Lion’s Head is the cone-shaped peak that rises between Table Mountain and the sea, and the hike up it is the most popular in South Africa. At 669 metres it’s far smaller than its famous neighbour, but it gives you something Table Mountain can’t: a clean 360-degree view from a summit you reach on your own two feet, with the city bowl on one side, the Atlantic seaboard on the other, and Table Mountain itself filling the skyline behind you. There’s no cable car here. The view is earned, which is part of why people love it.
The climb is short, steep and a little adventurous. A spiralling path winds up and around the peak, gentle at first and then steeper near the top, where you haul yourself up sections of chains, metal rungs and ladders bolted into the rock. It’s a scramble rather than a technical climb, and most reasonably fit people are at the top in under an hour, though there’s an alternative path that skirts the worst of the chains if exposure isn’t your thing. Wear proper shoes, carry water, and check the wind, because the summit is fully exposed to Cape Town’s south-easter.
What turns a good hike into a Cape Town ritual is the timing. Sunrise is cool and quiet, with the city waking up beneath you. Sunset is the classic, the peninsula glowing gold, shared with a friendly crowd and best done with a headlamp for the walk down. And the full-moon hike is an institution, a stream of climbers heading up by headlamp on the night of a full moon to watch it rise over the city as the sun drops into the sea behind them. Pick your moment, bring a light and some water, and Lion’s Head delivers the best-value view in the city.
