South African Hotels

Tokai Tourism Information

Quick Facts: Tokai

  • Tokai forest
  • Blue Route Shopping Mall
  • Steenberg Hotel, Spa & Golf Estate
  • Steenberg vineyards
  • The Barnyard Cafe & Playground for children
  • Pollsmoor Prison ( Nelson Mandela)
  • American Embassy (US)
  • Reddam House School

Distance to Airport: 27 km

Distance to City: 23 km

Introducing Tokai

Tokai  a large residential suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, is located on the beautiful foothills of Constantiaberg along the Table Mountain range.  Tokai is bordered by Steenberg and Kirstenhof to the South, Bergvliet to the East, Constantia to the North and the SAFCOL pine tree plantations against the mountain to the West.  Tokai, named after Tokaj, a range of hills in Hungary, was originally an open region with various wine farms and smallholdings.

Today, most of the wine farms in this area no longer exist but there are still a few old Cape Dutch houses like those found in Constantia. The suburb of Tokai in Cape Town was rapidly established in the late 1940s because of the urgent need for housing for South African soldiers returning from World War II.

Nearby, is the Pollsmoor Prison, where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were incarcerated by the Apartheid regime. Nelson Mandela was in this prison for four years (1984 to 1988) after his transfer from Robben Island, before moving on to Victor Verster Prison until his release on 11 February 1990.

Some of Tokai's roads are paved with red brick. Streams run through Tokai and the pine plantations, forming green belts where various bird, frog, and insect species make their home. These green belts including the magnificent Tokai forest also provide areas for recreation including walking, cycling and dog walking.