Rainy Day in Cape Town with Kids: What Works Indoors and What It Costs
7 min read
If it’s raining and you have the kids with you, the Waterfront carries the day: the Two Oceans Aquarium right at opening, the diver feeding in the big tank at 12 noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Scratch Patch and Cave Golf next door in the afternoon, from R17 and R35. None of that needs to be booked ahead – but it also can’t be, and the indoor option you can book before you travel is the Malay cooking class with lunch in Bo-Kaap: 2.5 hours, from €42.94, 4.8 stars from 671 reviews. With teenagers, that’s a rainy afternoon they remember.
See prices and dates for the Malay cooking class in Bo-Kaap
Cape Town has winter rain. The wettest month is June, with around 90 to 125 millimetres of rain on 11 to 14 rainy days depending on the weather station, and the driest is February, with less than 20 millimetres. In July, daytime highs average around 17 degrees, and at night it drops to 7 to 11 degrees depending on where you are. Anyone travelling between June and August should expect at least one day when the beach, the penguins and Table Mountain are off the table.
In the South African summer, it’s more often the wind than the rain that spoils a day. More on that shortly.
Prices below are given in rand (R), because that’s how the venues list them. For the dry days, there’s the overview Cape Town with Kids.
Five Indoor Venues Compared
| Venue | Adults | Children | Opening hours | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two Oceans Aquarium, Waterfront | see aquarium.co.za | see aquarium.co.za | daily, from 9:30 am on weekdays, 9 am at weekends, until 6 pm | the whole family, from toddlers upwards |
| Scratch Patch and Cave Golf, Waterfront | R17–R95 per container, R35 for golf | same | – | collectors and families who want a second stop |
| Iziko Museum with planetarium, city centre | R100 museum, R150 planetarium | R100 from age 5 | daily 9 am to 5 pm, planetarium closed Mondays | curious school-age children |
| Cape Town Science Centre, Observatory | R95 | R95 | Mon to Sat 9 am to 4:30 pm, closed Sundays | children who want to touch things |
| Zeitz MOCAA, Waterfront | R265 | free under 18 | – | teenagers interested in art or architecture |
The opening hours are the ones the venues themselves state; the paragraphs below add the exceptions, and there are a few.
First Question: Is the Cableway Running?
The Table Mountain cableway only runs when the weather allows it. In strong wind it stops running; the operator doesn’t state a fixed wind limit. It posts the day’s status on tablemountain.net and in its app. Check it before you set off – otherwise you’ll only find out at the bottom of the mountain, with whingeing kids in the car.
In summer, especially from late November to February, the strong south-easterly wind that Capetonians call the “Cape Doctor” often blows. It lays the cloud over the mountain known as the tablecloth, and can shut down operations even in the middle of the day. Anyone who has the cableway firmly on the itinerary should therefore schedule it for the first clear morning and keep a second day free as a backup.
On top of that there’s the annual maintenance closure. In 2026 the cableway was closed from 27 July to 9 August. For other years, the dates are on the operator’s website. Tours that include a cableway ticket are listed under Table Mountain tours.
Two Oceans Aquarium: The Safe Anchor
The aquarium at the V&A Waterfront is the city’s most obvious rainy-day idea, so it’s best to be there right at opening. Monday to Friday it opens at 9:30 am, on weekends, public holidays and during school holidays at 9 am, and it closes at 6 pm. Tickets are sold up to 30 minutes before closing.
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 12 noon, divers in the large ocean tank hand-feed the fish and rays. With kids, it’s worth timing the visit around then. Baby-changing facilities are available on site.
The price is the one thing the aquarium doesn’t publish: its pricing page shows no figures, and the numbers circulating online contradict each other significantly. You’ll see the current price when you buy on aquarium.co.za.
Right Next Door: Scratch Patch and Cave Golf
A classic with kids: at Scratch Patch you buy a container and fill it from a floor covered in polished semi-precious stones. Containers cost between R17 and R95, depending on size. At the same Waterfront location is Cave Golf, an indoor mini-golf course with 18 holes, for R35 per person.
Together with the aquarium, that makes for a whole morning without getting back in the car once. There’s a second Scratch Patch in Simon’s Town, which comes in handy if you’re out on the Cape Peninsula in a rental car and it starts raining on the way to the penguins.
Iziko South African Museum and Planetarium
In the city centre, on the edge of the Company’s Garden, the natural history museum and the planetarium sit under one roof. A planetarium ticket includes museum entry.
Iziko charges different prices for locals and international visitors. According to Iziko, international visitors pay R100 for the museum, the same for children from 5 years of age, and R150 for the planetarium. There, children pay from age two, as soon as they have their own seat. It’s best to check the current programme directly on iziko.org.za.
According to Iziko, the museum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm, on winter weekends from 8:30 am to 4 pm, and closed on 25 December and 1 May. The planetarium is closed on Mondays, including during school holidays. Parts of the museum are closed for maintenance work, according to Iziko. So check before you head into town.
Cape Town Science Centre: Closed on Sundays
The Science Centre in the suburb of Observatory is a hands-on museum for the natural sciences. Children aged 3 to 18 and adults pay the same, R95. The family ticket for four people costs R340, so for two adults and two children it’s R40 less than four single tickets.
The catch is in the opening hours: Monday to Saturday 9 am to 4:30 pm, public holidays 10 am to 4:30 pm, closed on Sundays, plus on 25 December and 1 January. Anyone caught with a rainy Sunday has to fall back on the Waterfront.
Zeitz MOCAA: Free for Children Under 18
The museum for contemporary African art is housed in a converted grain silo at the Waterfront. Adults pay R265, children and teenagers under 18 get in free; bring ID. For toddlers, it’s more of a brief stop. With teenagers interested in art or architecture, it can be the best item on the day’s programme.
Cooking Instead of Queueing: the Bo-Kaap Class
One indoor activity you can book before you fly is the Malay cooking class with lunch in Bo-Kaap: 2.5 hours, from €42.94, 4.8 stars from 671 reviews, which makes it the most-reviewed cooking class in the city on GetYourGuide. You cook a Malay dish with a local host in Bo-Kaap, and then eat what you made.
The booking page states no minimum age, and that isn’t the same as suitable for a toddler: it is two and a half hours in a kitchen, with a meal at the end of it. With school-age children and teenagers it works. With a two-year-old, ask the operator first.
Check availability for the Malay cooking class in Bo-Kaap
And What About Booked Tours?
If an operator cancels a boat trip because of the weather, GetYourGuide will usually give you your money back or a new date. The exact terms are on the respective booking page. Many offers can also be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours in advance, but not all of them.
The upshot is a simple rule: boat trips, whale watching and the cableway don’t belong on the last day of the holiday. Anyone who schedules them in the first half still has room to reschedule. That goes especially for whale watching in Hermanus, whose season falls in winter and spring, so half of it in the rainy months.
A wine tour might seem an obvious fallback, since the tastings take place indoors. With kids, though, it’s a long day in a minibus: the wine tour with the most reviews on GetYourGuide lasts eight and a half hours. For parents who can organise a day without the kids, the selection is at Winelands wine tours.
The outdoor destinations – Boulders Beach, Cape Point, the beaches – have no roof. In drizzle and with a raincoat, the penguins are still doable; in a storm, they’re not. What works by the water on a dry day is covered in the article on Cape Town beaches with kids.
A Plan for the Rainy Day
For the first rainy day, the Waterfront is enough: the aquarium at opening, staying until the 12 noon feeding on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays, then lunch, and Scratch Patch and Cave Golf in the afternoon. With older kids, Zeitz MOCAA fits better than the stones.
For a second rainy day, there’s the museum with planetarium in the centre, or the Science Centre – just not on a Sunday.
Our Recommendation
For most families: the aquarium at opening, Scratch Patch and Cave Golf in the afternoon. It’s all at the Waterfront, it costs little, and you never get back in the car. You buy those tickets on the spot.
For anything you want settled before you travel: the Malay cooking class in Bo-Kaap from €42.94. 4.8 stars from 671 reviews, 2.5 hours under a roof, and with teenagers it beats a third museum.
For a rainy Sunday: the Waterfront again, not Observatory. The Science Centre is closed on Sundays, and the planetarium on Mondays.
Not for everyone: with a toddler, the cooking class is too long and the Zeitz MOCAA too quiet; on a day like that, the aquarium alone is the whole programme. And the choice is limited overall – most of what works with kids in the rain is at the Waterfront, the rest in the city centre and in Observatory, so after two rainy days the programme starts repeating itself. Anyone travelling with young children in June or July should therefore not plan every single day, but leave buffer days – for the cableway, the boat and the penguins, which on a clear winter day in Cape Town are every bit as good as in summer. Which tours are worth it then is shown in the overview Things to do in Cape Town.
