After spending 4 days visiting Cape Town and its surroundings, we moved to the Franschhoek winery area for two days of amazing wine and tasty food.
Before arriving in Franschhoek, we stopped at the Avondale winery, in Paarl, for eating. We were pampered from the first minute we entered the premise.
We enjoyed our lunch on the terrace, overlooking the beautiful view of the winery. Each plate tasted incredibly, and they were also superbly presented. Moreover, we paired each dish with the recommended house wine (which, by the way, are all organic), as per suggestion of our waiter.
We couldn’t be happier!
We also bought a bottle of one of their red wines, Samsara. Highly recommended if you love full-bodied red wine.
After a couple of hours there, it was time to go to our Macaron Boutique Guest House in Franschhoek (20 mins drive). It was perfectly located near the main street, but peaceful enough to relax in the garden. The owner was very welcoming and gave us a lot of good tips for the wineries to visit the next day. We really recommend this wonderful little hotel.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Franschhoek and we ended up at the Tuk Tuk Microbrewery for a couple of beers. If you always fancy a pint, this is a good place. Hey Joe is another brewery recommended by the locals, but unfortunately it was closed on the two days we were there.
We finished our day with a lovely dinner at Reuben’s.
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Our next day was dedicated to visiting the different wineries and – while we wanted to do that on the Franschhoek wine tram – we ended up driving because all lines were fully booked. Piece of advice: book in advance.
We started with the Babylonstoren, one of the oldest and biggest wineries in the area. In addition to the wine tasting, they have a huge garden with a multitude of plants and animals and many other activities. For those interested, they also offer different accommodation options and have 3 restaurants.
We tried their 6 glasses of wine formula for R60 per person, which included 3 whites, 1 rosé and 2 red wines. They were all delicious, but our favourite was the Shiraz.
You should definitely spend at least 2.5 hours at Babylonstoren to fully enjoy all the activities they offer.
Afterwards, we drove to the Rupert & Rothschild winery nearby which was much smaller but cosier. There, we tested 3 wines: 2 whites and one red. As usual, the red one was our favourite :).
Since it was already lunch time, we decided to eat in their restaurant and this turned out to be an excellent decision: each dish tasted amazing and they were all very well presented. We enjoyed our lunch with a glass of red wine that was made by the same company but in Argentina.
We finally headed to Boschendal winery, our last stop for the day. The wine tasting setting there is beautiful: white tables under a massive tree.
We choose the 4 fine wines tasting option, with included one white and 3 red wines, and we enjoyed them looking at the sunset.
This winery also includes many additional activities (such as horse riding, restaurant, farm tours, etc.), but we didn’t have time to try them. To be honest, we also started to feel the alcohol 🙂
After going back to our accommodation, we enjoyed a cold beer at Tuk Tuk Microbrewery (like wine wasn’t enough!).
For dinner, we went to Marigold Indian restaurant to change from the usual South African meal. Unfortunately, we were quite disappointed with the food (which was a first during our South Africa trip) and we don’t recommend it (it was cold and even the flavour came short).
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The next day we wanted to drive on the Franschhoek Pass but it was closed because of a brake and we were forced to take the Garden Route via Stellenbosch.
More on that part of our trip here.
To note:
There is a lot of discussion on which is better between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. We only passed by Stellenbosch by car so we cannot really comment on this.
Our feeling was that Stellenbosch is just another big city and, while we’re sure the wineries there are as good as the ones we visited, we found Franschhoek to be lovely with its colonial buildings and kind of slow-paced lifestyle (maybe a bit too touristic).
Of course, if you have time, visit both and let us know your thoughts!