Stellenbosch & Cape Town

Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch is a beautiful town located 45 minutes from Cape Town and surrounded by the vineyards of the Cape Winelands. The town architecture is a reminder of South Africa’s Dutch colonial history with white painted buildings and timber edgings, the streets lined with large oak trees and filled with cafes, boutiques and art galleries.

On a previous visit to South Africa we did a day tour to Stellenbosch but felt at the end that we had missed out on a lot of what it had to offer; this time wanted to spend a more time there allowing for a couple of nights.

We stayed at River Manor Boutique Hotel where the building and grounds are very Stellenbosch. The hotel has a great location in the town and the rooms are fitted out beautifully and are all very cozy. I didn’t get a good photo of the breakfast spread which is included in the price, however it was lovely and so nice to enjoy outside in the courtyard or in the sun filled dining area.

Once checked in we enjoyed our first afternoon and evening wandering around town and deciding what to have for dinner. Stellenbosch has so many places to choose from. Unfortunately some of the more popular ones (e.g. The Fat Butcher) get so busy that you need to reserve a table a few days out (at least), so a bit of advice there for others to book in advance if you are keen on a particular restaurant. We were not so organised and had to wing it a little.

The next day we had planned to self drive to some of the wineries in the region, however had then heard about a hop on - hop off tram in nearby Franschhoek that takes you to a number of wineries. We thought this might be more fun so booked tickets for the tram and headed off (you can get an Uber between the towns so its not too expensive).

Franschhoek feels a bit like Stellenbosch with similar architecture and the mountains just behind the town. We had an hour or so before the tram departed to wander around and grab coffee. It would also have been nice to have stayed in Franschhoek, equally lovely!

From the town we were actually boarded on a bus which took us to the start of the tram line.

There are a number of lines/routes you can take. We selected the Green Line which starts with the tram and the last few wineries are via a bus. There are 8 stops in total but depending on the time you start the most stops you can do is 6 and then decreases from there.

The day was so much fun! The tram, even though it only goes a short distance, is a nice touch and lovely way to get around. We were also lucky to finally get some sunny weather so could sit outside and enjoy our wine tasting.

We ended up visiting only 4 wineries, spending a bit of extra time in the final winery after meeting people and having a nice chat.

The wineries we visited were: Grand Provence, Rickety Bridge, La Bri and Holden Manz. And I’m going to say something a little controversial, that being that I actually don’t rate their star grape in the region, Pinotage. But I am a fan of the Chenin Blanc.

We did spend a bit more time in Stellenbosch on the third day, really just enjoying the town and everything it has to offer. I’m really glad we did come back to Stellenbosch following our previous visit. You can do a day trip out there, especially if you are short on time, but if you can spend more time you should definitely do it. I’d recommend 1-2 nights.

Cape Town

From Stellenbosch we headed west to Cape Town.

We loved Cape Town on our first visit and our second visit was no different. Cape Town has everything; beautiful coast, mountains, colourful buildings, a pretty waterfront, delicious fresh food, great coffee and lovely shops.

We stayed in the De Waterkant area in Cape Quarter. We had a studio apartment with plenty of space and even a washing machine/dryer which came in handy by this time of our trip. It also had a great view of Table Mountain and downstairs in the complex was a Spar supermarket and other useful amenities.

On our last trip we had stayed on Long Street and had initially planned to stay in that area again. I’m really glad we didn’t now. Long Street felt a bit neglected when we went there for a drink one night and less party (although I think we may have been there a bit early for anything fun).

The area we did stay in, De Waterkant, was perfect for us. Lots of nice restaurants and cafes, streets lined with colourful buildings. Which brings me to Bo Kaap.

The Bo-Kaap area was only a few blocks from where we stayed and very cool to walk around. The area was formerly known as the Malay Quarter and is a former township. Today it appeared to have a mix of ethnicities living there and lots of families. The buildings and colours are lots of fun, and go for many blocks.

One of the things we had been tossing up on doing is climbing or getting the cable cart up to the top of Table Mountain. We really wanted to climb it but had read and heard mixed stories on the best trail to follow and felt a bit confused. We had also been up to the top of the mountain before so we were very open to doing a different mountain when we read about Lions Head Mountain.

The Lions Head Mountain climb was one of my favourite things that we did in South Africa. It was challenging without being too difficult. I think all up it took us an hour or so each way. The view was incredible, an added bonus being that we had Table Mountain in the view.

We were super lucky with weather as well. Later in the day, when we were back in town, the weather changed and became cool and overcast. However for that morning we had sun and watching the cloud roll in made us feel like we were on top of the world.

We were pretty happy with ourselves :-)

Later that day we went for a drive around the mountains stopping in Hout Bay and Camps Bay. As the pictures show, the cloud had set in, but in some ways they made it even more beautiful.

No trip to Cape Town is complete without a visit to the Waterfront.

We went to the water front on a lovely sunny day, starting off with a visit to The Watershed.

The Watershed is filled with arts, crafts, fashion and jewellery. We wandered around there for a while and then walked down to the main shopping and food area where we had lunch.

And even on a sunny day the low cloud covered Table Mountain.

In the evening we went for sunset drinks at a roof top bar (and restaurant), Utopia.

We had an awesome view of the city and enjoyed a glass of sparkling while the sun was setting. We also had a clear view of Lions Head Mountain (picture above) and the colourful buildings in Bo Kaap below the mountain.

From Utopia we headed to Mojo Market.

Mojo Market is in the Sea Point area and is a collection of restaurants, bars and a few shops, with live music in the evenings.

I loved this place and wish we had this in Sydney! There were lots of locals enjoying their evening out with friends and the wide variety of food and drinks. You can buy a bottle of wine there to go with your food and there was a bar selling 100 beers on tap.

Our time in Cape Town was short and we didn’t do a lot of the more touristy stuff this time, e.g. Robbin Island, as we had done it before. But of course if you’re a first time visitor you should definitely do all of those things as they’re all apart of the Cape Town experience.

FOOD

I’ve touched on some of our food stops above, but have included some pics of the highlights below from both Stellenbosch and Cape Town. Top picks for us were: Nobu, Origin Coffee Roasting and Loading Bay. But really, in either place, you can’t go too wrong :-). And remember to book ahead if there’s a place you really want to go to.