Somewhere along the way, travelling got burdened with rules. Eat where locals eat. Skip the big attraction. Feel sheepish about the obvious photo. A recent Getaway South Africa piece pushes back on all that, arguing that the classic sightseeing experiences — the cable cars, funiculars, old trams and river cruises — are classic for a reason. The round-up highlights eight cities where embracing your inner tourist is genuinely the best way in.
Cape Town leads the list, and locals may shrug, but the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway still delivers: rotating cars climb to the summit plateau, where views stretch over the city bowl, Table Bay and the surrounding peaks. Online return tickets for the 2026/27 season run R475 for adults and R230 for children aged 4 to 17. Pair the ride with a stroll through the city bowl or a sunset at the V&A Waterfront.
In Lisbon, the rattling yellow No. 28 tram threads through Graça, Baixa, Chiado and Estrela, doubling as transport and moving viewpoint past tiled façades and miradouros. The city's historic lifts and funiculars handle the hills so your legs don't have to. Hong Kong's answer is the Peak Tram, running since 1888, whose steep ten-minute climb to Victoria Peak creates a disorienting illusion of skyscrapers tilting around you — with Sky Terrace 428 waiting at the top.
Budapest offers the Buda Castle Funicular, operating since 1870, linking Clark Ádám Square to the Castle District in a few scenic minutes; follow it with a Danube cruise past Parliament and Fisherman's Bastion. Rio's cable car to Sugarloaf Mountain, running for over a century, rises via Morro da Urca with views over Guanabara Bay and Christ the Redeemer — and the park at the base rewards lingering far longer than a quick photo stop.
San Francisco's three cable-car lines — a National Historic Landmark, no less — haul riders up hills between Chinatown, Nob Hill and Fisherman's Wharf, and the Cable Car Museum explains the machinery behind it all. London combines a Thames cruise past Tower Bridge and Big Ben with the IFS Cloud cable car across the river between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks. And Stockholm, spread across 14 islands, makes sense best from the water: a guided sightseeing boat through the city's waterways, or a longer run out into the archipelago.
The wider point is a useful one for anyone planning a trip. These attractions exist because they offer perspectives you can't get on foot — height, water, motion — and they turn getting around into the highlight rather than a means to an end. Skip the guilt, buy the ticket, and stay at the viewpoint longer than planned. Travellers who want to reclaim the simple fun of sightseeing will find all eight cities make it remarkably easy.
