HOW MUCH WE SPENT IN CAPETOWN SOUTH AFRICA
In South Africa the US dollar is strong. We were able to buy more with our money then we could at home. Unfortunately, we could not pack more into our bags so all those great deals are remaining behind.
We only used Uber two times, to and from the airport. We also found that renting a car for the day and heading out to Cape of Good Hope ($16) was much less than riding in a tour bus ($60 per person). We even got the added benefit of meeting local officers that were pulling all cars over to check their drivers licences. My amazing partner is not the most amazing driver when it comes to a clutch car on the wrong side of the road. I am always up for a challenge so I took on the driving responsibilities. Unfortunately, I had put my drivers licence in the hotel room safe (thinking that Bud was going to drive). So I got a lecture from a South African officer while his 3 comrades looked on (extremely intimidating). We agreed that Bud would drive from that point on, so they let us go with stern looks. We left the scene with Bud doing the hurky jerky clutch and me feeling thankful that we weren't in more trouble.
We were able to eat real well in Capetown. There are a large variety of restaurants and fast food. We saw more KFC there then I have ever seen in the US. We had chosen to stay in a hotel this time so we did not have a kitchen so we could not cook for ourselves. The hotel came with a free breakfast in the morning. We were delightfully surprised when we found out that it was a very well done buffet breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, yogurt, fresh juice and many more options. That alone saved us a fair amount of money each day.
We had found our hotel accommodation on a site called Agoda.com. Being that it is winter here in South Africa and tourism is low, we were able to get a great deal on a room for only $31 a night. The hotel was nothing fancy and had seen better days but it was very clean and the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. It also happened to be right in the center of town which made for easy walking to the tourist sites.
We did a lot of sightseeing and were able to go to a few museums. Capetown has a great hop on hop off tourist bus that drives around in several of its neighborhoods. That made for a fairly inexpensive way to get our bearings of the city and see the sights. We would later return to some of the sights that we wanted to spend more time at.
All in all we found Capetown a great place to visit if you are traveling on a budget. Please feel free to ask questions if I have forgotten anything. Beth
