Lion's Head
- Food
- The city bowl, after
- Farm stand
- Oranjezicht City Farm
Crowd level: Mixed. Go early, or pick a weekday
Best season A dry morning. The upper rock is a poor idea after rain. Full-moon nights are a SANParks warning, not a suggestion to go alone.
A short, popular summit above the city bowl, with the Atlantic on one side and Table Mountain on the other. You walk back to the same trailhead. Camps Bay is the beach you look at, not the place the path ends.
Worth knowing
Start
The usual trailhead is the parking area on Signal Hill Road, up from Kloof Nek. It fills early on weekends and on full-moon nights. This desk is not quoting a conservation fee. If a ranger post is collecting one, that day's notice wins.
The top
Guide write-ups do not agree on the distance. Treat it as a short half-day, not a number. The last stretch is a scramble with chains and ladders. Turn around if the rock is wet. Come back down the same mountain. There is no beach finish.
Full moon
SANParks says a full-moon hike should be done only in a group, led by someone with experience. That is the whole tip.
With kids. The upper section is a scramble. A child who cannot climb chains and ladders should stop before them. This is not a contour path with a pram.
With a group. The summit rocks bunch people up, and the full-moon tradition is explicitly a group-with-a-leader walk. A large casual party on a Saturday will spend the time in the queue for the chains.
The short version
SANParks describes Lion's Head as the peak to the right of Table Mountain when you face the mountain, a short hike with views of the Atlantic seaboard, the city, and the table. The park notes a full-moon walk to the top and says that should be done only in a group, with someone who has experience. Signal Hill, just north, is where the noon gun marks 12:00.
Food nearby
The city bowl, after
There is no meal on the summit. Eat when you are back down.
Farms and stands nearby
Oranjezicht City Farm
Certified organic produce from the farm on Upper Orange Street, in the city bowl below the mountain. They say vegetables can be ordered by WhatsApp.
Season. Their site says the farm at 87 Upper Orange Street is open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
The hike does not end at the farm. The shop is the grocery stop once you are down. On December 6, 2025 their weekend market moved to the V&A Waterfront. That is the large market. The Upper Orange Street door is the farm.
Official page