Rain barely falls on Cape Town in January and the sun is out for more than thirteen hours a day. That is a lot of daylight for a walker. It is also peak season, and the trailhead car parks and the beaches fill fast, so start in the dark. Be walking by first light and off the exposed routes by late morning, and the crowds and the heat will arrive after you have gone.
Climb Lion's Head for the sunrise. The path leaves Signal Hill Road and corkscrews round the peak, with a short run of chains and metal staples near the top that you can skirt if scrambling isn't your thing. Head torch on. Then the sun comes up and the light spreads down over the city and out across the Atlantic. At weekends the roadside parking fills early. Take a jacket, because the summit is windier than the car park suggests.
Table Mountain deserves the full climb. Platteklip Gorge is the direct line from Tafelberg Road, steep and almost entirely unshaded, which makes it a sunrise job in January and a foolish one at noon. Skeleton Gorge is the better walk. It climbs from Kirstenbosch through cool forest and up a series of wooden ladders to the Back Table, and most people come down Nursery Ravine. SANParks asks walkers to start early, never go alone and carry water, a hat and a windproof layer even in high summer.
You will want that layer. The south-easter, the summer wind Capetonians call the Cape Doctor, scrubs the sky clean and pours the tablecloth of cloud over the summit. When it gets up it also stops the cableway, so check the status that morning if you plan to ride down.
Give one day to the winelands, and walk before you taste. Jonkershoek Nature Reserve fills a steep valley just outside Stellenbosch, with trails climbing through fynbos to waterfalls. It is a CapeNature reserve with permits and a daily cut-off for starting the longer routes, so get there in the morning.
On a Sunday, end the day at Kirstenbosch. The Summer Sunset Concerts run from late November to late March on the lawns under the eastern side of the mountain, and people arrive early with blankets and picnics to claim a patch of grass. Buy tickets ahead. The concerts go on whatever the weather, and there are no refunds.
Swim in the afternoon, and choose your side of the peninsula with care. Along the Atlantic coast the south-easter pushes the warm surface water offshore, and cold water wells up from below to replace it. Clifton's coves sit in the lee of Lion's Head, out of the wind, but the water there will still make you gasp. For a swim you can stay in, cross to False Bay, where Muizenberg and the coves towards Simon's Town sit in noticeably warmer water.