Day Trip Guide
45 minutes from the CBD. South Africa’s culinary capital with world-ranked restaurants and wine estates. The Franschhoek Wine Tram is the civilised way to taste your way through the valley without needing a designated driver.
Franschhoek is, without exaggeration, one of the best food and wine destinations in the world. The valley is home to estates like La Motte, Haute Cabrière, and Boschendal — names that regularly appear on global top-100 lists. And the restaurants (The Tasting Room, Reuben’s, Foliage) would hold their own in any major city.
The Wine Tram is the move. R280 gets you a hop-on-hop-off ticket through 8 estates, with the tram and open-air bus doing the driving. Start at the main stop on Huguenot Road, and work your way through the valley. Book in advance — it sells out on weekends, especially in summer.
Pro tip: go midweek if you can. The valley is quieter, the tastings are more personal, and you’ll get better tables at the restaurants. Drive the Helshoogte Pass on the way back for one of the most dramatic mountain roads in the Cape.
