# Cape Town for Digital Nomads

> Mountains and ocean

Cape Town, South Africa, Africa

Canonical page: https://nomadbase.com/destinations/cape-town
Last reviewed: 2026-07-29

Every figure below carries its source and measurement date. Where no reliable source exists the field is left out rather than estimated.

## Cape Town at a glance

Cape Town's pitch is the calendar. The seasons run opposite to Europe's, so its summer covers the European winter — and because the clock barely moves against Central Europe, you keep close to a full working day of overlap while sitting under a mountain. Five of 12 months land in the mild band (Nomadbase comfort index: mild months from Open-Meteo, 2025), and the setting — a national park inside the city, two coastlines, vineyards at the edge — is not a normal city backdrop.

Two things belong in the honest column, and neither should be whispered. Safety is a real subject: most residents go about their lives without incident, but they do it with habits — ride-hailing after dark instead of walking, phones kept off the street, a question to a local before an unfamiliar route. Adopt the habits early and they become background. And load-shedding, the scheduled blackouts that once defined South African life, has receded — the grid has been stable for a sustained stretch and Cape Town sits at the better-protected end of it — but the inverter in every café tells you how recently that changed. Ask any flat what happens when the power goes; the good ones have an answer.

It suits you if the European winter is the problem you are solving — you want summer in January, the outdoors on your doorstep, and you are comfortable managing a few logistics in exchange. It suits you less if you want to walk everywhere at any hour, or if a base that asks for ongoing situational awareness would sit in the back of your mind.

| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 5 of 12 months land in the mild band (Nomadbase comfort index: comfort index from Open-Meteo, 2025) — and they fall across the European winter | Safety needs managing: ride-hailing after dark and phones off the street are resident habits, not tourist paranoia |
| 90 days visa-free on EU and US passports (Government sources: checked July 2026), with a Remote Work Visitor Visa of up to three years (Government sources: checked July 2026) | 28 Mbps median download (M-Lab: median of speed tests, 7-day window, July 2026) is modest — confirm the fibre line before you book |
| Almost no clock shift against Central Europe — you keep close to a full working day of overlap | Modelled PM2.5 of 42.7 µg/m³ (Copernicus CAMS: CAMS model, July 2026) — no measuring station in our data yet, and winter inversions are part of the picture |
| A café and coworking culture that treats remote work as normal — backup power included | Distances are car-shaped; without a car or a steady ride-hailing habit the city shrinks |

## Key figures

| Figure | Value | Source | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average temperature (year) | 17.4 C | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 annual average | 2025-12-31 |
| Average cloud cover | 36 % | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 annual average | 2025-12-31 |
| Nearest major airport | 18 km | OurAirports — nearest major airport is Cape Town International Airport | 2026-07-29 |
| Airports within 100 km | 1 within 100km | OurAirports, major and regional airports with scheduled service | 2026-07-29 |
| Nomadbase community activity | 3.2 index 0-10 | Nomadbase community activity — 0 here now, 1 based here, 0 meetups, 0 planning to come, 0 have been | 2026-08-17 |
| Community meetups | 0 meetups | Nomadbase community meetups, drafts excluded | 2026-08-17 |
| Coworking spaces mapped | 5 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Internet download (median) | 28 Mbps | M-Lab median of 77,018 tests within 50 km, last 7 days | 2026-08-11 |
| Transport per month | 79 EUR/month | Official fare: MyCiTi Monthly Pass (1,500 ZAR), unlimited on the MyCiTi BRT network only — Golden Arrow buses and trains excluded, checked 2026-08-05 | 2026-08-05 |
| Cafés mapped | 251 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Restaurants mapped | 626 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Beaches mapped within 30 km | 73 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-07-31 |
| Nature reserves and parks within 30 km | 34 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-07-31 |
| Hiking routes within 30 km | 32 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-07-31 |
| Mapped coastline within 30 km | 172 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-07-31 |
| Hospitals and clinics mapped | 70 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-07-31 |
| Pharmacies mapped | 67 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-07-31 |
| Bars, pubs and clubs mapped | 132 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Nightlife share of cafés | 15.1 per 100 restaurants & cafés | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Gyms mapped | 33 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Vegan-friendly places mapped | 32 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Vegetarian-friendly places mapped | 24 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Yoga studios mapped | 5 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Queer venues mapped | 0 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Surf spots mapped nearby | 0 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-08-05 |
| Kitesurf spots mapped nearby | 0 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-08-05 |
| LGBTQ+ legal index (country) | 10 score 0-10 | Nomadbase legal-position rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| LGBTQ+ in practice (country) | Constitutionally the most protective country in Africa (marriage since 2006, constitutional and employment-law protection since the 1990s), but lived reality diverges: homophobic violence and hate crimes remain a real risk outside urban safe spaces. | Nomadbase legal-position rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Tap water index (country) | 7 score 0-10 | Nomadbase tap-water tier (country level), checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Tap water in practice (country) | Major metros (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban) treat to national standard and tap water there is safe to drink; quality drops sharply in smaller municipalities and rural provinces, where bottled or filtered is advised. | Nomadbase tap-water tier (country level), checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Accommodation per month (simple end) | 1081 EUR/month | Inside Airbnb market price (simple end, 25th percentile of 192 monthly entire-home listings), Q2/2026 | 2026-06-29 |
| Accommodation per month | 1616 EUR/month | Inside Airbnb market price (median of 192 monthly entire-home listings), Q2/2026 | 2026-06-29 |
| Accommodation per month (upscale end) | 2944 EUR/month | Inside Airbnb market price (upscale end, 75th percentile of 192 monthly entire-home listings), Q2/2026 | 2026-06-29 |
| Coworking desk per month | 135 EUR/month | Published price: Workshop17 & Ideas Cartel hot-desk rates (median of 2) (2,572.5 ZAR), Workshop17 "Your Own Boss" all-day hot desk R3,145 +VAT (monthly plan), Ideas Cartel "Monthly" coworking R2,000 +VAT (https://www.ideascartel.com/pricing); no third operator publishes a hot-desk monthly rate, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Coliving room per month | 1110 EUR/month | Published price: Neighbourgood Romney (Green Point), cheapest suite, operator publishes nightly from-rates only — "From EUR 37 per night" (Romney; rooms €36.65–53.41/night incl. weekly cleaning, wifi, workspace hot-desk access) ×30 nights; no monthly rate published, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| eSIM data, 30 days | 20 EUR | Published price: Airalo, 10 GB / 30 days (RSA CellC network), fixed packages rendered directly; Vodacom unlimited 30d alternative €89.50, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| 3-star hotel per night | 78.38 EUR/night | Published price: median of 3 listed 3-star rates (Booking.com), night of 17 Aug 2026 (1,494 ZAR), City Lodge Hotel Pinelands R1,494, Garden Court Nelson Mandela Boulevard R1,678, StayEasy Cape Town City Bowl R1,348; double room incl. taxes; winter low-season rate, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Café latte | 2.41 EUR | Published price: Bootlegger Coffee Company, Latté (L), Winter 2026 café menu (46 ZAR), leading Cape Town chain; Starbucks SA publishes no prices and Uber Eats blocks fetches, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| cost food monthly modelled | 145 EUR/month | Modelled groceries for South Africa (country level, not city): Eurostat DE reference 2022 scaled by World Bank price level 43.3 vs 81.2 (2025) and ICP 2021 category structure | 2025-12-31 |
| cost eating out monthly modelled | 37 EUR/month | Modelled eating out for South Africa (country level, not city): Eurostat DE reference 2022 scaled by World Bank price level 43.3 vs 81.2 (2025) and ICP 2021 category structure | 2025-12-31 |
| cost transport monthly modelled | 23 EUR/month | Modelled local transport for South Africa (country level, not city): Eurostat DE reference 2022 scaled by World Bank price level 43.3 vs 81.2 (2025) and ICP 2021 category structure | 2025-12-31 |
| cost leisure monthly modelled | 97 EUR/month | Modelled leisure for South Africa (country level, not city): Eurostat DE reference 2022 scaled by World Bank price level 43.3 vs 81.2 (2025) and ICP 2021 category structure | 2025-12-31 |
| Visa-free days (EU passport) | 90 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (US passport) | 90 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (UK passport) | 90 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (Canadian passport) | 90 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (Australian passport) | 90 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| cost bigmac | 3.02 EUR | Published price: The Economist Big Mac Index, national average (56.90 ZAR = 3.49 USD), July 2026 release — data CC BY 4.0 | 2026-07-01 |
| Vegan share of cafés | 3.6 per 100 restaurants & cafés | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Vegetarian share of cafés | 2.7 per 100 restaurants & cafés | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Mild months (felt 18–27 °C) | 5 months/year | Nomadbase comfort index from Copernicus ERA5 2025 monthly means | 2025-12-31 |
| Members here now | 0 members | Nomadbase check-ins, open | 2026-08-17 |
| Members based here | 1 members | Nomadbase bases and homebases | 2026-08-17 |
| Members planning to come | 0 members | Nomadbase travel plans, not yet ended | 2026-08-17 |
| Members who have been | 0 members | Nomadbase check-ins, closed — counted per person | 2026-08-17 |
| Working-hours overlap with US East | 1 hours/day | Nomadbase overlap of a 09:00-17:00 day against Open-Meteo time zone (Africa/Johannesburg), standard time; US East reference UTC-5 | 2026-08-17 |
| Air quality PM2.5 (measured) | 10.4 µg/m³ | OpenAQ, median of 5 stations, 2026-08-17 | 2026-08-17 |
| UTC offset | 2 hours from UTC | Open-Meteo time zone (Africa/Johannesburg), standard time | 2026-08-17 |
| Working-hours overlap with Central Europe | 7 hours/day | Nomadbase overlap of a 09:00-17:00 day against Open-Meteo time zone (Africa/Johannesburg), standard time; Europe reference UTC+1 | 2026-08-17 |
| Country price level (US = 100) | 43.3 US=100 | World Bank price level index for South Africa, 2025 (US = 100) | 2025-12-31 |
| Homicide rate (country) | 39.72 per 100k | UNODC intentional homicide rate for South Africa, 2024 | 2024-12-31 |
| Average temperature (summer) | 21.1 C | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 summer average (Dec-Feb) | 2025-12-31 |
| Average temperature (winter) | 13 C | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 winter average (Jun-Aug) | 2025-12-31 |
| Rain days per year | 64 days/year | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 full-year count | 2025-12-31 |
| Population | 3776313 people | Wikidata population figure, 2021 | 2021-12-31 |
| Dry days per year | 301 days/year | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 full-year count | 2025-12-31 |
| Nomadbase climate comfort index | 7.7 index 0-10 | Nomadbase comfort index from Copernicus ERA5 2025 monthly means | 2025-12-31 |
| climate monthly profile | [{"m":1,"t":20.5,"r":0.1,"c":0.21},{"m":2,"t":20.4,"r":0,"c":0.14},{"m":3,"t":20.9,"r":0.16,"c":0.34},{"m":4,"t":17.8,"r":0.07,"c":0.38},{"m":5,"t":13.7,"r":0.19,"c":0.39},{"m":6,"t":11.5,"r":0.47,"c":0.56},{"m":7,"t":10.4,"r":0.35,"c":0.52},{"m":8,"t":11.2,"r":0.35,"c":0.56},{"m":9,"t":13.4,"r":0.1,"c":0.39},{"m":10,"t":15.3,"r":0.23,"c":0.31},{"m":11,"t":18.9,"r":0.03,"c":0.23},{"m":12,"t":20.1,"r":0.03,"c":0.22}] | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 monthly means (felt temperature, rain-day share, cloud share) | 2025-12-31 |
| Remote-work visa route (0–10) | 10 score 0-10 | Dedicated remote-work visa: Remote Work Visitor Visa (checked 2026-07-29) | 2026-07-29 |
| English proficiency (EF EPI) | 603 EF EPI score | EF EPI 2025 (city level, transcribed via Wikipedia) | 2025-11-01 |
| Getting by in English (0–10) | 8.12 score 0-10 | EF EPI 2025 (city level, transcribed via Wikipedia) | 2025-11-01 |
| Women, Peace and Security index (country) | 6.88 score 0-10 | Georgetown WPS Index 2023 (country level, transcribed via Wikipedia) | 2023-10-01 |
| Company setup index (country) | 8 score 0-10 | Nomadbase business rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-31 | 2026-07-31 |
| Banking access index (country) | 6 score 0-10 | Nomadbase business rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-31 | 2026-07-31 |
| Company setup in practice (country) | CIPC registers a Pty Ltd online in a few days at symbolic capital, with unrestricted foreign ownership. Fast and cheap by any standard. | Nomadbase business rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-31 | 2026-07-31 |
| Banking in practice (country) | Exchange control is the thing to read about before anything else — moving money out is regulated in a way it is not elsewhere in this table. Company accounts otherwise work normally. | Nomadbase business rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-31 | 2026-07-31 |

## Scores (0–10, blend of public data and community reports)

| Category | Score | Public data | Community | Reports |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| amenity | 2.11 | 2.11 | — | 0 |
| business | 7 | 7 | — | 0 |
| climate | 3.85 | 3.85 | — | 0 |
| community | 3.2 | 3.2 | — | 0 |
| cost | 5.66 | 5.66 | — | 0 |
| flights | 3.97 | 3.97 | — | 0 |
| fun | 6.7 | 6.7 | — | 0 |
| health | 0.25 | 0.25 | — | 0 |
| internet | 2.72 | 2.72 | — | 0 |
| lgbtq | 10 | 10 | — | 0 |
| lifestyle | 2.7 | 2.7 | — | 0 |
| locals | 8.12 | 8.12 | — | 0 |
| nature | 8.46 | 8.46 | — | 0 |
| nightlife | 4.71 | 4.71 | — | 0 |
| safety | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| vegan | 7.6 | 7.6 | — | 0 |
| vegetarian | 4.41 | 4.41 | — | 0 |
| visa | 7.33 | 7.33 | — | 0 |
| water | 7 | 7 | — | 0 |
| women | 6.88 | 6.88 | — | 0 |

## Visa & entry (South Africa)

90 days visa-free for most EU passports plus US, UK, Canada and Australia. The Remote Work Visitor Visa — gazetted October 2024, operational since March 2025 — is the serious long-stay route: R650,796 gross a year, issued for anything over three months up to three years.

### How long you can stay

Most EU passports — Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the rest of the west — plus US, UK, Canada and Australia get 90 days visa-free on arrival (DHA exemption list, reissued December 2025). A few EU members are on the 30-day list (Cyprus among them), so check yours before booking a quarter. In-country extension of the visitor stamp is possible through VFS but slow; the exemption list itself warns it can change without notice.

### Staying longer as a remote worker

The **Remote Work Visitor Visa** — legally a visitor's visa under section 11(1)(b)(iv) of the Immigration Act — is for people working from South Africa for a foreign employer, issued for more than three months up to three years. The income bar is a ministerial figure set by gazette, aligned with the general work-visa threshold rather than indexed to anything public: the May 2024 draft demanded R1 million a year, the final 9 October 2024 gazette cut it to R650,796 gross per annum, proven with three months of bank statements. You also need a signed employment contract with the foreign employer — the official checklist is written for employees, and while agents report established freelancers getting through with client contracts, that remains practice, not text. Applications run through South African embassies and VFS abroad since March 2025; you cannot switch into (or out of) this status from inside the country except in prescribed exceptional cases.

The tax rule is written into the visa itself: stay an aggregate 183 days in any 12 months and you must register with SARS (immediately, if your home country has no double-tax agreement with South Africa). Local employment is prohibited. Add a return ticket, a passport valid 30 days past departure, and a yellow fever certificate if you routed through an endemic country — Kenya and Tanzania both count.

> Visa rules change frequently. This information was last checked on 2026-07-29. It is not legal advice — confirm with the official source before booking: https://www.dha.gov.za/images/notices/8october24/Remote_Work_Visa_-_requirements_-_9_Oct_2024.pdf

## Living in Cape Town

### Where to stay

The city runs long and thin around the mountain, and where you land decides how car-dependent you are.

- **City Bowl (Gardens, Tamboerskloof, Oranjezicht)** — under Table Mountain, closest to the café and coworking core, walkable by day within its own streets. The default first base.
- **Sea Point and Green Point** — the Atlantic seaboard: flat, dense, the promenade for running, and the most walkable stretch of the city.
- **Observatory** — the student quarter: scruffier, livelier, with its own café strip and a younger crowd.
- **Woodstock and Salt River** — the converting industrial belt, home to studios, markets and lofts. Regeneration is patchy street by street, so view before you commit.
- **Muizenberg** — surf-town Cape Town on False Bay: warmer water, slower pace, and a real commute whenever you need the centre.

In all of them the practical questions are the same: how you get home at night, and whether the building has secure parking. Ask both before you book.

### Finding a place

The market swings with the season. Furnished summer stock gets booked from Europe months ahead, and the best of it is gone by spring; winter is the renter's market, with landlords suddenly willing to talk. If you are coming for high season, book early — if you are flexible, arrive in the shoulder and look in person.

The furnished medium-term market is well developed, split between the local rental portals, agencies, and busy Facebook housing groups. Three questions matter more than the photos: is fibre already installed and live, what is the backup power situation, and is the parking off the street. A flat that answers all three well is worth a premium of patience.

### Working from here

Coworking here is deep and professional, spread through the City Bowl, along the Atlantic seaboard and into Woodstock's converted mills, and day passes are the norm — trying several spaces costs you a week, not a commitment. The load-shedding years built a habit into the market: spaces advertise their backup power the way others advertise coffee, and it is still worth asking.

Café work is easy. 251 cafés are mapped within 15 km (OpenStreetMap: July 2026), the specialty-coffee culture is serious, and laptops are tolerated in most of it. Vegan options are ordinary rather than niche — 3.6 of every 100 mapped restaurants & cafés flag them (OpenStreetMap: July 2026).

### Getting around

The honest answer: you will probably want a car, or at least a steady ride-hailing habit. The city is built around driving, and residents use ride-hailing for short after-dark hops without embarrassment — do the same. Driving is on the left, hire cars are everywhere, and the day trips are the real argument for having one.

MyCiTi, the bus rapid transit network, is the exception worth knowing: reliable along the Atlantic seaboard and out to the airport — use it where it runs. The southern railway line hugs the False Bay coast towards Muizenberg and Simon's Town and is worth riding for its own sake; treat it as an outing rather than a schedule. Walking is fine by day in the main strips. At night, take a car, even for short distances — residents do.

### Money

The currency is the rand, and cards with tap are near-universal in the parts of the city you will use — carry only a little cash, for markets and car guards. Use ATMs inside banks or shopping centres rather than street machines, and decline the on-screen currency conversion; your own bank's rate is better.

Tipping is a wage component here, not a flourish: waiters are tipped on every bill, and the car guard who watched your street works for coins. Budget the habit in rather than debating it each time.

### Staying safe

Cape Town asks for more situational judgement than anywhere else we list in Europe-adjacent time zones, and pretending otherwise would help nobody. The working rules locals actually keep: ride rather than walk after dark, keep nothing visible in a parked car, hike the mountain in company and on populated routes, and let the neighbourhood — not the map distance — decide the route.

Inside those rules, daily life in the areas you would base in is relaxed, social and outdoors. The gap between the statistics and the lived texture is real in both directions here; respect the rules precisely so the texture stays yours.

### Seasons

The calendar is the pitch, as the intro says — Cape Town’s summer covers the European winter. What the brochure omits is the wind: the summer south-easter, the Cape Doctor, can blow for days at a strength that cancels beach plans and sandblasts picnics. Locals plan around it with the casualness of people checking a bus timetable; you will learn to do the same.

Winter brings the rain fronts and the big Atlantic swells, but between fronts it produces still, golden days that are quietly the year’s best hiking weather — and the whales arrive, as the Time off chapter notes. The shoulder months either side of summer are the connoisseur’s pick.

### Meeting people

The scene swells exactly when Europe turns cold. Coworking events, run clubs on the Sea Point promenade, surf mornings at Muizenberg and a packed summer calendar make the first week easy — and the Nomadbase members already wintering here are the shortest route in. The flip side is seasonality: come autumn the city hands itself back to its residents, and friendships made in the season tend to have a season.

### Staying active

Few cities anywhere put this much training terrain against the front door: trail running on the mountain’s contour paths, sea swimming that splits into a cold Atlantic side and a warmer False Bay side, and surf that starts at beginner-friendly Muizenberg. The wind that ruins picnics is exactly what fills Bloubergstrand with kites.

The gym and studio scene matches the outdoor culture, and the social structure runs through sport here — park runs, swim clubs, hiking groups — which makes training the fastest route into the city’s community as well as its landscape.

### Time off

Cape Point via Chapman's Peak is the classic driving day. The winelands around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are an easy trip and better as an overnight. Whales gather off Hermanus in the southern winter — one argument for not writing the cold months off entirely — and the Cederberg does a weekend of rock and silence. For Table Mountain itself, take the standard local advice: hike in company and on the busier routes.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does it cost to live in Cape Town per month?

Between €1,460 and €1,605 a month, housing and everyday spending together. Housing is your own place at €1,081. Everyday spending — food, local transport, leisure — is modelled from national price levels rather than measured in the city, so it is an indication and not a quote. A coworking desk is extra at €135. Every figure carries its source on the destination page.

### How fast is the internet in Cape Town?

Median download speed is about 28 Mbps. Source: M-Lab median of 77,018 tests within 50 km, last 7 days.

### What visa do I need for Cape Town?

90 days visa-free for most EU passports plus US, UK, Canada and Australia. The Remote Work Visitor Visa — gazetted October 2024, operational since March 2025 — is the serious long-stay route: R650,796 gross a year, issued for anything over three months up to three years. Last checked 2026-07-29. Always confirm with the official source before booking.

### What is the weather like in Cape Town?

Winters average 13 °C and summers 21.1 °C. 5 of 12 months average a comfortable 18–27 °C (felt temperature). Source: Copernicus ERA5, 2025 annual average.

### Can I work European or US hours from Cape Town?

A 09:00–17:00 working day in Cape Town overlaps 7 hours with Central European time and 1 hours with US Eastern time, at standard time.

### Are there coworking spaces in Cape Town?

5 coworking spaces are mapped in Cape Town, plus 251 cafés to work from. Source: OpenStreetMap, within 15km. Counts are a floor, not a census — coverage depends on local mappers.

### How do you get to Cape Town?

The nearest major airport is about 18 km away. 1 airport with scheduled service within 100 km. Source: OurAirports — nearest major airport is Cape Town International Airport.

## Sources

- **Copernicus ERA5** (Generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information) — ECMWF’s ERA5 reanalysis, retrieved through Open-Meteo. Temperatures, rainfall, cloud cover and wind are daily values for the last complete calendar year. https://open-meteo.com/
- **OurAirports** (Public domain) — Airport locations and types. Distances are to the nearest major airport with scheduled service. https://ourairports.com/
- **Nomadbase members** — Figures reported in the app by people living there, shown as a median with outliers removed. The only source for costs, because no free public one measures them per city. https://nomadbase.com/app
- **OpenStreetMap** (ODbL) — Community-mapped places: coworking, cafés, gyms and diet options within 15km. Counts are a floor rather than a census — coverage depends on local mappers. https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
- **M-Lab** (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Internet speed from real speed tests run by people in the city, aggregated over a seven-day window. https://www.measurementlab.net/
- **Nomadbase country research** — Hand-maintained country tables for the LGBTQ+ legal position and tap-water safety, compiled from advocacy databases (ILGA World, Human Dignity Trust), national authorities and government travel advice, and scored with a published rubric. Country-level by nature — city reality can differ, which is what the practical note is for. https://nomadbase.com/destinations#how-we-score
- **Inside Airbnb** (CC BY 4.0) — The short-let market price: median nightly rate of entire homes bookable by the month, times thirty, converted to EUR at ECB reference rates. Deliberately not called rent — local leases run cheaper, and member reports correct downward. https://insideairbnb.com/
- **Published prices** — Prices read by hand from the operator’s or authority’s own published price list — a transit tariff, a coworking rate card, an eSIM store — on the date shown. Checked quarterly; the linked page is the source. https://nomadbase.com/destinations#how-we-score
- **World Bank** (CC BY 4.0) — Price level of household consumption at market exchange rates (US = 100) — a national figure that anchors the cost score where no city-level source exists yet. It measures what arriving with foreign income feels like, which is why a weak currency lowers it. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/PA.NUS.PRVT.PLI
- **Government sources** — Visa and entry rules come from the responsible authority for each country, linked in the visa section and re-checked by hand on the date shown.
- **Nomadbase comfort index** — Our own reading of ERA5 data, not a measurement: a month-by-month score for how comfortable the felt temperature is, damped for rain and cloud. The formula is published. https://nomadbase.com/destinations#how-we-score
- **OpenAQ** (CC BY 4.0) — Air quality measured at ground stations. Only reaches part of the catalogue — a city needs a station nearby that is still reporting. https://openaq.org/
- **UNODC** (Free with attribution) — Intentional homicide rate from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime — a national figure, because no free source measures crime per city. The year next to the number is the year the country last reported. https://dataunodc.un.org/
- **Wikidata** (CC0) — Structural facts taken from the place’s Wikidata entity — resident population, which mirrors a national census figure, and elevation above sea level. The year is the one Wikidata records for that figure; where the entity was the wrong scale for the place we describe, the number has been replaced by a hand-sourced one from the statistics office instead. https://www.wikidata.org/

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