

South Africa is gorgeous. Would definitely recommend either a long day trip or an overnight in Hermanus - not too far from Capetown. A lovely little seaside place. Not sure what whale watching is like that time of year but when we were there you could just sit on the grass cliffs watching the whales with cool busking music in the background. Was great!

If you fancied safari and depending on budget you could get an internal flight to Port Elizabeth and go to Gorah Camp - absolutely amazing but very pricey. You get all meals included so wouldn't really spend much on top of the base price but still dear enough. Worth every penny if you could stretch to it though.
We stayed near the Waterfront and liked wandering around there in the evenings for restaurants etc. It felt very safe around there.

The Garden Route is very easy to drive around, we hired a car and drove from Capetown to Port Elizabeth with stops along the way. Would recommend that if it was an option.

sarkozy

Yeah, if you're driving and have time, you can definitely drive to PE, or northwards towards the Drakensberg (basically the south face of Lesotho) and then towards Durban. Or you can get an internal flight (cheaper if booked in advance) to Durban (where it'll be sub-tropical) and go to Hluhluwe national game reserve - I went there. This way, you can see the big 5 in a few hours without having to wait around doing nothing for ages. And then you can hop over to the coast for some beach action. Alternatively, there's some great B&Bs/hostels and hotels in Swaziland where you'll see all hippos, and stuff (my wife did this while I looked after the homestead in Lesotho).

If you're not driving and fancy it, Intercape provides a really good bus service to major and regional destinations. They now even have a service to Uganda!

mannika

Desert Safari in Dubai is good fun, dune bashing followed by a traditional meal and entertainment in the desert about 30e each. The big Mosque in Abu Dhabi is worth a look, only if you have time its bout an hour from Dubai, its the 2nd largest in the world. If you go that far your pretty close to Ferrari world and the F1 track.
In Dubai the old city is worth a look there is a museum in Bastakiya pass through the souks and you can get an abra (small boat) across the creek for 1 dirham about 20cents. This brings you to the spice and gold souk. For new Dubai, Dubai Mall is right beside the burj Kalifa(the big one) its worth a look and at night every 30minutes the fountains go off. there is an aquarium in the mall. (its still just a mall but its huge). There are two water parks, wild wadi and atlantis, weather is nice for them now, you can swim with dolphins at Atlantis. The madinat Jumeriah is also nice lots of bars and restaurants and a nice view of the burj al arab (7star hotel) Enjoy!