Cape Town apartments & rentals: how to choose
Self-catering is mainstream in Cape Town, not a workaround — apartments in Sea Point, houses in Camps Bay and cottages in Constantia are a normal way for South Africans themselves to travel, and supply is deep and competitive. The regulatory picture is also unusually simple right now, but it is actively changing, so the note below matters more this year than it did last year.
The short-term letting rules, as they stand
Short-term letting in Cape Town is currently legal and lightly regulated. There is no national South African registration scheme for holiday lets — the National Department of Tourism’s own legislation list still shows the 2019 Tourism Draft Amendment Bill as a draft — and the City of Cape Town does not yet issue registration numbers for listings. What does apply today is ordinary land-use zoning under the City’s planning by-law (running a property as commercial guest accommodation in a residential zone can need City approval), plus the body-corporate or homeowners-association rules of the building itself. That is about to change: on 5 August 2026 the City published a draft Short-Term Letting By-law, 2026 for public comment until 5 October 2026. If adopted it would require every short-term-let property to be registered with the City, would require the City-issued registration number to appear on every listing, would bar booking platforms from advertising unregistered properties, and would rate any property let for more than 50% of its total annual room nights as commercial rather than residential. Contraventions would carry a fine or up to six months’ imprisonment, after a transitional grace period the City Manager will announce. Practically: today the absence of a registration number on a Cape Town listing is not a red flag, and it should not stop you booking — but check the City’s page before a 2027 trip, because by then it may well be.
Rules are changing here — check the current status: City of Cape Town — draft Short-Term Letting By-law, 2026 (PDF).
Who a rental suits
Rentals suit families and groups almost by default here — a three-bedroom Sea Point flat routinely costs less than two hotel rooms — as well as anyone staying a week or more, anyone who wants to cook after a long peninsula driving day, and anyone chasing a specific address or view the hotel market does not cover. Short two- or three-night stays are usually simpler in a hotel, where the front desk absorbs the logistics.
Verify before you book
- Backup power: ask whether the unit has an inverter, battery or generator and what it actually runs — lights and wifi, or the whole flat. This is the single most useful question to ask a Cape Town host.
- Water heating, since many geysers are electric and stop with the power; a gas hob or gas geyser makes a real difference.
- Parking: whether it is secure, off-street and included, and whether the building has controlled access. Street parking is workable by day but not what you want overnight with a hire car.
- Which floor, and whether there is a lift — plenty of Sea Point and City Bowl blocks are walk-ups.
- The exact street, not just the neighbourhood name. Woodstock, Salt River and the lower CBD change character block by block, and a five-minute walk matters.
- Recent reviews mentioning the south-easter wind (Atlantic Seaboard balconies can be unusable on a windy summer afternoon), noise from nearby bars, and how responsive the host is when something breaks.
Where to look for rentals
Sea Point and Green Point have the deepest apartment supply and the best walk-out-the-door value; Camps Bay, Clifton and Bantry Bay are where the villa and sea-view market sits, at summer prices to match. The City Bowl mixes converted heritage flats with newer serviced apartment blocks. Constantia and the Southern Suburbs skew towards garden cottages and family houses with pools — the right choice if your plan is Kirstenbosch, wine estates and the drive south, the wrong one if you want to walk to dinner.
Check live rentals & availability
Browse current Cape Town rentals on Vrbo — then ask the host the backup-power and parking questions above.
Check Cape Town rentals on Vrbo →Some booking links are affiliate links — if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which options we recommend.
Prefer a front desk and secure parking? Compare hotels →