Is it safe to drive in Cape Town?

Yes, with sensible habits. Roads are good, signage is in English, and the risks are mostly opportunistic crime against parked or stationary cars. Keep valuables out of sight, park in attended lots, lock doors in traffic, and do long or unfamiliar drives in daylight. Self-driving is how most visitors do the peninsula and Garden Route, and problems are rare for those who follow the routine.

How much does it cost to rent a car in Cape Town?

Small manuals start around $21/day and are genuinely fine for everything a visitor does; small automatics run $30-50 and SUVs $40-70. December and January are the expensive months, when southern-summer holidays lift rates 50-100 percent and the cheap cars go early. Fuel is full service with a small customary tip, and Chapman's Peak charges a modest per-car toll.

Can you do the Garden Route as a self-drive from Cape Town?

Yes, and it is the standard way - the N2 runs east through Hermanus, Mossel Bay, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay on good paved road, with 3-5 days the comfortable minimum. The smart move is a loop: N2 out along the coast, Route 62 back through the Karoo, so you never repeat a road. One-way rentals dropping in Gqeberha are also common but carry a fee.

Do I need an automatic or a 4x4 in Cape Town?

Neither is necessary. Every standard route - the peninsula, the winelands, the Garden Route, Route 62 - is paved and fine in the smallest manual on the lot, which is where the $21/day prices live. An automatic is purely a comfort choice, sensible if left-side driving is already new to you. Save the 4x4 budget for a later trip into Namibia or the deep Karoo.

What should I know about the baboons at Cape Point?

Treat them as skilled thieves, not photo props. They open unlocked car doors, associate bags with food and can be aggressive when they see a snack. Keep windows up and doors locked at every stop in the reserve and around Simon's Town, eat only inside buildings or well away from troops, and never feed them - a fed baboon becomes a problem animal and is destroyed.

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Car Rental in Cape Town

From $21/dayDrives on the left

Photo: souTH AFRica (panoramio) · CC BY 3.0

Cape Town might be the best-value driving city anywhere - small manuals from about $21/day, and within an hour you are on Chapman's Peak with the Atlantic below the guardrail or heading for the Cape of Good Hope. You drive on the left, manuals are the cheap default, and the safety rules are simple and worth following: nothing visible in the car, plan your night driving, windows up around the baboons.

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Updated 15 August 2026

Sophie - Flights, trains and transfers

Published August 15, 2026

In Brief

Is it worth renting a car in Cape Town?

Yes - a car is the best way to do the Cape peninsula and the only sensible way to reach the winelands and the Garden Route, from about $21/day for a small manual. South Africa drives on the left, manual is the default and the cheap option, and automatics cost more but are widely available. The safety basics are straightforward: leave nothing visible in a parked car, keep doors locked in traffic, plan longer drives for daylight, and at Cape Point keep windows up around the baboons. Follow those and driving here is easy and hugely rewarding.

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How much does car rental cost in Cape Town?

Rough daily prices by car type. Rates rise in peak season - book early for the best deal.

Car type	Price / day	Good to know
Small manual	$21-35/day	The local default and the bargain - fine for the whole peninsula.
Small automatic	$30-50/day	Worth it if you have never driven a manual on the left before.
Compact SUV	$40-70/day	Comfort for the Garden Route and gravel wineland lanes; 4x4 is not needed.
Mid-size / estate	$45-80/day	Space for a family doing Cape Town plus a week on the N2.
Peak season (Dec-Jan)	roughly 50-100% above winter rates	Southern-summer holidays squeeze the fleet; book by October.

Transmission: Manual is the default and where the $21/day prices live; automatics are easy to find but cost noticeably more.

Driving in Cape Town: what to know

Left side, manual gearbox, left hand shifting
South Africa drives on the left and the cheap cars are manual, which means shifting with your left hand. It clicks within a day; the classic mistakes are drifting toward the left kerb and reaching for the door instead of the gearstick. Take the first hour somewhere quiet, and pay the automatic premium if you would rather not stack two new skills.
The safety routine, plainly
Cape Town's car crime is mostly opportunistic, and the counters are habits, not heroics. Leave nothing visible in a parked car, not even a jacket; use paid or attended parking; keep doors locked and bags off the passenger seat in traffic; and do not stop for strangers on quiet roads. Millions of visitors self-drive here every year without incident by doing exactly this.
Plan your night driving
Do the scenic and unfamiliar driving in daylight - it is safer and the whole point of being here. After dark, stick to main routes you know, treat deserted red lights at very quiet hours the way locals do by slowing and proceeding with care only when clearly safe, and use navigation that avoids shortcuts through areas you do not know.
Windows up around the baboons
The Cape Point baboons are professional car burglars - they open doors, know what shopping bags mean and can be aggressive over food. Windows up and doors locked whenever you stop in the reserve or above Simon's Town, never eat visibly near them, and never feed them; fed baboons end up destroyed.
Chapman's Peak is a toll road with moods
The drive between Hout Bay and Noordhoek is cut into a cliff face, tolled per car, and closes in heavy wind or after rockfalls - check its status the same day. Drive it in both directions if you can, use the viewpoint laybys rather than stopping on the road, and go early morning for empty tarmac.
Fuel stations are full service, tips are normal
Attendants pump the fuel, wash the windscreen and check oil and tyres - a tip of a few rand is customary, and most stations take cards. Distances on the Garden Route are honest but not extreme; fill up in towns and treat the countryside stretches like anywhere rural.

Best drives in Cape Town

The routes worth renting a car for - see our road trips guide for more.

Chapman's Peak Drive
9km and 114 curves carved into the cliff between Hout Bay and Noordhoek - a tolled 30-minute drive worth doing twice.
Cape Point loop
Camps Bay, Chapman's Peak, the Cape of Good Hope and back via Simon's Town's penguins - the classic full peninsula day of about 140km.
Garden Route on the N2
Cape Town to Hermanus, Mossel Bay, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay - whales, forests and lagoons over 3-5 unhurried days.
Route 62 through the Karoo
The inland alternative to the N2 via Montagu, Barrydale and Ronnies Sex Shop's famous bar - drier, quieter and arguably the better road trip; loop out one way and back the other.