🔴 Safety in Cape Town

“Is it actually safe there?”

That is probably one of the first questions that comes up after the words “I’m going to Cape Town.”

Then come the follow-ups about walking, renting a car, convertibles, getting home from restaurants at night, and what to do if something happens to the car.

Very quickly, you can get the feeling that every time you leave the house you need a separate safety briefing.

In practice, it is much more useful not to search for one answer to the question of whether Cape Town as a whole is safe, but to understand a few ordinary situations that can actually come up during a trip.

A daytime walk along a busy promenade and a late-night walk down an empty unfamiliar street are two very different situations, even if both routes take ten minutes on the map.

The goal is not to be afraid of the city, but to avoid creating unnecessary risk where it is easy to do so.

📱 On the street, keep an eye on your things and think about how you are getting home

• One of the simplest rules is about your _phone_. There is no need to walk down the street for ten minutes staring at Google Maps. Check the route, understand the direction, put your phone away and keep going.

• In cafés, it is also better not to leave your phone on the edge of the table or your bag somewhere behind you. There is no reason to carry all the money, documents and electronics you brought to South Africa every single day.

• If you need to withdraw cash, it is more comfortable to use ATMs inside banks or shopping centres rather than a random ATM on an empty street.

• The city does not stop after dark. You can go to restaurants and bars, watch the sunset and spend time outside your accommodation. Just think in advance about how you are getting back.

• If the route home takes you through empty or unfamiliar streets, it is easier to call Uber or Bolt, even if Google Maps says it is only a few minutes on foot. Sometimes a short car ride simply removes a question you do not need on holiday.

*In our Places section, we created a separate category for areas we would not recommend walking around or choosing for accommodation.

🚗 The car and the main rule: keep the interior empty

One of the most common questions sounds something like this:

Is it even safe to rent a car in Cape Town?

Renting a car itself does not make the trip dangerous.

But there is one habit worth adopting immediately:

when you leave the car, the interior should look empty.

Bags, backpacks, shopping bags, laptops, cameras and clothes should not be left on the seats.

Even if the bag contains only water, or there is nothing under the jacket, someone looking from outside does not know that.

The boot is better than the open interior, but I would not treat it like a safe either.

If you do not actually need to bring something valuable with you, it is better to leave it at your accommodation.

What if you want a convertible?

You can drive a convertible too.

An open interior simply requires a little more attention to your belongings.

Do not leave your phone, wallet, bag or camera next to you on the seat, especially when the car is stopped at traffic lights or moving slowly in traffic.

Your phone is particularly easy to forget in your hand after using navigation.

While driving, it is better to keep the doors locked and not leave the windows open unnecessarily if there are belongings nearby.

If someone on the road is trying to get your attention, do not automatically stop at the first random place.

If it genuinely seems like something is wrong with the car, it is calmer to continue to a petrol station, parking area or another clear public space.

What to do if the car is stolen

This is something better understood before renting the car.

Before paying, ask the rental company whether the insurance covers theft and damage, what liability remains with you, and who you need to contact if something happens.

Save the rental agreement and company contacts separately from the car.

If the car is stolen, contact the police and the rental company and follow their instructions from there.

So when choosing a car, it is more useful to understand the insurance terms and what you would need to do in an incident than to search for some model that is supposedly impossible to steal.

🏠 Do not leave valuables visible at your accommodation either

A hotel or apartment does not mean that your passport, cash and electronics should be left lying around the room.

If there is a safe, use it.

If there is no safe, at least do not leave important things openly on the bed or table.

It is better to separate money, bank cards and documents rather than keep everything in one bag.

Losing one thing is unpleasant.

Losing your passport, every card and all your cash at the same time is much harder.

Close windows and doors when leaving too, even if you are only going out for a short time.

If something happens, think about yourself first

A phone, bag, camera and even a car can be replaced.

If someone is genuinely threatening you, there is no need to get into a confrontation over property or try to prove that you are faster or stronger than the person in front of you.

In that situation, the main thing is to get out of it physically safe.

Everything else can be dealt with afterwards.

☎️ Save emergency numbers in advance

Not at the moment you suddenly need them.

From a mobile phone, use 112 for emergency assistance.

If you are not sure which specific service you need, you can start with this number.

For the police, use 10111.

For the public ambulance service, use 10177.

Cape Town also has 107 for emergency calls from a landline.

From a mobile phone, use 112.

When calling, first say where you are.

Then explain what happened and whether anyone is injured.

It is better to give not only the street name, but also a clear nearby landmark.

Save your insurance, accommodation and rental company contacts in advance too.

We also have a separate SOS file that you can keep offline on your phone together with the rest of your travel documents.

📍 Apps that can help you understand what is happening nearby

Buzzer Community Safety can be used as an additional source of information about incidents nearby and the general situation in an area.

At the same time, the absence of reports in the app does not mean you can stop paying attention to your surroundings.

And if there is a real emergency, you should contact emergency services.

Waze can be useful for more than traffic.

Before setting off, look at where the app is actually taking you, especially in the evening or if you are driving through an unfamiliar part of the city.

It is also worth saving an offline map separately so navigation remains available even if your connection stops working.

Telegram bookings are worth checking too

Problems can start before you even arrive in Cape Town.

Accommodation, a car, an excursion or a transfer may be offered through Telegram or private messages at a price noticeably lower than everywhere else.

A low price does not automatically mean a scam.

But it is a good reason to check carefully what exactly you are paying for and who you are sending money to.

Before paying, check:

• who is providing the service;
• whether there is a booking confirmation and cancellation policy;
• whether the address, photos and description match;
• whether the company has a website, reviews or other signs of real activity.

I would be especially careful with messages like:

“Only one spot left, you need to pay right now.”

If you are unsure, you can message me at @adelsuprun and send the offer together with the contact details of the person or company.

Through our partners in Cape Town, I will try to find out whether they know the service and what is known about how it operates.

If we cannot find anything, we will say that too.

This is not a guarantee of the deal.

It is simply one more way to check information before paying.

If you keep only the most important points

• On the street, you do not need to constantly hold your phone in front of you, and in the evening it is better to know in advance how you are getting home.

• In the car, keep the interior empty, keep the doors locked and do not leave valuables visible.

• At your accommodation, put away documents, money and electronics, and do not keep everything important in one place.

• Before renting a car, read the insurance terms and understand what to do in case of theft or damage.

• If there is a real threat, your belongings are not more important than your safety.

• And when booking, check the person or company first and only then transfer money.

• None of these rules can guarantee that nothing will ever happen.

But they also do not require you to turn the whole trip into constant anxiety.

After a few days, most of these actions become normal habits, and safety stops being the main storyline of the trip.

As it should.

What to read next

If after this article you want to understand how to get around the city, continue with “How to get around Cape Town”.

If your trip is only just beginning, the article “Your first 24 hours in Cape Town” will be useful — it covers the logistics after arrival.

And if you have not chosen accommodation yet, continue with “How to choose an area in Cape Town”.