The west­ern side of the moun­tain drops abrupt­ly hun­dreds of metres into the Atlantic Ocean, and a road known as Chap­man’s Peak Dri­ve hugs the near-ver­ti­­cal moun­tain­side, con­nect­ing Hout Bay with Noord­hoek. Tourists and locals alike often stop at view­points along the road, which offer views of Hout Bay, Sen­tinel Peak and the sur­round­ing area, as well as Noord­hoek Beach.

In 1988, a dri­ver took his eyes off the road and missed one of the road­’s many hair­pin turns, plum­met­ing his Mer­cedes-Benz 30 sto­ries below. Mirac­u­lous­ly, he lived to tell the tale, and years lat­er Mer­cedes filmed an advert at the site to demon­strate the safe­ty of their cars.

The roads have since improved and the route is safer, but any­one who has dri­ven Chap­man’s Peak Dri­ve will be acute­ly aware of the stun­ning­ly steep cliff face. If you can han­dle the twists and turns of the ride, you’ll be reward­ed with spec­tac­u­lar views of the Atlantic Ocean and the moun­tain­ous south­west coast of South Africa.

Along the route, affec­tion­ate­ly known as “Chap­pie,” there are sev­er­al view­points where trav­el­ers can buy local art as sou­venirs and take pho­tos. The ride is also a pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion for cyclists look­ing to chal­lenge them­selves; one of Cape Town’s biggest cycling events is the Chapman’s Peak Route. The ride starts in the coastal town of Hout Bay, climbs steeply to Chapman’s Peak, and ends in Noord­hoek on the South­ern Penin­su­la.