For the non-academic there’s no pressing reason to visit UCT, but it’s nonetheless an impressive place to walk around. Unfortunately, it has experienced violent student protests in recent years. The Upper Campus (west of the M3) presents a fairly cohesive architectural front, with ivy-covered neoclassical facades and a fine set of stone steps leading to the temple-like Jameson Hall. If you call ahead, it's possible to arrange a tour of the library.
If you approach UCT from Woolsack Dr, you’ll pass the Woolsack, a cottage designed in 1900 by Sir Herbert Baker for Cecil Rhodes. Now a student residence, it’s said that Rhodes' friend Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem 'If' during his sojourns here between 1900 and 1907.