Cape Town is well-known for being beautiful. People stare up at Table Mountain from the city bowl and extol the virtues of a stunning metropolitan area. But one of the real treasures of this part of the world lays the other side.

There are a few ways to get around Table Mountain ands its neighbours. One is up Ou Kaapse Weg through the Table Mountain National Park and another is the recently re-opened route over Chapman's Peak. Both are splendid, but Chapman's is something quite special and you won't forget it easily.

Some of Cape Town's most beautiful scenery. Photo: www.chapmanspeakdrive.co.za

Quite pleasantly, the road to get there breezes through glorious Camps Bay and Hout Bay, so your eyes' appetite has already been whet by scenery and greenery before you hit this road which dangles precariously above the Atlantic Ocean.

View of Hout Bay from Chapmans's Peak Drive. Photo: www.chapmanspeakdrive.co.za

A short stop at the toll (costing R28 at the time of writing) and you'll finally hit the narrow, snaking road heading towards Noordhoek. Rock faces jut out above as you nervously creep at 40kmph trying desperately to straddle your lane that the road seems determined to keep you out of. Glances toward to the sea below are extraordinary. I was driving in the late afternoon so the sun lit up the ocean like a shining a torch on a mirror.

Ironically, there are so many nets, barriers and contraptions to stop rocks falling down the sheer rock face toward the road that it makes one painfully aware that there is a possibility of it happening. So while trying to stay in your lane as you sneak a look at the view at the same time you need to be careful of sheer rock faces right next to you. It’s not easy keeping thoughts of cascading boulders out of your mind.

Windy road. Photo: www.chapmanspeakdrive.co.za

And as you come around what seems like the millionth bend, you can gaze upon beautiful Noordhoek and Kommetjie with Clifton-like beaches separating deep blue ocean and fresh flora. Your journey along one of the most picturesque roads in the country has come to an end.

I am still blown away by just how gorgeous Cape Town and its surrounds are, and I hope I never get used to it.