Cape Town International Airport (FACT/CPT)
Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town Airline Crew Layover Guide
Reviewed by Captain AL
Crew car rental deal ↓Hotel deals ↓
The CPT crew card
| Fastest into town | There is no bus and no train from the airport. The MyCiTi airport bus was suspended on 1 December 2022 and the operator still prints the service as suspended, so a metered taxi or an e-hailing car is the only way in. The city’s transit operator puts a metered taxi at about ZAR 10 a kilometre as a general guide and publishes no airport rate |
|---|---|
| Night option | Landing time changes nothing, because no scheduled service reaches the airport at any hour. It is a car either way. The City’s Transport Information Centre answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 0800 65 64 63 for what is actually running in the city |
| Payments | City buses take no cash. Every passenger needs a myconnect card, ZAR 40 from a station kiosk or a participating retailer, then you tap in and tap out and pay for the distance. A single ride is ZAR 15.00 to ZAR 52.50 depending on distance and time of day, and a 1 Day Pass is ZAR 130 |
| Tap water | Safe to drink |
| Emergency | 021 480 7700 (City of Cape Town emergency centre plus the South African national lines. The police line 10111 is down in Cape Town and the city has published no all clear. Call the City emergency centre on 021 480 7700 instead, day or night.) · non-emergency 0860 765 423 |
| Solo & at night | Save 021 480 7700 before you land. That is the City’s emergency centre from any phone, staffed 24 hours a day in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. The national police line 10111 was reported unavailable in Cape Town on 2 September 2026 and the City asked people to use its own number instead. Metered taxi and e-hailing drivers need an operating licence, so use the app or a marked rank car rather than an offer in the hall |
| Crew knows | The airport bus in the old guides is gone, so budget for a car from the moment you land, and save 021 480 7700 before you do. The police line 10111 is down in the city and the City’s own emergency centre answers that number around the clock instead. |
| Crew deals | Verified car rental and hotel rates for airline staff: on this page, right below this guide. |
airlinecrewdiscount.net · CPT crew card · Checked Sep 2026 · Next check Oct 2026 · Screenshot this card for offline
Every number on this page comes from an official source. Where no official source gives a number, we say so instead of guessing.
Getting from Cape Town International Airport into the city, with no bus and no train
Cape Town is the rare big airport with no public transport link at all. The MyCiTi airport bus stopped on 1 December 2022 and has not come back, there is no rail station at the airport, and no official airport source describes the taxi rank, the terminal layout or the walk to it, so those details are not given here. What follows is what the City and its transit operator publish themselves. Plan on paying for a car into town, and treat the bus network as something you use once you are already in the city.
👉 Swipe sideways to see the full table
| Mode | Time | Cost | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyCiTi airport bus (route A01 Airport to Civic Centre) | not running | This service does not exist any more. The City suspended it on Thursday 1 December 2022, saying demand had not recovered after the Covid-19 restrictions lifted and that a 50.5 percent diesel price rise between 5 January and 2 November 2022 forced the decision, and it moved the buses to the Atlantis, Table View, Century City and city centre routes. The operator’s airport page still opens with the service marked as suspended today. Read the rest of that page with care, because below the notice it still describes the A01 running every 20 minutes from a bus station outside the main terminal and still offers an airport guide to download. Those lines are left over from before 2022 and are the reason older guides keep promising a bus. | |
| Metered taxi or e-hailing from the airport | the city’s transit operator gives about ZAR 10 a kilometre as a general guide for a metered taxi and publishes no airport rate, no flat fare and no zone table; e-hailing is priced in the app | This is the only way into town that does not depend on somebody meeting you. The transit operator’s own guidance is that metered taxi quality varies, that most companies run call centres, and that you can have a car sent to you anywhere. Both metered taxi and e-hailing are licensed categories here: the City confirmed in June 2025 that it needs 6 600 legal metered taxi and e-hailing operators in the metro and that 5 494 valid operating licences were registered, and it was releasing 840 new ones to first-time applicants. Fix the price in an app before you get in, or agree it with the driver first. | |
| MyCiTi bus, once you are already in the city | ZAR 15.00 to ZAR 52.50 a ride by distance band and time of day, or a 1 Day Pass at ZAR 130, a 3 Day Pass at ZAR 290 and a 7 Day Pass at ZAR 420 | The network runs from Atlantis in the north to Hout Bay in the south, and from Sea Point in the west to Khayelitsha in the east, and it does not touch the airport. You need a myconnect card at ZAR 40 before you board, from a station kiosk or a participating retailer, and you tap in and tap out. Fares are cheaper outside the weekday peaks of 06:45 to 08:00 and 16:15 to 17:30, and all day at weekends and on public holidays. One fare covers a transfer to another bus or route within 45 minutes. | |
| Minibus taxi | unscheduled | charged by distance travelled | The transit operator describes these as in common use across almost every part of the city, running unscheduled services and hailed from the kerbside. The main central rank is on the upper deck of the main rail station, which connects straight to the MyCiTi Civic Centre station. No fare table is published for any route, so this is not something to plan a timed airport return around. |
| Suburban rail and Golden Arrow buses | Neither reaches the passenger terminal, so treat both as city transport rather than an airport option. The transit operator lists the easy rail transfers as Civic Centre and Adderley Street for the Cape Town rail station, Woodstock, and Salt River at the end of route 102. Golden Arrow is the other city bus operator, with its main terminus in Strand Street and a Gold Card costing ZAR 40 once off. Its own route list names Airport Industria, which is the industrial area, and no route in that list is named for the passenger terminal. |
Best areas for crew stays in Cape Town, from the City Bowl to Sea Point
City Bowl and Long Street: The old commercial centre under Table Mountain, with the Company’s Garden, the museums and the late bar strip within a few blocks of each other.
V&A Waterfront: The working harbour turned shopping and restaurant quarter, the easiest single destination if you only want one stop and a view.
Sea Point and Green Point: The Atlantic seaboard strip north of the centre, a long promenade and the densest run of cafes and small hotels.
Woodstock and Salt River: Former industrial blocks east of the centre, now the design and market end of town, and the two suburbs where the bus and rail networks meet.
Bo-Kaap: The painted houses on the slope above the centre, a short uphill walk from the city core rather than a separate trip.
What to do on a layover in Cape Town, from a short stop to a full day
Under 5 hours: Stay at the airport. With no bus and no train, a trip into town is a paid car ride each way plus the queue back through security, and that is a poor trade against a short window.
5 to 9 hours: One destination and back, booked in an app so the price is fixed before you leave the kerb. The Waterfront or the city centre is the sensible single choice. Fix the return car in your head before you set off, because there is no scheduled service to fall back on.
9 hours plus: A proper city run works: the centre, one neighbourhood beyond it, and a sit-down meal. Once you are in town a myconnect card and a Day Pass make moving around cheap, and the car ride is only the two airport legs.
Crew tips for Cape Town: paying for buses, picking a car, and which emergency number answers
The airport bus that guides still promise: If a guide, a forum post or an old crew brief tells you to take the MyCiTi A01 from outside the terminal to the Civic Centre, it is out of date. The City suspended that service on 1 December 2022 and it has not returned. Confusingly, the operator’s own airport page still carries the old description under the suspension notice, still says buses leave every 20 minutes and still offers an airport guide to download, so it is easy to read the page and reach the wrong conclusion. There is no MyCiTi bus station in service at the airport. Budget for a car.
Paying for the bus once you are in town: There is no cash on a MyCiTi bus. Buy a myconnect card for ZAR 40 at a station kiosk or a participating retailer, load value, then tap in when you board and tap out when you get off, because the fare is worked out from where you tapped in to where you tapped out. Mover value comes in fixed amounts, from ZAR 35 on one of the operator’s own lists and from ZAR 20 on the other, up to ZAR 600, and it stays valid for three years from your most recent load. Fares by distance band run ZAR 19.50 peak and ZAR 15.00 off-peak for 0 to 5 km, ZAR 32.50 and ZAR 25.50 for 10 to 20 km, and ZAR 52.50 and ZAR 46.00 above 60 km. Peak means a journey started on a weekday between 06:45 and 08:00 or between 16:15 and 17:30; everything else, including all day at weekends and on public holidays, is cheaper. One fare covers a transfer within 45 minutes. If you will make several trips, a 1 Day Pass is ZAR 130, a 3 Day Pass ZAR 290 and a 7 Day Pass ZAR 420. Children under four years old and under a metre tall travel free.
Getting the car right: Metered taxi and e-hailing are both licensed categories in Cape Town, regulated by the City together with the Western Cape Provincial Regulatory Entity, and the City counted 5 494 valid operating licences against a need for 6 600 in June 2025, releasing 840 new ones. That gap is worth knowing, because it is the space unlicensed drivers work in. Order in an app so the price is set before you get in, or use a marked rank car and agree the fare first. The transit operator’s own guide figure for a metered taxi is about ZAR 10 a kilometre, and neither the City nor the operator publishes a fixed airport fare, so treat that as an order of magnitude and not a quote.
Which emergency number actually answers: Put 021 480 7700 in your phone. That reaches the City of Cape Town’s Public Emergency Communication Centre from any phone, at national call rates, and it is the single entry point for ambulance, fire, police and traffic. From a landline the same centre is 107, toll free, and 112 works toll free as well. This matters more than usual right now: on 2 September 2026 the City stated that the national police line 10111 had been unavailable in the city since the day before and asked people to call 021 480 7700 instead. The centre runs 24 hours a day with staff answering in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. Give your callback number first, then your full name, then an exact location.
One number for anything moving: The Transport Information Centre answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 0800 65 64 63, free, and it covers bus routes, fares and schedules for MyCiTi, for Golden Arrow and for the trains. With no airport service and no airport information desk we can point you at, that line is the thing to call when a plan falls over at an odd hour. The City lists the same number for reporting potholes, flooding and traffic signal faults.
Emergency numbers for Cape Town, and the one that is currently down
👉 Swipe sideways if the numbers do not fit
| City of Cape Town emergency centre, from any phone (ambulance, fire, police, traffic) | 021 480 7700 |
| Same emergency centre from a landline, toll free | 107 |
| Emergency from a mobile, toll free | 112 |
| South African Police Service (the City reported this line unavailable in Cape Town on 2 September 2026) | 10111 |
| National Emergency Medical Care (ambulance) | 10177 |
| Metro Police and Traffic Services, non-emergency | 0860 765 423 |
| South Africa country code (calling from abroad) | +27 |
Save these before you fly; numbers work from any phone.
Is there a bus from Cape Town International Airport to the city centre?
No. The MyCiTi airport bus, route A01 between the airport and the Civic Centre, was suspended on Thursday 1 December 2022 and the operator still marks the service as suspended. The City said at the time that demand had not recovered after the Covid-19 restrictions lifted, that the diesel price had risen 50.5 percent between 5 January and 2 November 2022, and that the buses were being moved to the Atlantis, Table View, Century City and city centre routes. Its own airport page still carries the old description of the route below the suspension notice, which is why so many guides still promise a bus.
How do I get from Cape Town airport to the city?
By car. There is no airport bus and no rail station at the airport, so it is a metered taxi or an e-hailing car. Both are licensed categories in Cape Town, so order in an app and have the price fixed before you get in, or use a marked rank car and agree the fare first. The city’s transit operator gives about ZAR 10 a kilometre as a general guide for a metered taxi, and neither the City nor the operator publishes a fixed airport fare.
How much is the MyCiTi bus in Cape Town?
Every passenger needs a myconnect card, ZAR 40 from a station kiosk or a participating retailer, and there is no cash on board. Fares go by distance band and by when you start: ZAR 19.50 peak and ZAR 15.00 off-peak for 0 to 5 km, up to ZAR 52.50 and ZAR 46.00 above 60 km. Peak is a weekday journey started between 06:45 and 08:00 or between 16:15 and 17:30. One fare covers a transfer within 45 minutes. Day Passes are ZAR 130 for one day, ZAR 290 for three and ZAR 420 for seven. None of this reaches the airport.
Is tap water safe to drink in Cape Town?
Yes. The City of Cape Town’s annual drinking water quality report states that residents can trust their tap water is reliable, tested, treated and safe to drink, and that the city has for many years held excellent compliance status against the national standard SANS 241:2015. The City tests over 5 700 samples a year, quarterly compliance for 2024 to 2025 ran between 99.3 and 99.6 percent, and the latest report found no E. coli in any supply system.
What is the emergency number in Cape Town?
Dial 021 480 7700 from any phone. That is the City of Cape Town’s Public Emergency Communication Centre, which dispatches ambulance, fire, police and traffic services and runs 24 hours a day in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. From a landline the same centre answers on 107 toll free, and 112 is toll free too. The national police number is 10111 and national ambulance is 10177, but on 2 September 2026 the City stated that 10111 had been unavailable in the city since the previous day and asked people to use 021 480 7700.
Spotted a change? Tell us and we fix it for the next crew.
Crew Discounts in Cape Town: the verified crew rates for car rental and hotels are further down this page. Cape Town is a city where you pay for every ride out of the airport, so a car you booked before you landed changes the whole layover. Bookmark this page and the next Cape Town rotation starts on those rates instead of from scratch.
