Eagle’s Nest trail Cape Town: the Constantia Nek hike that’s harder than it looks (and worth it)

Recently, we decided to go for the Eagle’s Nest trail midweek at 5pm, located in Constantia Nek. Actually, let us correct our statement – we THOUGHT we were going for a trail, but this was actually a full blown hike. A short one, but a hike nonetheless.

Eagle’s Nest trail

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ: ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ᴍɪᴅᴡᴇᴇᴋ ʜɪᴋᴇ 😂
𝘿𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡: 𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚
𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙩: 1 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧

It also reminded us why we created this page – a lot of the information online about hikes always missed a tad bit of useful information. If you’re a visual learner, watch here.

𝐇𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭: The hike starts at the Constantia Nek parking and is quite easy to find. You can drive up the dirt road to the right of the famous fruit sellers at the Constantia Nek parking, or walk this up like we did. At the top of the parking, walk past the boom gate and you will see stairs to your left. The stairs continue all the way up for about 20-25 minutes. Be sure to turn around once in a while and admire the mountain silhouettes! 🧗‍♀️

𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐬: At the end of the stairs, you will see three jeep paths. One path infront of you goes up, the other one goes down and the last on your left is the one to take. Walk all the way to the end, past the limestone corner wall to your right (white in colour) until you reach another set of stairs to climb. Climb these stairs until you reach the first landing point.

𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐬: There are again three paths here – yours is the one on the complete left, rocks to climb, and hidden from your view. The All Trails app was extremely useful here in showing us the way; be sure to download it before going up 🤳

You know that you’ve arrived at the peak when you see the trig beacon (a white pole), visible during your climb. The panoramic views of the farmlands and mountains at the top are splendid and worth going up this truly confusing hike route.

The total time to hike up and down is about 1 hour, additional time may be required if you plan to rest and take pictures. In terms of travel, Constantia Nek is located 30 mins from the City Centre, so plan your hike accordingly.

Bookmark this for your the next time you’re looking for something fun to do! Want more travel recommendations, both in and outside South Africa? Follow us @afor_adventures or subscribe to our food & travel blog – always honest, always helpful.