Lion’s Head Loop Hike

Having spent a week in Cape Town when I first arrived in Africa in mid-November and immediately falling completely in love with the city and its incredible mountains, delightful vegan scene, endless beaches and coastline and its absolutely wonderful humans, I planned to spend two more weeks exploring the city after our cross-African roadtrip ended and I'd crossed a few more things off my wishlist in eastern South Africa, such as a trip to Lesotho.

I checked into a hostel and spent most of the weekdays working and enjoying wandering the streets of Cape Town in the early evenings. However, when the weekend rolled around, I was amped to get back out onto the many trails of Cape Town. The city is exceptionally lucky in that there are simply loads of hikes literally right in town, what with Table Mountain and Lion's Head both in the heart of everything; in fact Cape Town wraps itself around these two beautiful mountains offering numerous places to explore.

I had hiked up to the summit of Lion's Head when I was here back in November for an early morning before work and loved it. So, when a Cape Town-based colleague of mine suggested we take on the Lion's Head Loop which wraps all the way around the perimeter of the base of the Lion's Head, then I was absolutely keen. It's also a great trail for dogs, and we took four dogs out on the morning adventure with us, too.

The best part of the Lion's Head Loop hike is the extra detour out to The Rock, offering exceptional views all the way down the coast over the many pretty beaches of Cape Town.

LION's HEAD LOOP HIKE DETAILS

When: year-round

Where: Cape Town, in Table Mountain National Park

Difficulty: easy

Length: 6km loop, with a 200m elevation gain, which took us 1 hour 25 minutes (Strava recording here)

Directions: we parked just at the entrance of Kloof Road, right before the turn up to Signal Hill. From there walk about 200m down the road and the trail starts clearly on the right hand side. The trail loops the whole way around Lion's Head and finishes at the starting point for the Lion's Head Summit hike.

 Bathrooms: no

Public Transit: no