Cape Winelands
Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl. An hour out and a different landscape, with towns worth walking as much as the farms.
Guides to this part of the city
Wine estates
Babylonstoren
A 1692 Cape Dutch working farm transformed into a world-class destination. Explore the famous eight-acre edible garden, taste estate wines, and dine…
Vergelegen Wine Estate
On the Helderberg slopes in Somerset West, Vergelegen (est. 1700) spans over 3,000 hectares. It pairs award-winning Bordeaux-style wines with celebrated gardens,…
Lanzerac Wine Estate
At the foot of the Jonkershoek Mountains, historic Lanzerac (est. 1692) is the birthplace of the world’s first bottled Pinotage. Today it…
La Motte
A historic Franschhoek estate dating to 1695, La Motte blends French Huguenot heritage with award-winning wines, contemporary South African cuisine, an artisan…
Delaire Graff
Perched on the Helshoogte Pass between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, Delaire Graff blends acclaimed wines with fine dining, African art and a luxury…
Tokara Wine Estate
A premier Stellenbosch estate on the Helshoogte Pass, Tokara pairs internationally acclaimed wines with award-winning olive oil, fine dining and contemporary art,…
Boschendal
In the Franschhoek Valley, Boschendal (est. 1685) blends historic Cape Dutch architecture with award-winning wines, seasonal picnics, farm-to-table dining and luxury stays.…
Spier Wine Farm
Just outside Stellenbosch, Spier combines three centuries of Cape Dutch heritage with award-winning wines, chocolate pairings, art and picnics. Its regenerative farming…
Walking
La Motte Hiking Trail
La Motte’s hiking trail is a five-kilometre circular route on the estate, of which about two kilometres is trail proper. Allow two…
Jonkershoek Panorama Circuit
The Panorama Circuit is the big day in Jonkershoek. It climbs from the Eerste River to Bergriviernek, contours high across the Dwarsberg…
Dirtopia Hiking Loop, Muratie
The Dirtopia Trail Centre sits in the Ansela building on Muratie, off Knorhoek Road on the Simonsberg side of the R44. Its…
Swartboskloof to Sosyskloof
Sosyskloof is the easy loop in Jonkershoek, and it begins on exactly the same climb as the 18 kilometre Swartboskloof Trail. Where…
Tweede Waterval (Second Waterfall)
Tweede Waterval is the gentlest of the four official trails in Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. The path leaves the hairpin bend on the…
Perdekop Trail
The Perdekop Trail is the big day at Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve above Franschhoek: a thirteen-kilometre circuit to the reserve’s high point…
Golf
De Zalze Golf Club
De Zalze is a Peter Matkovich design laid out across three farms on the edge of Stellenbosch, with fairways running between vineyards,…
Hazendal Golf
Hazendal Golf is the shortest full round in this collection and the only one where every hole is a par 3. Eighteen…
Stellenbosch Golf Club
Stellenbosch Golf Club is, by its own account, the fourth oldest club in South Africa: a parkland layout at the foot of…
Erinvale Golf Club
Erinvale is a Gary Player design that opened in 1995 at the foot of the Helderberg in Somerset West, about thirty minutes…
Paarl Golf Club
Paarl Golf Club has twenty-seven holes on Boschenmeer Golf and Country Estate in the Paarl and Franschhoek valley, framed by mountains, rivers…
Pearl Valley Golf Course
Pearl Valley is a Nicklaus Design course in the Paarl and Franschhoek valley off the N1 north of Cape Town, ringed by…
Things to do
Wellington Wine Walk
The Wellington Wine Walk is a guided walking experience rather than a marked public trail. Accredited guides lead small groups between historic…
Franschhoek Wine Tram
The Wine Tram is how most visitors move between Franschhoek wine estates without driving. You choose one of five colour lines and…
Hot Air Ballooning
A sunrise flight over the Cape Winelands, lifting off from farmland as the light comes up. Flights go only when the air…
Cape Winelands Wine Tour
A driver lets you enjoy the tastings without worrying about the road home. Send us your dates, your group size and any…
Mountain biking
Bottelary Yellow Loop from Brenaissance
A mapped version of Bottelary Hills’ official Yellow Loop starting from Brenaissance, one of the Conservancy’s recognised access points. The route heads…
The Ibex
One of MTO Jonkershoek’s three featured routes, The Ibex combines a substantial valley climb with contour riding and a sequence of flowing…
Helderberg Farm Black Section
Helderberg Farm’s most demanding marked MTB route, combining a compact 12 km loop with substantial climbing and Black-grade riding. Green, Blue and…
Bovenland Red
Bovenland Red is a 12 km circular route in the Paarl Trails network, starting and finishing at Spice Route Destination. Paarl Trails…
The ABC Trail
A primary-confirmed Green route at Muratie built from three sections: A is 3.7 km to Gilloolys, C returns 2.7 km, and the…
More about this area
Everything else in Cape Winelands
SCHOON Church Street Cafe
SCHOON is where a Stellenbosch morning is supposed to start. The bakery sits on the corner of Bird and Church, and the smell reaches you before the doorway does — sourdough, pastries and coffee going out to the pavement tables from seven in the morning. It is a working bakery first and a café second, […]
Cantina
Chefs Warehouse brought its Cape Town instincts to Church Street and left most of the formality behind. Cantina is built around a communal table under bright lemon tiles, with a handful of two-tops and pavement seating that fills as soon as the afternoon cools. The reference point is a Basque pintxos bar: small plates that […]
Vadas Smokehouse & Bakery
Vadas cooks over fire and bakes its own bread, and does both in a large, easy room at Spier that never turns precious about it. Much of what reaches the table was grown or raised on the farm; the rest is sourced with the same intent. This is the estate restaurant to choose when you […]
Meraki
Meraki has a reasonable claim to being the prettiest room in Stellenbosch — high light, plants, pale wood, and a bakery counter that pulls people in off Church Street. It runs from seven in the morning until nine at night, which makes it one of the few places in town able to handle breakfast, a […]
De Eetkamer
De Eetkamer means “the dining room”, and the name is doing real work. Chef-owner Marco Cardoso has taken a heritage building at the top end of Dorp Street — a stable, in a previous life — and made it feel more like eating at someone’s table than in a restaurant. The oak-shaded courtyard is the […]
Spek & Bone
Spek & Bone is Bertus Basson’s small-plates room on Dorp Street, and it solves a specific problem: somewhere to eat properly without committing to a full sit-down dinner. Order two or three things and a glass of red, then order two more if the evening is going well. The room is narrow and unfussy, and […]
The Vine Bistro
Glenelly sits in Ida’s Valley, a few minutes off the main road and quiet enough that most visitors never find it. Chef-patron Christophe Dehosse cooks the traditional bistro food of his native France — confit pork cheeks, springbok loin, a proper bouillabaisse — on a menu that changes every week. Parisian café tables, a terrace […]
Delaire Graff Restaurant
There is no view in the Winelands quite like this one. Delaire Graff sits at the top of the Helshoogte pass, and the terrace looks straight down the Banhoek valley towards the Simonsberg. People book it for anniversaries and talk about it long afterwards. The cooking is refined without being austere, the wine list is […]
The Fat Butcher
The Fat Butcher answers the question “where should we eat tonight” more often than anywhere else in town. It occupies a historic building a block off Church Street — wooden floors, leather booths, a shaded courtyard at the back — and it opens every day of the week, which in Stellenbosch counts for a great […]
Archery
Archery splits into two shapes. Target archery is shot at a known distance onto a paper face and is about repeating one motion precisely. Field and 3D archery move you through a course, shooting foam animals at unmarked distances among trees, which adds range judgement and a walk to the problem. Both exist around the […]