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Winelands Explore

Explore - Stellenbosch Village
Wine Tasting - Explore Banhoek for a Unique Tasting Experience
Explore – Franschhoek, boutique shops, galleries & cafes
Wine Tasting – Tailored to Taste, Handpicked by Your Expert Guide
View details of these activities

Overview

The Cape Winelands invite a slower, more considered style of travel, where each stop reveals a layer of history, craftsmanship and quiet beauty. Today is designed for gentle exploration, blending village charm, scenic landscapes and thoughtfully curated wine experiences.

Begin in Stellenbosch, one of South Africa’s oldest and most characterful towns. Wander beneath oak lined avenues where Cape Dutch architecture sits alongside contemporary galleries, boutiques and inviting cafés. The pace here is easy and unhurried, with time to browse, pause for a perfectly brewed coffee and soak up the atmosphere of this vibrant university town. Your guide brings the streets to life with stories of heritage, culture and the people who shape this enduring Winelands hub.

From here, the journey leads into the Banhoek Valley, a tucked away pocket of the Winelands where mountains rise dramatically above carefully tended vineyards. This is a place where winemaking and conservation exist in harmony, creating a more intimate and distinctive tasting experience. Surrounded by sweeping valley views, enjoy a relaxed introduction to wines that reflect both place and philosophy, each sip shaped by the unique conditions of this lesser explored region.

Continue to Franschhoek, a village rich in French heritage and known for its refined yet welcoming atmosphere. Stroll along its main street, where boutique shops, art galleries and small design studios invite curiosity and discovery. There is time to wander at your own pace, perhaps stopping for a light bite or something sweet, while the rhythm of the village unfolds around you.

The day concludes with a final wine tasting, carefully selected by your guide to suit your personal taste and interests. This may be a hidden cellar nestled into the mountains, a historic estate with a strong sense of legacy or a contemporary winery known for its innovative approach. Each setting offers a different perspective, allowing the Winelands to reveal its diversity in a relaxed and meaningful way.

This is a day of gentle immersion, where each moment feels unhurried, personal and connected to the landscape, offering a beautifully balanced introduction to the culture and character of the Winelands.

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  • Tour Activities: Unpacked

    Explore - Stellenbosch Village
    A blend of historical architecture, student life, epicurean delights and oak-lined avenues, Stellenbosch is a picturesque university town surrounded by mountains and vineyards. A walking tour of the town centre allows visitors to take in its beautifully preserved Cape Dutch and Victorian architecture, as well as the many enticing art galleries, craft shops, clothing boutiques and gift stores, while foodies may prefer indulging in mouth-watering cuisine and fine wines at one of the chic restaurants or buzzing bistros. Stellenbosch is also the ideal base from which to explore the renowned local wine route, boasting a high proportion of the country’s leading wine estates.

    Wine Tasting - Explore Banhoek for a Unique Tasting Experience
    Nestled between the rugged peaks of the Helshoogte Pass, the Banhoek region offers one of the most scenic and soulful wine-tasting settings in the Cape. This protected valley blends natural beauty with artisanal craftsmanship, where boutique vineyards and small-scale producers create wines that reflect both terroir and passion. Enjoy a guided tasting that goes beyond the ordinary, sampling limited-release vintages and learning about the region’s conservation efforts that preserve its fynbos-covered slopes and wildlife. Surrounded by sweeping mountain views and the hum of nature, this experience is as much about connection to land, to people, and to purpose as it is about the wine in your glass.

    Explore – Franschhoek, boutique shops, galleries & cafes
    This peaceful country retreat in idyllic surroundings is one of South Africa’s oldest towns, with a rich heritage dating back to its seventeenth century French Huguenot origins. Franschhoek is beautifully preserved, with original Cape Dutch architecture still very much in evidence, and a true feel of the original settler spirit. Within easy reach of Cape Town, this wonderful little town surrounded by world-class wine farms has an impressive range of excellent restaurants, quaint boutiques and art galleries along tree-lined avenues, and the fascinating Huguenot Memorial Museum which showcases its French history. Any chocolate lovers should also be sure to pop into the Huguenot Chocolate Shop for a tasting of the best chocolate in Town.

    Wine Tasting – Tailored to Taste, Handpicked by Your Expert Guide
    Your guide will curate a wine-tasting experience perfectly matched to your palate and preferences. With so many exceptional estates in the region, from boutique, family-run farms to cutting-edge producers, there’s something for every taste. Whether you're drawn to bold reds, elegant whites, or lesser-known varietals, your guide will select a vineyard that aligns with your interests, the day’s rhythm, and any hidden gems they know guests love. Expect an experience to sip, savour, and take in the scenic beauty of the Cape Winelands.

  • Enhance Your Tour (Optional add-ons)

    Tour enhancements
    Please contact your agent regarding additional costings for the optional tour enhancement activities we have listed.
    Should one of these activities be chosen your itinerary will be adapted accordingly.

     Explore – Guided Walk Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden (Covered by the All-Inclusive Enhanced Rate)
    Over the past several years Dylan Lewis has become increasingly aware of the significance of wilderness to the human psyche and has been exploring the idea of co-existing internal and external free and untamed wild spaces. This led to his desire to deepen the animal-human interface in his work, and in early 2009 he began to explore the male figure for the first time in his career. Since then he has launched himself into a passionate exploration of both male and female figures: a dynamic integration of human, animal, and earth, held together by ideas of ancient animistic belief and myth. This new work represents the ongoing human struggle of everyday duality, suggesting that we embrace the tensions between animal and human nature and moreover, that there is a beauty to be found in wrestling with that integration.

    Explore - Exclusive Barrel Tasting (Covered by the All-Inclusive Enhanced Rate)
    You’ve done the wine tours and counter tastings, but, until you’ve barrel tasted, you haven’t really lived. Barrel tasting is when a winemaker opens up his or her barrels and samples wines that are aging for the consumer. This takes place during the secondary fermentation, when the wine is being aged in barrels before wine ever makes it into the bottle. Normally, a consumer’s first taste of any given wine is the finished product. Barrel tasting gives you not only a sneak peek into what’s to come, but also a unique chance to meet the winemaker, lock in futures, and gain a whole new perspective on the winemaking process.

    Hop On Specialist - Cape Wine Master (Supplement Rate)
    Harry is a Cape Wine Master whose philosophy is that wine was put on this earth to make people clever and to improve their social skills. With Harry on a tour, his focus is on the interactions of the day, by creating a chance to slow down, share a story and engage while learning in a quirky, unpretentious ways which the South African winelands have to offer. Of course, visiting the best wine farms and drinking the most delicious wine is a given. But with a story, eye contact and a handshake or two those very wine farms and their wines are sure to be even better...at the foremost Harry is a story teller.

    Helicopter Adventure - Winelands Flight with Secret Mountain Stop, Landing at Local Wine Farm (Supplement Rate)
    Take to the skies on a spectacular Helicopter Adventure through the Cape Winelands, where rolling vineyards, rugged mountain ranges and historic estates unfold beneath you. This scenic flight reveals the region from a rare and privileged perspective, tracing valleys and peaks before touching down at a secret mountain location known only to locals and pilots. Step out into complete stillness, surrounded by dramatic landscapes and far reaching views, for a moment that feels entirely removed from the everyday. From here, lift off once more and descend into the heart of the Winelands, landing directly at a local wine farm. Enjoy the relaxed elegance of the estate as you savour exceptional wines and soak up the atmosphere, completing an experience that blends adventure, exclusivity and refined indulgence.

  • Important Notes

    Notes:

    Tours are private

    Includes:

    On board gourmet pantry with drinks (soft drinks, craft beer, wine and craft gin and tonic).
    Adventure gear for Active days and Travelling Toy Box for families.

    Excludes:

    Lunch - Please see lunch options
    Entrances Fees
    Tour Enhancements (Please contact your agent regarding additional costings)

    Pricing

    For full details and descriptions, please contact your travel consultant

Active

Family

Quirky