A visit to Franschhoek’s vineyards is an appealing day trip option from Cape Town. But staying a night or two in this South African Winelands town offers an opportunity to ride a wine tram, eat fabulous food and really enjoy the stunning scenery.
Lunch stop in Stellenbosch
My journey from Cape Town to Franschhoek was via the bigger and probably better-known wine town of Stellenbosch. The Winelands area has hundreds of vineyards, so it’s another great option for an overnight stay if you want a shorter journey. Stellenbosch was founded by the Dutch and the elegant architecture clearly has colonial roots. The university is said to be the best in South Africa, and the campus buildings we saw on the drive into town made it look like a very appealing option.
We arrived in Stellenbosch at lunchtime and headed for Church Street which is lined with nice eateries and shops. Hygge Hygge was our choice and lived up to its name. Hygge is a Danish concept that encompasses a sense of cosiness and contentment.
After lunch, we explored the town to admire the many gorgeous buildings and walked around Braak, the town square and home to St Mary’s on the Braak Church. The square is also a good place to find free parking if the streets are busy. There are also many nice shops to browse in Stellenbosch including the quirky Oom Samie see Winkel (Uncle Sammy’s Shop) in Dorp Street which has an extraordinary range of goods for sale!
Franschhoek’s stunning scenery
The drive from Stellenbosch into Franschhoek takes you up into the mountains through acres of vines before coming down into the valley where the French Huguenots settled in the latter part of the 17th century. As a result, every main site in Franschhoek is set against a spectacular backdrop of mountains. That includes the Dutch Reformed Church in the main street and the striking Huguenot Monument.
We stayed close to the memorial in the Corner House Residence on Union Street. It’s a pretty house with lovely gardens and a large wraparound terrace. As with many of the hotels and guest houses in Franschhoek, they offer a free wine tasting which was a very nice welcome on the evening we arrived.
Riding the wine tram
One of the reasons we chose Franschhoek over Stellenbosch was its wine tram. The idea of travelling around vineyards on a tram was very appealing! In reality, the tram line only runs between a few wineries with the rest connected by shuttle buses, but it’s still a fun way to spend a day. You can get tickets at the wine tram station or from a small ticket booth closer to the town. But we pre-booked online to make sure we could get on the line we wanted. I won’t lie, it’s a bit of a complicated system which feels more so after a few tastings but we managed to get on and off at the right times and places!
We went for a line recommended by a colleague and because we liked the look of the vineyard options and the frequency of the tram/ buses. Since then the lines have been updated so I’d suggest doing the Red line which includes the three vineyards we enjoyed the most and plenty of other options. Our first stop was Haute Cabriere, which is known for its MCC. Method Cap Classique is the Cape’s name for wine made in the Champagne method as it can only be called Champagne in France. We did a tasting of four MCC wines which was an excellent way to start the day.
Our next stop was Grande Provence, a gorgeous wine estate with beautiful gardens and an art gallery. The wines are great too and we enjoyed sitting at the large oval-shaped bar to do our tasting of five wines. Yes, we were up to nine wines and it wasn’t lunchtime yet!
That’s why Rickety Bridge, our next vineyard visit, was where we had lunch. Paulina’s restaurant is popular as the food is excellent so we pre-booked a table. We decided to have a paired tasting and each of the three wines was served with a delicious dish. We liked it at Rickety Bridge so much that we stayed on to try their MCC in the tasting room.
We originally thought we might do two more vineyards but were flagging by now, so we finished our day at Chamonix. The tasting room wasn’t the best we’d seen so I wouldn’t recommend it, but we had a great time as we got chatting to two German girls on the shuttle bus that we’d seen earlier in the day but not spoken to. Many wines later everyone was much chattier! So we did the tasting with them and with four of us, the table quickly got covered in glasses and bottles.
Eating in Franschhoek is also fabulous!
As well as the wineries, Franschhoek is also known as South Africa’s gastronomic capital. We could see why after a fantastic first-night meal and cocktails at Reubens. The second night, after our day on the wine tram, we went to Protege where the town’s French roots are very apparent. We had a set menu and every course looked and tasted amazing. The food really was exceptional and we somehow managed to drink a bit more wine with it!
Protege is in Franschhoek’s main thoroughfare, Huguenot Street which is lined with shops, cafes and restaurants. Of course, there are wine shops but plenty of others too including Watamu, a craft store that supports African producers and where I picked up some very nice salad servers.
So while we could have taken a long day trip from Cape Town to visit a couple of wineries we were very happy we invested more of our time to stay in lovely Franschhoek. For more posts about my trip check the South Africa section of my blog.