City Bowl

Affectionately termed, ‘The Mother City’, Cape Town City Bowl offers some of our most exciting and happening streets such as the buzzing Long Street, up-and-coming Bree Street, historical Greenmarket Square and vibrant Kloof Street all with a selection of ethnic shopping, cultural attractions and culinary delights.

The “City Bowl” as it is known is the spectacular, natural amphitheatre shaped area of central Cape Town dramatically flanked from behind by the towering cliffs of Table Mountain, Devil’s Peak, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill, and then bordered to the front by the huge expanse of Table Bay. The City Bowl includes some delightful and historic residential suburbs including Higgovale and Tamboerskloof, which offer great views from their perch on the lower mountain slopes as well as easy access to central Cape Town and the nearby Atlantic coastline beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay.

Here is the self-catering accommodation in Cape Town city bowl we have available for rental in Cape Town City Bowl, followed by some further information on the area and the neighbourhoods of Higgovale and Tamboerskloof –

The City Bowl is how Capetonians describe the huge natural “bowl” or amphitheatre shape of central Cape Town bordered as it is by the lower slopes of Table Mountain, Devil’s Peak, Signal Hill and Lion’s Head with various residential suburbs on the sides of the bowl looking down over the commercial centre of the City itself and Table Bay beyond.

The City Bowl includes the central business district of Cape Town, as well as its bustling port and harbour area on the foreshore and the V&A Waterfront, as well as the historic Company’s Garden park and heritage area and the numerous surrounding residential suburbs.

Higgovale is one of the oldest, most sought after and exclusive residential suburbs in Cape Town and the City Bowl, a quiet and leafy neighbourhood of tree lined streets and mostly large free-standing luxurious properties nestled on the lower slopes of Table Mountain looking out over the sprawling City and Table Bay in the distance, a beautiful sight by day and truly spectacular also by night when the city lights shine brightly below.

Higgovale itself is a small residential area without restaurants and shops immediately within its streets, but the area borders onto the top end of the very popular and trendy Kloof Street, which runs straight down to Long Street at the heart of central Cape Town, and Kloof Street itself is lined with excellent local restaurants, cafes, bars and shops.

The Lifestyle Centre on Kloof Street, just five minutes or so by car from Higgovale is an excellent local shopping centre and it’s not much further to the even larger Gardens Shopping Centre with large supermarkets, banks and specialty stores of every kind.

Camps Bay’s bustling beach front and the four gorgeous white sandy beaches of Clifton are also just a quick 10 minute drive from Higgovale over the “Kloof Nek” between Table Mountain and Lions Head, and weather wise one of the attractions of staying just the other side of the mountain in Higgovale is that it is generally more sheltered and less windy than some of the more exposed coastal suburbs like Camps Bay, which can take a battering from the famous “Cape Doctor” that blows fiercely in Cape Town at times in summer.

Tamboerskloof is another small and popular residential suburb of Cape Town centrally located on the slopes of Signal Hill just above the central “Gardens” suburb that adjoins the main commercial centre of the City. It is within easy walking distance of the City Centre, with its many shops, restaurants, museums and art galleries and is equally well located for all the attractions of the Atlantic coastline, with the popular beach resorts of Camps Bay and Clifton just 10-15 minutes away over the mountain.

Tamboerskloof is graced by many fine houses with an interesting and somewhat eclectic mix of stately Edwardian family homes, funky art Deco and African influenced architecture.

Browse our range of self catering accommodation in Cape Town City Bowl, for a range of purposes.