Wine buffs are increasingly drawn to the area, as South African wines grow in reputation and popularity on the world stage. Lovers of history too, come to enjoy the wonderfully distinctive Cape Dutch architecture of the majestic homesteads that dot the valleys and hills. The Cape Winelands are perfect to visit as part of a tailor-made holiday to South Africa, or to explore on your own South African travel adventure.
Whether it’s just a day trip from Cape Town or a few days spent touring the sights, there is plenty for you to see. If you are lucky enough to be on a luxury holiday to South Africa, you should include a few nights of decadence on a specialised wine tour, staying on a grand Cape Estate. You will revel in the famous Cape hospitality, with world-class cuisine and, of course, a mouth-watering selection of local wines!
If your budget doesn’t stretch to luxury, there are many other ways to enjoy a tailor-made holiday to South Africa: View things from a different perspective and hit the open road on a Cape sidecar motorcycle, whizz around the countryside with the wind in your hair as a passenger, or take charge and drive your own! The area is also criss-crossed with hiking trails of all levels, and you can spend an afternoon strolling through rolling pastures and vineyards – stopping for a quick (or leisurely) taste on the way! You can also visit one of the many local cheese or chocolate factories.
The scenic route around the Cape Wineland region takes in a number of quaint towns and is easily explored by car or coach. Each town has its own distinct personality and any tailor-made holiday to South Africa should include a visit to at least one, or all of them.
Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch is South Africa’s second oldest town. It is renowned for its splendid Cape Dutch architecture and charming oak-lined streets. It’s also the starting point of a major wine route, which encompasses twenty glorious estates and wineries within a concentrated radius. For this reason, it is included in the itinerary of most tailor-made South African holidays but its wonderful alfresco cafes and great shopping facilities do not disappoint the casual visitor either!
Franschhoek
From Stellenbosch, the tiny town of Franchhoek is reached by a picturesque mountain route. This scenic road is one of the most beautiful drives in South Africa. Travel along the twisting, winding Helshoogte Pass (with its endless mountain vistas) and arrive in the town just in time for lunch! Franschhoek is famous for its fabulous restaurants and you can dine on wonderful food while enjoying panoramic views over the valley and the pass.
Paarl
Paarl -"the pearl of the Cape" – is home to the original Afrikaans language and the largest of the towns in the Winelands. Nederburg – South Africa’s best known wine estate is located in Paarl, but over and above the obvious choice of wine-tasting, there are a host of other activities to try. The mountains around the area are a designated nature reserve and there is a network of hiking and horse riding trails, as well as fly fishing facilities and some of the best golf courses in South Africa. Travel companies offering balloon flights and helicopter rides can treat you to a birds-eye view of the region that will take your breath away.
If you are planning a luxury holiday to South Africa, you will definitely not be disappointed by the Winelands. But whatever your priorities, while you travel South Africa, you will be embraced by the magic of this wonderful country - and as you explore the Cape Winelands, you will be entranced by the history, amazed by the food and wine, and warmed by the hospitality.
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Boutique Hotel Stellenbosch
Showing posts with label cape wineland accommodation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cape wineland accommodation. Show all posts
Monday, February 8, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Greater Stellenbosch 2010 Project: Stellenbosch World Cup 2010 Preparations
The picturesque town of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape is set to be a popular attraction during the 2010 World Cup, hosted by South Africa next year. The University of Stellenbosch and local council are making big preparations for the world’s most popular sports tournament. These preparations are in place to accommodate tourists and soccer fans, and also visiting teams, who are expected to spend time in the scenic university town during the games.
The Greater Stellenbosch 2010 project is helping the town to reach its true potential – as a world-class tourism destination and first-rate collection of sporting facilities. Local businesses, together with the town council, intend to create a home away from home for foreign visitors and sports people.
Find out more about Stellenbosch, South Africa, or read on to discover more about accommodation and activities on offer in Stellenbosch.
Accommodation in Stellenbosch
Accommodation is already available in Stellenbosch, in the form of quaint and cosy guest houses, which provide a welcoming feel for visitors to the Helderberg area. These guesthouses are graded by local authorities, thus ensuring that they are of a high standard, and offer all the amenities that guests would need for a comfortable stay. Different catering options, such as self-catering or full service, are available. These guest houses provide a relaxed and friendly atmosphere for visitors to the area.
Other types of accommodation include home-stays and university residence accommodation. Home-stays are a unique type of accommodation, and make for an unforgettable cultural experience. Home-stays are offered in the Dwars River Valley and Kayamandi, and provide a comfortable room in a family home. This is a true African experience, as well as an economical accommodation option. The University residences in the area will be able to accommodate 3,000 guests in affordable and basic accommodation. In total, Stellenbosch will be able to accommodate up to 6,000 people during the games.
Media facilities in Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch aims to host at least one World Cup team during the World Cup tournament. Local businesses, the municipality and the University of Stellenbosch are creating partnerships to create an exciting experience for all visitors to Stellenbosch during the tournament.
Training facilities in Stellenbosch
The university is enjoying an increased interest in its local soccer teams, whose successes are continually improving. A project is underway to build soccer fields on the northern fields of the university.
There are many first-rate sporting and training facilities available in Stellenbosch. One of the most successful rugby clubs in the country makes Stellenbosch its home. A programme of events is planned for the months leading up to the tournament, and training camps will be held for visiting teams before, during and after the World Cup. The university offers teams many excellent training grounds and facilities, such as the Danie Craven and Coetzenburg stadiums. These stadiums also offer sport support facilities, services and expertise.
The Coetzenburg Stadium is an excellent practice venue for visiting teams, as it has top facilities that are used by international teams when playing matches in the province. The indoor and outdoor sports facilities at the stadium include a gymnasium, recovery centre, sports-medicine unit and the Stellenbosch University Sports Performance Institute (SUSPI). The institute provides world-class athletes with training and support that is crucial to international sporting tournaments.
Top attractions in Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch is renowned for its wine and culinary offerings, which are some of the best in the country. The influx of visitors to the town during the World Cup tournament is expected to provide a significant boost for the local economy: It’s not just its sporting and accommodation facilities that are expected to put Stellenbosch on the map, but also its fine wines – produced in the region – and its magnificent vineyards and wine farms.
Stellenbosch is a mere 40-minute drive from the City of Cape Town, yet is set amongst spectacular countryside scenery. The town will provide a break from the bustling inner city, and a place where visitors can relax amongst history and beautiful surrounds.
Stellenbosch 2010: World-class facilities for a world-class event
Stellenbosch offers visitors a unique South African experience, including world-class training facilities and top-class accommodation. Through the partnerships of the municipality, local businesses and university, Stellenbosch is set to become a major destination during the World Cup 2010.
Secure your World Cup 2010 accommodation in Stellenbosch and enjoy the many facilities and activities the town offers to local and international visitors.
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Friday, June 26, 2009
Stellenbosch Accommodation
The surprising wonder world of exotic gourmet mushrooms is unlocked in the stylish elegance of a unique boutique hotel in Stellenbosch. This rare experience offers an opportunity to be pampered and to recuperate in a rural atmosphere amid vineyards and olives. The hotel’s location in Stellenbosch is ideal for an authentic experience of the Cape winelands, but it is also situated only a few kilometres from Cape Town Film Studios, South Africa’s own upcoming Hollywood – providing a totally different focus.
Setting
Here at Digteby Estate in Vlottenburg, a residential area in Stellenbosch, a passion for classic luxury with a contemporary flavour is fused with a unique gourmet mushroom experience.
The prizewinning architect Hein Visser restored the old manor house brilliantly. The initial design and dimensions of the building were retained and the original walls, roof beams, doorframes, sash windows and solid kiaat doors revive a bygone era. In addition, the spacious farm house with its typical elements from the late Herbert Baker era gained a few magnificent rooms in the large roof area.
There are six en suite bedrooms in this double-storey boutique hotel. Each window offers an unobstructed view of the blue Boland Mountains. A stay in the Wild Mushroom is a visual delight and sensory experience in an exclusive, private environment.
Mushroom Experience
George Velissariou’s interior reflects the exotic and luxury world of mushrooms. The rich colours and textures unfold in all sorts of surprising ways. Select guests can gain first-hand knowledge of mushrooms in the nursery cellars, where various varieties are cultivated by mycologist Dr W Adriaan Smit. With his passion for exotic mushrooms and as an inexhaustible source of knowledge on this subject, he unlocks an unknown world of interesting facts and experiences. Interest in exotic mushrooms is a new international trend, especially among the world’s leading chefs and in select hotels. The Wild Mushroom is the first hotel in the world that offers a mushroom-inspired experience, known as mycotourism.
Wild Mushroom Boutique Hotel - Stellenbosch Accommodation
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wines of the Cape - Regions
The South African Winelands region has many fine wine estates offering wine tasting and cellar tours as well as gracious farm accommodation and hidden restaurants. There are now hundreds of different wine farms producing anything from simple table wines to award-winning special vintages.
The Cape Winelands is a loose term used to describe several quite distinct wine-growing regions spread over several hundred kilometers.
Production zones in the Cape winelands are divided into officially demarcated regions. There are four main regions, the Breede River Valley, Klein Karoo, Coastal Region and Olifants River.
Breede River ValleyThe Breede River which flows through the fertile Valley, gives the Breede River Valley its name. The Breede River Valley region is the largest wine producing area in South Africa. It consists of Worcester, Robertson and Swellendam.
Worcester is South Africa’s biggest wine-producing district, producing nearly 25% of the country’s wine and spirits. It is the capital of the Breede River Valley and eencompasses Wolseley, Rawsonville and the picturesque Hex River Valley.
It is the most important brandy producing area and home of the KWV Brandy Cellar, the largest of its kind in the world. To the wine lover, Worcester offers a big Wine Tasting Centre, where one can savour the excellent Breede River wines. The KWV Brandy Cellar is definitely worth a visit.
Robertson is renowned for the quality of its wines. It is the source of some of the Cape’s finest red wines, particularly Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. The distinctive fortified dessert wines for which it was originally famed continue to be produced.Klein KarooThe Klein Karoo Wine Route in the Southern Cape is the most diverse of South Africa's wine regions. It is the easternmost wine producing region in the country and stretches from Montagu to Oudtshoorn in the west and encompasses the district of Calitzdorp. Calitzdorp is the source of the country’s finest Port wines. Port-grape varieties prefer a hot, dry, climate such as that of Calitzdorp.
There are many similarities between the climate of Calitzdorp and the Douro valley in Portugal.
These port - wines are produced from internationally recognized varieties such as Tinta Barocca and Touriga Nacional.
Coastal RegionThe Coastal Region covers what many would consider to be the most famous of South Africa's wine producing areas including Constantia, Paarl and Stellenbosch in the Cape Valley.
The Constantia Valley is the most historic of the country's wine growing areas. Four of the five estates in the region form part of the original farm, Groot Constantia, established in 1685 by Simon van der Stel, the first Dutch Governor of the Cape.
This is a good region for Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Cabernet. There's a legendary Muscat produced here called Vin de Constance, a wine regarded by many as a benchmark.
Paarl is situated beneath a large granite outcrop formed by three rounded domes. This scenic town is home to the KWV and the venue for the world-renowned Nederburg Auction. It is one of South Africa's premier wine producing districts and some of the most prestigious wine producers are situated here. Chenin Blanc accounts for a lot of the vineyards, but Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsaut and Pinotage are widely cultivated.
Located close to Paarl, Wellington is known for its top quality red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinotage as well as old favourites such as Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
The Franschhoek valley is a small but significant region. The area is distinctively French and many of the wines are created in traditional French ways. With its profusion of trendy restaurants it can rightfully claim to be the gourmet capital of the winelands. It offers visitors a wide range of wines to accompany fine French cuisine.
Stellenbosch is a picturesque university town and one of the most visited spots in the Cape. Renowned for its Cape Dutch architecture and oak-lined streets, Stellenbosch is also home to many of the country's leading wine estates.
The district, with its mix of historic estates and contemporary wineries, produces excellent examples of almost all the noble grape varieties and is known for the quality of its reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotage, and Shiraz.
Durbanville hosts several estates and wineries situated mainly on the rolling hill slopes of the Northern suburbs and make a wide variety of wine styles. This is one of the less commercialised wine routes but produces some sophisticated wines at affordable prices.
North-west of Durbanville is the Swartland (Black land), a region named for the characteristic dark foliage of its bushes. This region is particularly dry and harsh and a large percentage of the vines in this area are grown under dry land conditions in bush form. Vines are grown without irrigation and the resulting wine is of an excellent quality with various concentrated flavours.
Tulbagh is a small area east of Swartland and the vineyards of this district grow alongside orchards and fields of wheat. There are 16 wineries and several of them are relative newcomers making acclaimed wines with local cultivar Pinotage. Tulbagh’s historic Church Street boasts no less than 32 national monuments.
Olifants RiverThis region stretches in a belt from north to south along the broad valley of the Olifants River. It incorporates the Cederberg Mountains and Lutzville Valley.
The Olifants River is famous for its rooibus tea, citrus fruits as well as fine wine. The region is home to the country's highest cellar, situated 1150m above sea level.
The wine route winds over 200km through the Cederberg Mountains and Namaqualand, famed for its profusion of wild flowers in South Africa’s spring.
Nestled between the picturesque Cederberg and surrounded by numerous orchards of citrus fruits is Citrusdal. Citrusdal Cellars produce exceptional wines from grapes grown high up in the Cederberg and Piekenierskloof mountains.
Tourists should visit the "Goede Hoop Citrus Koöp" as well as the Golden Valley Wine Cellar. These two can be described as the heart of Citrusdal. The Golden Valley Cellar has wine tasting facilities where visitors are welcome.
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Stellenbosch Accommodation
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