The 8 best scenic drives around Cape Town, ranked
A narrow coastal road carved into a cliff face high above the Atlantic on the Cape Peninsula
Eight coastal roads and mountain passes within two hours of the city, ranked by the drive itself rather than the destination, with distances, driving times and the honest catch on each.
What makes a drive rank here
This ranks the road, not what is at the end of it. A drive earns a high place if the tarmac itself is the reason you went: gradient, corners, sea or mountain immediately outside the window, and somewhere to pull over and look. That rules out the N1 through the Hex River Valley, which is spectacular but is a motorway you cannot stop on, and it rules out most winelands approach roads, which are flat and pretty rather than dramatic. All eight below can be driven in a normal hire car; none needs high clearance, though two are gravel-adjacent and one is genuinely narrow.
Practicalities that apply across the list: fill up before you start, because fuel stations on the passes are rare and card acceptance is normal but not universal at rural pumps. Drive in daylight, both for the view and because unlit mountain roads with no barriers punish mistakes. Baboons sit on the road on the Peninsula routes and will not move for a hooter. Weather closes two of these drives without warning — high wind and rockfall on the coastal cliffs, and snow on the interior passes a few days a winter. Check road status with the relevant roads authority or toll operator on the morning.
1. Chapman's Peak Drive, Hout Bay to Noordhoek
Nine kilometres, 114 curves, cut into the interface between Cape granite and sandstone with the road hanging directly over the Atlantic for most of its length. It is the most photographed stretch of tar in South Africa and it deserves it: the sequence coming south from Hout Bay, where the cliff overhangs the carriageway and Noordhoek's long beach opens ahead, has no equal in the region. Drive it slowly, use the marked viewpoints rather than stopping on the road, and allow 25-35 minutes for what a commuter does in twelve.
It is a toll road, and the rate is set by the concession operator and revised periodically, so check the official Chapman's Peak Drive channels for the current per-car charge and any closure notices before you set off. The road closes in high winds, heavy rain and after rockfall, sometimes for days. Go at either end of the day — the light is better and the tour buses are not there. If it is closed, the alternative route between Hout Bay and Noordhoek is Ou Kaapse Weg, which is number five on this list, so the day is not lost.
2. Clarence Drive, Gordon's Bay to Kleinmond (R44)
The best drive in the Western Cape that most visitors never do. From Gordon's Bay the R44 runs about 35 kilometres along the eastern shore of False Bay, carved into the Kogelberg mountains, with the road switching between cliff ledges and sea-level curves at Rooi-Els and Pringle Bay. It is free, wider than Chapman's Peak, and longer, and between June and November you can pull into the roadside bays and watch southern right whales in the bay below without leaving the car. Allow 45 minutes to Kleinmond with stops, more if the whales are in.
It is the natural approach to Hermanus from the city, adding about 30 minutes over the N2 route and worth every one of them. Break at Rooi-Els for the gravel track towards the Cape rockjumper site, or at Pringle Bay for coffee. The catch is wind: the same southeaster that batters Cape Town funnels here and can make an open car door a hazard on the exposed sections. Also watch for baboons at Rooi-Els. Drive it eastbound in the morning and westbound in late afternoon so the sun is behind you both ways.
3. Bain's Kloof Pass, Wellington to Ceres
Andrew Geddes Bain's 1853 pass over the Limietberge is a national monument and a piece of engineering theatre: 30 kilometres of narrow, largely unfenced road on a hand-built stone-packed formation, climbing through fynbos to a summit with a view back over the Berg River valley, then dropping to the Wit River where swimming pools sit under boulders beside the road. Nothing about it is modernised, which is the point. Allow 50-60 minutes plus stops, and go on a weekday, because the river pools attract a crowd on hot Saturdays.
This is a proper mountain road: single lane in places with rock overhangs, no crash barrier over long drops, and blind corners. Drive it in daylight and sober, take the yellow line seriously, and expect cyclists on the climb from Wellington. It is about 75 kilometres from central Cape Town via the N1 to Wellington, so 70-80 minutes just to the start. Combine it with Wellington's wine estates on the way out or a stop at Ceres for fruit, and you have a full and genuinely different day away from the standard Peninsula loop.
4. The Cape Point loop: Kommetjie, Scarborough, Cape of Good Hope
The M65 down the Atlantic edge of the Peninsula from Kommetjie past Misty Cliffs and Scarborough is the emptiest good drive close to the city: white sand, black rock, no development to speak of, and the Slangkop lighthouse behind you. It is about 20 kilometres to the Cape Point gate and takes half an hour without stopping, which nobody does. Misty Cliffs has roadside bays that look straight down onto breaking Atlantic swell; Scarborough has a beach and a couple of cafés and almost nothing else.
Do it as a clockwise circuit from the city: down the M3 and Ou Kaapse Weg to Kommetjie, along the M65 to the reserve, then back up the False Bay coast through Simon's Town, Fish Hoek, Kalk Bay and Muizenberg. That is roughly 130 kilometres round trip and a full day with the reserve included. The gate fee for the Cape of Good Hope section is set by SANParks and revised annually, so check current rates and gate times. Anticlockwise works too but puts the low afternoon sun in your eyes on the Atlantic leg.
5. Ou Kaapse Weg and 6. Boyes Drive
Ou Kaapse Weg, the M64 over the Silvermine section of Table Mountain National Park, is the practical mountain road every local knows: about ten kilometres of climb and descent between Tokai and Noordhoek, with a summit viewpoint that takes in the entire Noordhoek valley, Chapman's Peak and, on a clear winter morning, the whole sweep to Cape Point. It is free, fast enough to be a real route rather than a detour, and it is the fallback whenever Chapman's Peak closes. Pull into the marked viewpoint near the top rather than stopping on the verge.
Boyes Drive is the short, sharp local secret: six kilometres of road running along the mountainside above Muizenberg and Kalk Bay, one contour higher than the Main Road and coastal railway. In whale season it is arguably the best free whale-watching platform in the city, because you are looking down into False Bay at an angle that shows animals below the surface. There are a few pull-offs and a footpath up to Kalk Bay's caves. It takes ten minutes. Do it on the return leg of the Peninsula loop, in the late afternoon, with the light behind you.
7. Franschhoek Pass and 8. Helshoogte, plus what to skip
Franschhoek Pass, the R45 climbing east out of the village to around 700 metres, gives the classic Cape winelands set piece: the valley floor laid out in vine blocks below, mountains on three sides, then the Theewaterskloof dam opening on the far side. It is 11 kilometres of well-surfaced climbing with two good viewpoints, and it takes 15 minutes. Helshoogte, the R310 between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek through the Banhoek valley, is gentler but passes some of the most photogenic estate entrances in the country and links two towns you want to visit anyway.
What to skip: Signal Hill Road at sunset in peak season, when the queue of cars along the ridge means you park 800 metres from any view and the gate times are enforced unpredictably — walk up Lion's Head instead or drive it at sunrise. Skip Sir Lowry's Pass as a destination; the view from the top viewpoint over the Cape Flats is worth a five-minute stop but the N2 traffic makes the drive itself a chore. And skip driving Chapman's Peak twice on the same trip because you loved it — do Clarence Drive with the second afternoon.
Before you book
The questions people ask about Hout Bay, answered with this month’s numbers.
Yes, for nine kilometres of cliff-edge road with 114 curves and views over Hout Bay and Noordhoek. Rates are set by the concession operator and change periodically, so check the official Chapman's Peak site for the current per-car charge and for closure notices, since high wind and rockfall shut the road regularly.
Clarence Drive on the R44 between Gordon's Bay and Kleinmond, from June to November. The road sits directly above False Bay with roadside pull-offs, so you can watch southern right whales without a boat ticket. Boyes Drive above Muizenberg is the short in-city equivalent and takes ten minutes.
No. All eight are tarred and drivable in a standard hire car. Bain's Kloof is narrow and unfenced in places and demands care rather than clearance. The only real requirements are daylight, working brakes, a full tank and patience behind slower traffic on the passes.
Roughly 130 kilometres from the city centre going out over Ou Kaapse Weg to Kommetjie, down the M65 to Cape Point, and back up the False Bay coast through Simon's Town and Muizenberg. Allow a full day with the reserve, or six hours if you skip Cape Point itself.
