Audio walking tours are a great way for visitors to explore selected attractions in the Mother City in their own time. All you need is the mobile app for iPhones and Android devices. It uses your location to play audio automatically and includes offline maps. Just put on your headphones and you’re ready to explore.
Download the VoiceMap App when visiting Groot Constantia, Cape Point, V&A Waterfront, and Table Mountain
What you need
· You’ll need a smartphone or tablet, an internet connection (for download only), and a pair of earphones.
· Free earphones are available from the Information Centre. Please ask one of our friendly visitor service staff for a pair.
· Free Wifi is also available. Please ask our visitor service staff for the Wifi password.
If you’re on your preferred device, download the VoiceMap App here (Apple) or here (Android).
How it works
1. First, download and install the VoiceMap app.
2. Sign up using Facebook or email.
3. Select Cape Town.
4. Select and download your desired free tour
5. Once the tour has finished downloading, plug in your headphones and tap Start.
VoiceMap works offline and uses GPS to play audio automatically, at the right time and place. So, you can put your device away and focus on your surroundings. If you do wander off course, they’ll let you know. And you can always take a quick look at the map on your screen.
Cape Point
Cape Point Audio Tour
Cape Point has a free audio tour that provides an all-encompassing sensory experience, while you’re exploring the beauty of this iconic site.
The audio tour, created by VoiceMap, gives fascinating facts — including maritime history, fauna, flora, Cape Point legends and some of the key points of interest. It’s available via the iPhone App store or the Google Play store for Android and here’s a step-by-step guide to downloading the app.
IMPORTANT: Download the app BEFORE visiting Cape Point, as the cellular signal in the park fluctuates.
Groot Constantia
The oldest wine farm in South Africa, Groot Constantia, has three audio tours to guide visitors around its historic heart – all you need to do is download the free app, and take your cell phone.
Museum Audio Guide: Home to South African Wine
This audio guide brings Groot Constantia’s historic precinct to life, taking you back to the complex time at the root of South African winemaking.
You’ll meet Thys van der Merwe, who has made the estate’s inheritance his life’s work. There are adventurers and brilliant businesspeople along the way too, as well as exiled rebels and slaves from both Africa and Asia. They may have been brought here against their will, but they helped make Groot Constantia what it is today.
You’ll also hear the accounts of travellers like you. This has been one of Cape Town’s foremost destinations for centuries, and the men and women who visited the estate left behind vivid descriptions that highlight what has changed, but also how much has stayed the same.
**The majority of this tour is inside the Manor House, and you’ll need to present a Visitors Route ticket at its entrance. You can purchase these online, through Webtickets, or at a number of places at Groot Constantia.**
Vineyard Audio Guide: Deep Roots and Trade Routes
Take a stroll through some of the Cape’s most picturesque vineyards and meet the cast of grapes that give Groot Constantia’s wine so much personality. They’re a competitive bunch, and while Monsieur de Frontignan likes to reminisce about the glory of his youth, Pinotage and Ms Sauvignon Blanc are all about triumphing at international wine shows.
Nobody knows them better than Floricius Beukes, the estate’s viticulturist. He’ll join you on this playful walk, which will delight visitors of all ages – even those who aren’t yet old enough for their first glass of wine.
Cellar Audio Guide: From Berry to Barrel to Bottle
Follow Groot Constantia’s grapes on their journey through the cellar, where they get destemmed, pressed, pumped over, and left at the mercy of yeast, to emerge as some of the world’s finest wines.
You’ll set sail on global trade routes, meet Boela Gerber, the head winemaker here, and finish the tour thirsty, with a much keener appreciation for the flavours in your glass.
Table Mountain Cableway
Learn about the flora and fauna of the summit, at your own pace, with their free Audio Tour. Download the free application to your mobile device – using their free Wi-Fi – plug in your earphones and begin your self-guided tour at the Lower Cable Station.
The audio tour starts at the Lower Cable Station – where you can download the VoiceMap application for free using our Wi-Fi. And if you’re standing in a ticket or cable car queue, it’ll keep you entertained before welcoming you to the Upper Cable Station, where your hour-long audio exploration begins.
For a step-by-step guide on how to download the VoiceMap application to your mobile device, click here.
V&A Waterfront
Reinventing the Tavern of the Seas
On this audio walking tour, you’ll find answers to these questions in unusual objects like shipping containers and unfinished highways. You’ll learn about the humble beginnings of the V&A Waterfront, starting in 1989 with Ferryman’s Tavern, and meet some of the characters who’ve helped shape its evolution.
Navigate currents of history and culture into the present, and whether this is your first time at the V&A Waterfront, or your hundred and first, this walking tour will open your eyes to hidden traces of the past, the complex dance of daily operations, and the exciting opportunities of the future.
This hour tour starts at the V&A Waterfront Information Centre and finishes at the Zeitz MOCAA in the Silo District.
Robben Island
Robben Island Tour Guide App
Robben Island Museum has launched their very own Android app which features all the archival content captured by Google.
“In their own words” is a collection of stories from former political prisoners, held at Robben Island. Google also takes visitors inside the cottage that Pan Africanist Congress leader Robert Sobukwe called home during his six-year stint on the island.
Robben Island Museum’s inclusion in the Google’s Heritage Collection brings the story of those who endured, and told on the island to life in pictures, letters, and video and should serve as testimony to the next generation.
Explore the museum through an interactive historical timeline, get interesting information on 23 points of interest on the island as well as view various tours.
If you’re on your preferred device, download the tour here (Apple) or here (Android) and search for Robben Island Museum Tour.
Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden
Kirstenbosch Guided Walking Tours
While Kirstenbosch does not offer an Audio Tour, they do have free guided walking tours from Monday to Saturday by real people. These volunteers are experts on plants and the garden.
Free guided tours of the Garden leave from the Visitors’ Centre (Gate 1) at 10h00, 11h00 and 14h00 Monday to Friday and at 10h00 on Saturdays. Free guided tours also leave from the Garden Centre (Gate 2) at 10h45 Monday to Saturday. There are no tours on Sundays.
Tours are free but Garden entry fee applies.
All tours are 90 minutes long.
Each guide presents a unique tour taking in the highlights of the season, exploring most of the Garden while including the oldest and most famous features like the Dell.
Shuttle car tours of the Garden leave from the Visitors’ Centre (Gate 1), on the hour, daily, from 09h00 to 15h00, on fair-weather days. The shuttle car can accommodate a maximum of 7 passengers.
Tickets for the Shuttle Car Tours cost R80 per person, additional to Garden entry fee. Tickets are purchased from the Ticket Office along with the Garden entry ticket.
To book, call the Kirstenbosch Ticket Office on 021 799 8782 between 08h00 and 17h00.
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ONE DESTINATION, SIX UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES
There is no one way to explore all of the Cape Town Big 6, and much of what makes each of them so special is the variety of things to see and do at each. So if possible, take your time to explore each of the city’s most visited tourist attractions in as much depth as possible – as any local will tell you, you can spend a lifetime at each of the Big 6 and still not tire of them. Find the 3 and 4 day itineraries and tips here.