The team from come2capetown.com brings you the first few sundowner spots around the city. Whether it is just to watch the sun go down or something that is more of a party, a first of the sundowner spots in the city.

Lion’s Head, or should we say ‘Ye Sugar Loaf’
Dubbed ‘Ye Sugar Loaf’ by the English even before the Dutch finally settled, Lion’s Head is a place where the sun sets in the ocean and from where the lights are switched on in Cape Town.The top and shape of Lion’s Head, together with Signal Hill -which is also known as Lion’s Rump- embrace the west side of the city centre of Cape Town. Not only a full moon favourite; Lion’s Head looks over the ocean as a meditating sphinx.

Take some finger food and drinks and drive up Signall Hill Drive and park at the left hand side. Take a stroll up Lion’s Head at least an hour and a half before sunset. Just before the top there is short cut, a chain going up vertically, or you can climb further on an easier trail.
On top you can sign the visitors book, unwind and watch as the sun sets from high above everyone else on the surface. Enjoy a bottle of red wine while watching as the sun streaks, slowly, across the seas to rise somewhere else on earth.

The walk up is not too steep and the path is quite clear, at least on the way up in day time. Be careful walking down, a flashlight can help out on the way back. Taking your cell phone, just in case, is also an idea. Lion’s Head is a

Caprice, Camps Bay
Next to where, until recently, the world’s oldest pharmacist practiced, this restaurant cum bar is at the heart of the Camps Bay “golden strip” .
It is lined with bars, restaurants overlooking the beach. Take a dip in the beach during the day and get out of the water later and watch as the sun goes down over the horizon. According to us. one of the more admirable things about Caprice is that one can ‘just have a good time’ and not only look ‘celeb’. Also the uplifting music varies from funky lounge to sundowning classics

David Raad, the co-owner of Caprice says that they started off as a deli in 2001 but “people loved the loungey concept”. They stuck with it and it’s paid off with hundreds of happy patrons everyday- some of them world famous celebrities like Robert de Niro and JK of Jamiroquai and countless other celebs who find themselves in Cape Town.

On an ordinary day though Caprice attracts a wide variety of people, from fashionably funky people in their 40s to the young beautiful people who come to see and be seen. Raad says: “Guys are shocked when they see all the beautiful girls here. Jerry Springer used to hang out here while he was shooting his South African show,” says Raad.

Eclipse, Camps Bay
More of a cocktail lounge for the rich then anything else, Eclipse is mostly frequented by the young at heart, drinking Veuve Cliquot as if it were water. The exquisitely designed bar which opened in December 2002 serves no food but promises a good view over the Atlantic Ocean as the sun sets, heralding in the night with its countless possibilities.

While the party is pumping be on the lookout for local celebrities, or schlebs, like the rugby players and swimsuit models. The décor of the lounge is modern yet it bares a hint of the “Old World” with the use of dark brown in furnishings.
The bar staff is quite keen to experiment with cocktails and will just about make anything that catches your fancy- except maybe a Molotov.

Radisson Hotel Waterfront
Removed from the hustle and bustle of shoppers at the nearby V&A Waterfront is the Radisson Hotel in Granger Bay- and virtually on the waters edge. With a wide variety of people hanging out here you might feel a bit cosmopolitan amongst tourist and locals who also frequent the bar.

With modest live local music the bar is favored amongst the older the crowd, stay long enough and you might bump into an international celebrity like Jean-Claude van Damme who’ve made the hotel their home on stays in South Africa.
Watch the sun go down with Robben Island as a backdrop and ships passing.
The extraordinary sunset coloring the sky would almost make you forget the rim flow pool in front of it.

Just off Table Mountain
On the rocks just off the path leading from the upper cable station to Maclear's Beacon, a couple of hundred metres from the cable station you can sit on the rocks and watch as another day comes to an end. Looking out over the Twelve Apostles and the Atlantic Ocean; stunning, but it can be cold, so take a warm jacket along. If you’re not familiar with the mountain take along a good map and once again a cell phone.

Corner of NY 115 and NY108 in Gugs
“Our come2capetown.com secret and personal no.1”: Tucked away amidst the crowded humdrum of Gugs, short for Gugulethu, is one particular gem- Mzoli’s Butchery. You might ask, “how can a township butchery be an ideal ‘sundowner’ spot’? Well if truth be told, this is no ordinary butchery- it’s a place in the township to connect; anyone from Gugs is there, driving the oldest cars put together with sticky tape, or the latest BMW Z4.
Buy a drink at the hairdresser’s next door sit down on the ‘stoep’ and listen to –undoubtedly the best - mix of funk, r&b and Kwaito lounge. You will probably hear it only next year in Camps Bay. Relax as you buy meat from the butchery; they will braai it on the premises in the back in what could almost be called a braai factory.
“Thando’ll look after you”
The good thing for the sun downer time is that some of the kids have a great time there as well; ‘Thando’, a little 8 year old, smilingly told me he will look after you.
Mzoli’s opens at 9am and closes around about 8pm- remember that you be coming here to have a sun downer drink on the block with the best atmosphere in Cape Town. No attitude or stuck up people, just down to earth people enjoying themselves. Just to be on the safe side, if you’re not from Gugulethu, ask someone from Gugs to come with.
“Pictures to show their white friends at work, to show the white guys Gugs is safe to have a sun downer”
The butchery, opened early this year, is famous for attracting members of parliament, who want to be seen in the township and mostly black entrepreneurs, apart from virtually anyone of the locals from Gugs. Mzoli Ngcawuzela, owner of the butchery says the local community has supported him tremendously. “The people are very friendly because the environment is safe,” he says. Some guys actually take pictures with their cell phone of the few white people that are there to show their white friends at work Gugs is actually safe and has the atmosphere.