Cape Town is the best place to go on a long distance vacation – from your wallet’s perspective.
This is the finding of the latest Post Office Holiday Report, which gives South Africa‘Mother City’ top spot for a cheap getaway to a far-flung destination ahead of 32 other popular locations, including Tokyo in JapanSharm el-Sheikh in Egyptand FloridaUSA.
The report covers a basket of costs including meals at restaurants, a pint of beer, bottle of water, sunscreen and a cup of coffee. It’s clearly a good time to go, especially with sterling thriving against the South African rand – a pound is now worth 23 rand, a third more than seven years ago.
In addition, you can book a budget flight with the Norwegian airline Norse Atlantic. Return rates from London starting from as little as £481 while costing around £920 British Airways.
Here we visit Cape Town and compare the costs with another warm, popular winter destination: Miami in Florida.
Choose between breathtaking Cape Town and Table Mountain…
… and Miami’s vibrant South Beach
To get there
It’s an 11 hour 35 minute flight from London to Cape Town – to Miami it’s just over ten hours. But the time difference with South Africa is only two hours ahead, while it is five hours behind in Florida, so there is less flightiness.
Cape Town: London Gatwick to Cape Town from £481 return (flynorse.com).
Miami: London Heathrow to Miami from £486 return (virginatlantic.com).
Car rental
Since public transport in South Africa can be difficult, it definitely makes sense to rent a car.
Cape Town: Six-day hire of a Volkswagen Polo from £73 (europcar.co.uk).
Miami: Six day car hire from £446 (sixt.co.uk).
Eating out
For such a cosmopolitan, internationally renowned city, Cape Town is surprisingly cheap, even at the popular V&A Waterfront complex and the lively Time Out Market in the Old Power Station, a buzzing communal food hall with 13 kitchens run by celebrated local chefs .
Cape Town: 12-inch pizza £9.50; 500g T-bone steak £13.60.
Miami: Pizza £14; 500g ribeye steak £62.
Enjoy a drink
Make a stop for the V&A Waterfront complex, which is home to some brilliant bars, including Den Anker, with a lovely terrace overlooking Table Mountain, and Quay 4, an ever-popular tavern serving local beer and cheap Southern -African wines served by the glass and bottle. Beyond the V&A and the Time Out market – where the Cultivar wine bar recently opened with 120 different bottles of wine – head to the lively bars on Long Street in the city centre.
Cape Town: A pint of local lager (Brewers) £2.10; a glass of crisp chenin blanc wine £2.15, or £7.50 for a bottle.
Miami: Bottle of Peroni beer £7; glass of house white wine £11.
Classic sights
You can take a gondola to the top of Table Mountain – or hike up if you prefer
You are spoiled for choice for things to do in Cape Town: days out on the beach, trips to the top of Table Mountain, tours to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was for 18 years in prison), among others. There is also a lot going on in Miami, but you pay more for most excursions.
Cape Town: Table Mountain return cable cars £16.80; ferry/tours from Robben Island £27.20.
Miami: An eight-hour tour of the Everglades wetlands preserve on an airboat costs £90.
Hotels
The President Spa Hotel in Bantry Bay has double beds from £142
Expect excellent value in South Africa, even at seaside hotels in and around Cape Town.
Cape Town: Ten minutes by taxi from the V&A Waterfront, the President spa hotel, a member of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts group, is located in Bantry Bay with large, immaculate rooms. Double from £142 (thepresidenthotel.co.za).
Miami: Doubles from £199 at the well-situated, similarly standard Royal Palm South Beach Miami (marriott.com).
Game trips
A penguin walks along Boulders Beach in South Africa
The marine life of the South Atlantic is incredible, with whales inshore, penguin colonies, dolphins and seals.
Cape Town: See a spectacular colony of endangered African penguins at Boulders Beach; entry £8.60 (bouldersbeach.net) or whale watching for free from the shore at Hermanus.
Miami: Difficult to make a direct comparison, although tickets to Miami Zoo cost £18.10.
Vineyard visits
A vineyard in the famous Stellenbosch region outside Cape Town
Cape Town: At the Jordaan estate, a first-class lunch costs £20 per head, with a bottle of house wine for £12; tours with wine tastings from £30 (jordanwines.com).
Miami: Tours of Miami’s Schnebly Redland’s Winery, including wine tastings, from £36pp.
The score
It’s far from a perfect science, but adding up the cost of flights to both Cape Town and Miami, a rental car (for a week), a steak dinner with two glasses of wine (every day for a week ), a trip to Robben Island/Everglades, accommodation at a posh four-star hotel (for a week), a wildlife excursion, plus a vineyard visit, the score worked out like this…
Cape Town: £1,206 per person.
Miami: £2,138 per person.
The verdict
It’s a rough comparison – and some travelers may spend slightly more, or less, depending on preferences – but as a rule of thumb, a holiday in South Africa, taking one of the new Norwegian flights, can cost around half the price of a trip to Florida.
With Cape Town’s summer running from now until March, when temperatures average 28Cnow is a good time to go.
Travel facts
Norse Atlantic flies from Gatwick to Cape Town from £498 return (flynorse.com). For more information: southafrica.net, wesgro.co.za, whalewatchsa.com, sidecars.co.za.
