American Express Thibault House, Thibault Square, City Centre tel 021 421 5586. Offers full Amex facilities, including help with lost cards.

Banks Main branches are easy to find in the shopping areas of the city centre, the middle-class suburbs and at the Waterfront (Mon-Fri 8.30am-3.30pm, Sat 8-11am). Wherever you find banks, you'll also find automatic teller machines (ATMs) that take cards on the Cirrus and Maestro networks.

Bike rental Mountain bikes are available from Rent'n'Ride, Park Road, Mouille Point (tel 021 434 1122; R75 a day including helmet and lock; R1000 credit card deposit required). Downhill Adventures (tel 021422 0388, ) offers similar rentals for R95 a day or R570 a week.

Bureaux de change For foreign-exchange transactions outside normal banking hours, try one of the following: American Express, Shop 11a, Alfred Mall, Waterfront (Mon-Fri 9am-7pm, Sat & Sun 9am-5pm; tel 021 419 3917); Rennies Foreign Exchange, Victoria Wharf, V&A Waterfront (Mon-Sat 9am-9pm, Sun 10am-9pm; tel 021 418 3744); Rennies Travel, Riebeeck Street, City Centre (Mon-Thurs 8.30am-5pm, Fri 9-11.30am, Sat 9am-noon; tel 021 425 2370); Absa Bank, Cape Town International Airport (Mon 7am-8pm, Tues 6am-8pm, Wed 7am-9pm, Thurs 7am-8m, Fri 7am-9pm, Sat 7am-8pm, Sun 6am-9pm; tel 021 934 0223).

Car parks These are dotted all over the place in this car-friendly city. There are pay-and-display car parks at street level all around the centre, where hustlers will offer to look after your car and clean it for a tip, especially on the Grand Parade and Loop and Church streets. If you want to park in peace, head for one of the multi-storey parking garages; there's one attached to the Golden Acre complex, and another at the north end of Lower Burg Street.

Car rental One of the cheapest is Discount Drive Car Hire (tel 021 511 6802), which rents out vehicles for as little as R160 a day (including 200km a day free) on the basis of a one-week rental, while Berea Car and Bakkie Hire (tel 021 386 4054) offers a rate of R260 a day for three to six days with 250km free a day. For one-way rental (to drive down the Garden Route and fly back from Port Elizabeth, for example), you'll have to rely on one of the bigger companies, such as Avis tel 0861 021 111, ; Budget tel 0861 016 622, ; Europcar tel 0800 011 344, ; Hertz tel 0861 600 136, ; Imperial tel 0800 131 000, ; Tempest tel 0800 031 666, . Although pricier, they have nationwide offices. You'll need a credit card to arrange car rental.

Dental care Dentists are listed in the Yellow Pages telephone directory and are well up to British and North American standards, and generally no more expensive.

Educational tours For arranging specialist educational exchanges, cultural visits or fact-finding missions, there are few better operators in Cape Town than Ida Cooper Associates (tel 021 683 4648, idaca@iafrica.com ), who facilitate contacts with a wide range of South Africans, including leading academics, artists, writers and government ministers.

Embassies and consulates Canada, 60 St George's Mall tel 021 423 5240; UK, Southern Life Centre, 8 Riebeeck St tel 021 405 2400; USA, 4th floor, Broadway Centre, Heerengracht tel 021 421 4280. The main embassies for most countries are in Pretoria, South Africa's executive capital.

Emergencies Ambulance tel 10177; Police (Flying Squad) tel 10111; Rape Crisis tel 021 447 9762.

Hospitals and doctors Doctors are listed in the telephone directory under "Medical" and hospitals under "Hospitals and Associated Institutions". The largest state hospital is Groote Schuur, Hospital Drive, Observatory (tel 021 404 9111), just off the M3. Somerset Hospital, Beach Road, Mouille Point (tel 021 402 6911), nearer the centre, has outpatient and emergency departments and is convenient for the City Bowl and Atlantic seaboard, although it's generally overcrowded, understaffed and seemingly under-equipped. If you have medical insurance you might prefer to be treated at one of the well-staffed and well-equipped private hospitals listed in the phone directory. The two largest hospital groups are the Netcare (emergency response tel 082911) and Medi-clinic chains, with hospitals all over the Cape Peninsula. Most central is Netcare's Chris Barnard Memorial Hospital (formerly the City Park) on Loop Street (tel 021 480 6111).

Laundry Most backpacker hostels have coin-operated washing machines, while guesthouses, hotels and B&Bs will usually offer a laundry service for a charge. There are also laundries in the city centre and most suburban areas that will do a service wash for you.

Left luggage Virtually every backpacker hostel provides luggage storage facilities and most other accommodation will be happy to take care of your luggage for a day or two. The left-luggage facility next to platform 24 at the train station (Mon-Fri 7am-4pm) is inexpensive and convenient if you're arriving by intercity bus or train, or catching an airport shuttle into the city centre.

Mobile phone rental Available from Cellucity, Shop 6193, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (tel 021 418 1306) for around R13 per day for the handset, with calls charged at a little under R2.50 per minute. For security reasons you'll need a credit card.

Pharmacies Chemists with extended opening hours include: Hypermed Pharmacy, corner York and Main roads, Green Point (Mon-Sat 8.30am-9pm, Sun 9am-9pm; tel 021 434 1414); Sunset Pharmacy, Sea Point Medical Centre, Kloof Road, Sea Point (daily 8.30am-9pm; tel 021 434 3333); Tamboerskloof Pharmacy, 16 Kloof Nek Road, Tamboerskloof (daily 9.30am-6pm; tel 021 424 4450).

Police Head office: Caledon Square, Buitenkant Street tel 021 467 8000.

Post office The main branch, on Parliament Street, City Centre (Mon-Tues & Thurs-Fri 8am-4.30pm, Wed 8.30am-4.30pm, Sat 8am-noon; tel 021 464 1700), has a poste restante and enquiry desk.

Taxis There are a number of reliable companies, including Marine Taxi Hire (tel 021 434 0434), Sea Point Radio Taxis (tel 021 434 4444), Unicab (tel 021 448 1720) and Rikki's (tel 021 423 4892).

Ticket agencies Computicket (tel 021 915 8000, ) and Ticketweb ( ) book most theatre, cinema and sporting events, as well as airline and bus tickets.

Travel agents The largest travel franchise in the country is Sure Travel, which has about two dozen centres across Cape Town; call 0800 221 656 for the nearest office. Try also STA, 31 Riebeeck St tel 021 418 6570.