Our pick for most visitors, and when another route is the better choice.
See which flights still have places on your dates
For most visitors the best choice is the Two Oceans flight of Cape Town Helicopters: 25 minutes down the Atlantic seaboard to Hout Bay, across the peninsula to Muizenberg and back past Table Mountain, so you see both coasts on one flight. The GetYourGuide option includes a boat cruise. Like every flight here, it takes off from East Pier Road at the V&A Waterfront and can be cancelled free up to 24 hours ahead.
NAC’s twelve minutes over Green Point Stadium, Clifton, Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles, from the one operator here that names a safety standard.
Twenty-five minutes across the peninsula with Cape Town Helicopters, past Hout Bay, Muizenberg Beach and Table Mountain, and this option includes a boat cruise.
Sport Helicopters flies 16 to 18 minutes out to Robben Island and back to the Waterfront, without a landing.
Sport Helicopters flies 48 minutes down the Atlantic coast to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and back.
Two questions: how long you want to fly and what you want to see. The answer comes from the flight times and places in the listings.
Question 1 of 2
Question 2 of 2
No flight fits every answer, so here is the closest one.
Cape Town Helicopters’ twelve minutes from the V&A Waterfront: over the stadium, Signal Hill and Lion’s Head to Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles.
NAC’s twelve minutes over Green Point Stadium, Clifton, Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles, from the one operator here that names a safety standard.
Sport Helicopters sells its twelve minutes as a flight over the city centre. Check-in is at its office on Quay 5, and the transfer to the helipad is included.
Twenty minutes with Cape Town Helicopters, and the option itself names Robben Island. The flight circles the island and does not land.
Sport Helicopters flies 16 to 18 minutes out to Robben Island and back to the Waterfront, without a landing.
NAC’s 24 minutes around Table Mountain, the only route that crosses to Fish Hoek, Kalk Bay and Muizenberg on False Bay.
Twenty-five minutes across the peninsula with Cape Town Helicopters, past Hout Bay, Muizenberg Beach and Table Mountain, and this option includes a boat cruise.
Twenty minutes with Cape Town Helicopters down the Atlantic coast past Clifton, Camps Bay and Llandudno, turning at Hout Bay Harbour.
Sport Helicopters flies the coast to Hout Bay and returns inland over Constantia and the Groot Constantia wine farm.
NAC’s coastal flight turns at Hout Bay, and its listing is the only one that names Seal Island.
Sport Helicopters flies along Chapman’s Peak to False Bay and back over Noordhoek, Sun Valley and Groot Constantia.
Fifty minutes to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope with Cape Town Helicopters, the longest flight here, and this option includes a boat cruise.
Sport Helicopters flies 48 minutes down the Atlantic coast to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and back.
Also a good fit
Twelve minutes cover the City Bowl, the stadium and the Atlantic seaboard past Clifton and Camps Bay to the Twelve Apostles, and all three operators fly one. What it does not reach is the peninsula: Chapman’s Peak, False Bay and Cape Point need 24 minutes or more. The 12-minute flight
Two operators fly out to the island for 16 to 20 minutes. The flight circles it and does not land; visiting the island itself is a separate ferry trip run by the museum. The Robben Island flight
NAC’s 24-minute circle is the only route that crosses to Fish Hoek, Kalk Bay and Muizenberg, the half of the peninsula the coastal flights never reach. The Table Mountain 360° flight
At 42 to 50 minutes it is the longest flight over Cape Town, out to the tip of the peninsula and the Cape of Good Hope, and by far the most expensive. NAC prices its Cape Point flight per group of up to two, so check the unit on each card. The Cape Point flight
Whichever route you choose, the south-easter usually builds through the day, so a morning slot is calmer and leaves time to rebook if the flight is stood down. When to fly
Seats on shared flights are sold individually, and the operator fills the remaining places with other passengers. The minimum applies to the departure: a shared flight operates once at least two passengers are booked in the same time slot. Booking a second seat yourself, or the whole helicopter, takes that condition out of the equation.
Yes. Every listing on this site cancels free up to 24 hours before departure, at all three operators and both booking sites. That is worth using: if the forecast turns, you move the booking yourself at no cost rather than hoping the flight goes ahead. Booking direct with an operator instead can mean a longer notice period and a non-refundable deposit.
Usually because of the unit. NAC Helicopters prices some flights per group rather than per person, so a figure that looks doubled is for two people. Every card on this site states which unit the price is for. The rest is real difference: the operators charge different amounts for comparable routes, and a listing resold by an agency carries that agency’s margin on top.
Twenty-four to twenty-seven minutes across the peninsula, with Hout Bay and Chapman’s Peak on the way.
The shortest flight on offer, and the one all three operators fly.
The longest route on offer: 42 to 50 minutes to the tip of the peninsula.
