Is Platteklip Gorge Open, and Is It Safe?

We cannot tell you whether Platteklip Gorge is open today, and nobody should from a page written in advance. When we checked in November 2026, SANParks’s notices page carried no closure for Platteklip Gorge, and the cableway’s 2026 maintenance shutdown had ended in August. On the day, look at SANParks’s notifications page for Table Mountain National Park and at the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway’s own site before you set out. Safety is about how you go: SANParks’s first rule is not to hike alone.

What was announced in 2026

The cableway’s 2025 shutdown ran from 28 July to 3 August 2025, so both of the last two fell in late July and early August; the 2027 dates are the cableway’s to announce. If you plan to walk up and ride down in July or August, check its announcements first.

The cableway can stop on any day

SANParks’s hikes page says rapid weather changes often shut the cableway without warning, which can leave hikers stranded at the upper station in the dark, and advises allowing enough time to walk down even if you plan to ride. It adds that the top can be much colder than Tafelberg Road, with an icy wind even in January and February. We do not print the cableway’s open-or-closed status: it changes through the day, and its own site shows it.

Is it safe?

Platteklip is the most used route up, a steep staircase of rock steps that SANParks rates moderate to tough depending on fitness and weather, with no water on the way. SANParks’s safe-hiking page opens with a warning about attacks and muggings in and around the park, and its rules are plain:

• Don’t hike alone; four is the ideal number.
• Choose your route carefully, start early, and tell someone your route and return time.
• Walk at the pace of the slowest in the group.
• Take waterproof clothing, even in midsummer, and enough water and food.
• Stay on well-used paths; don’t wander into ravines.
• Watch the weather and the time, and turn back before you run late.
• Carry a charged phone, don’t display cash, cameras or valuables, and don’t resist a robber.

Weather is the other risk. A three-star reviewer of The Cape Town Local's guided hike wrote in October 2026 that the hike is good but not easy, and can become dangerous in bad weather because the ground gets slippery.

Emergency numbers

• SANParks Table Mountain emergency line: 086 110 6417
• South African Police Service: 10111
• Cape Town Emergency Services: +27 21 480 7700

These are SANParks’s figures from its safe-hiking page, checked November 2026. Save them before you start.

If you would rather go in a group with someone who knows the way, a guided hike or on your own sets out what a guide costs and adds.