Franschhoek Travel Guide

South Africa is globally renowned for its wines. In the lands where such high-quality and delicious wines are produced, wine tourism has naturally emerged. The most famous wine regions near Cape Town are Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and Paarl, collectively known as the Winelands. Franschhoek is the most popular spot in the Winelands region. We spent a weekend in Franschhoek and had an incredible time.

Franschhoek Travel Guide: When to Go?

You can visit the vineyards around Cape Town in any season. However, the most beautiful time is between September and April, the spring and summer months. November to April is the growing season for grapes, and February to March is usually the harvest time. We visited this region in September. The weather was clear, sunny, and truly spring-like.

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Franschhoek Travel Guide: Transportation

After landing at Cape Town Airport, we went directly to Franschhoek without entering the city. I activated my e-SIM, which I obtained through Airalo, by connecting to Wi-Fi at the airport and called an UBER. You can check Airalo’s South Africa plans and rates here. There is a designated pick-up point at Cape Town Airport where both taxis and private cars can pick up arriving passengers. We took an Uber from there and arrived at our rented house. The journey took about 50 minutes and cost 600 ZAR.

Getting to Franschhoek was easy, but the return was a bit challenging. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a available Uber for a long time when we wanted to return to Cape Town. After an hour of waiting, we finally got a ride. If you plan to use Uber, my recommendation is to pre-book your return to Cape Town.

If you’re not staying in Franschhoek and coming for a day trip, I suggest getting a wine tram ticket from Cape Town to Franschhoek, including round-trip transportation.

Franschhoek Travel Guide: Accommodation

Franschhoek is a unique and beautiful town. Surrounded by mountains and nature, it captivates you. The houses in this charming town are so fantastic that when you see them, you can’t help but think that the people living here will never age.

To experience local life, we booked a villa through Booking. Our host lived in a house right next to ours. The location and price-performance ratio of the house were excellent. Moreover, the local recommendations from our sweet host were very helpful. You can check the details of the house we stayed in here and other accommodation options in Franschhoek here.

Franschhoek Guide: A Brief History

Undoubtedly, this is Cape Town’s most famous wine region. Franschhöek, one of South Africa’s oldest towns, was originally named Oliphants Hoek. The name was given because there used to be elephants living here. In 1688, due to the prohibition of Protestantism in France, 300 French ships sailed to the Cape of Good Hope. After arriving in South Africa, the French settlers were placed in Oliphants Hoek. Over time, the French in the area continued to preserve their culture and language in one way or another. At some point, this town became known as Franschhoek, meaning “French Corner.” A monument was also built here to honor the 300 French Protestants (Huguenots) who migrated.

Franschhoek Travel Guide: Wine Tram

One of the things that makes Franschhoek so popular is the wine tram, which was originally used for transportation but has been used exclusively for tourism since 2012. I absolutely loved this Wine Tram; it was a unique experience. The most important part of this experience is choosing our route. After choosing the route, we could get on and off the tram at any time according to the schedule and even visit all the vineyards along the route. However, it is recommended to visit 4-5 places within the day to enjoy the tour.

Routes

This famous wine tram has five different routes, marked on the map in blue, orange, pink, red, and navy. Each route passes through different vineyards and restaurants. Therefore, you need to check which points these routes pass through and buy your ticket accordingly. After receiving local recommendations from our host and doing our own research, we decided that the pink route would be the most enjoyable for us. You can check the routes on this site.

Ticket

We went to Franschhoek Terminal early in the morning to get our tickets. However, the terminal was quite crowded when we arrived. It might be beneficial to buy or pre-book your ticket online in advance. We paid 300 ZAR per person for the ticket. At the terminal, where we bought our tickets and also the starting point of the tram route, there were also souvenir items for sale. Because we bought a handmade wine bag from here, we were given a discount voucher from Rickety Bridge on the pink route. If you buy something here, don’t forget to ask for a discount coupon.

Franschhoek Travel Guide: Vineyards

After getting our tickets for the pink route, we boarded the tram that departed from Franschhoek Terminal at 11 a.m. We chose the second floor for the journey. Just after the tram started moving, at one of the stops on the route, glasses of wines produced in that region were distributed. The weather was perfect, and we progressed while enjoying the view, gentle breeze, and wine.

Rickety Bridge

This farm, initially owned by French immigrants, was later divided into parts, and Rickety Bridge emerged. In the 1700s in South Africa, one of the country’s first female landowners, Paulina De Villiers, became the owner of Rickety Bridge. We used our discount from the terminal to taste wines here. We paid a total of 60 ZAR per person and tried four different wines. The wines and the view were fantastic. The staff was very attentive and thoroughly explained the wines and their stories.

Eikehof

Operated by the same family for 120 years, it’s an incredibly charming and intimate establishment. The meaning of Eikehof is Oak Court. As the name suggests, there were giant oak trees in the garden. We sat under a tree and tasted wines with this beautiful view. There were different options for wine tasting. We chose a package consisting of three wines, including white, rosé, and red. We paid 75 ZAR per person for the wine tasting. The wines were truly delicious. Eikehof became one of my favorites among the vineyards we visited.

Dieu Donné

Its name means “A Gift from God.” It has a beautiful view as it is on a hilly location. Here, we tried the Classic Range wine tasting. We paid 80 ZAR per person for this wine tasting, which included four different wines. Here, we also tried braai for lunch. Braai is the name given to South African meals cooked on the grill. It usually consists of meat, chicken, corn, and vegetables.

Chamonix

As my wine tasting adventure started at 11 a.m., you can imagine that I was a bit tipsy by the time we got here. 🙂 Therefore, my memories of this place are limited. I skipped the wine tasting, but my husband tried it. He tasted four different wines that go well with dessert. Local chocolates from Franschhoek accompanied the wines. We paid 140 ZAR for this wine + chocolate package.

Pigcasso

Our last stop was Pigcasso. This place is actually an animal sanctuary. The most famous member of this sanctuary is Pigcasso. Pigcasso is a pig that was rescued from death at the last moment. After rescuing Pigcasso, the sanctuary owner Joanne noticed its interest in brushes. Then, she bought the necessary materials, provided a suitable environment, and Pigcasso started painting. The paintings put up for sale receive a lot of attention. Some are sold for up to 25,000 dollars. Wine tasting is now also available at this animal sanctuary, and there is also accommodation. When we went for wine tasting, the famous artist Pigcasso was there. We spent some time with the animals, but unfortunately, we couldn’t do wine tasting due to renovations. To be honest, I wasn’t too upset about this because I had already filled my daily wine capacity.

Franschhoek Travel Guide: Food & Drink

In addition to many quality restaurants, Franschhoek has 4-5 world-famous fine dining restaurants. This town never disappoints with its food and wine. We didn’t try the fine dining restaurants, but we had very delicious meals at the restaurants in the city.

Smitten

A beautiful breakfast/lunch spot. All the staff are women and very sweet. We had lunch here, and the salmon salad + white wine combo made me very happy.

Tuk Tuk Microbrewery

Tuk Tuk is a local brewery that produces its own beers. They have four different beers: Lager, Weiss, Blonde Ale, and IPA. We first got the beer tasting package with these four different beers, which was 70 ZAR. Then, we tried the Big Boy Burger for dinner. We paid 180 ZAR for the burger. It was very delicious; I recommend it.

Terbodore Coffee Roasters

A very nice breakfast place/cafe with a large green area. We sat here once for breakfast and once to try their coffees. I chose my plate for breakfast myself, and it cost 100 ZAR. Breakfast plates range from 90-120 ZAR on average, and we paid 30 ZAR for a small Americano.

French Connection

If you’re looking for a pleasant, beautiful dinner spot, this is the place. We tried the beef steak at French Connection. We ended the evening with a red wine and cream caramel dessert. The atmosphere, food, and wine at French Connection were excellent. We paid a total of 745 ZAR for this dinner for two.

Franschhoek Travel Guide: Places to Visit

In addition to vineyards and restaurants, Franschhoek has many art galleries. Depending on your interests, you can find many activities to do here. You can check here for what you can do in Franschhoek.

We went to a local bookstore and bought a book called “Game Drive,” which would be very useful for our next destination. Also, a local newspaper is distributed free of charge every day in the town. Seeing that the newspaper was distributed, and the local people were sitting somewhere reading it, honestly made me feel a bit nostalgic.

Another thing I always do in places I travel to is to visit a supermarket. There are two large supermarkets in Franschhoek: Woolworths and Checkers Food. The size of the wine sections inside these supermarkets amazed me. These markets also sell very nice hot meals and soups. Everywhere smelled like fresh fruit.

Franschhoek Travel Guide: Notes & Recommendations & Closing

• If you’re coming to Franschhoek for a day trip, you can buy a combined ticket from here for round-trip transportation from Cape Town to Franschhoek and the wine tram.
• In terms of security, Franschhoek is in much better condition than the city center of Cape Town. Although we walked outside late at night, we didn’t experience any unpleasant situations. However, our house had a private security system, and we made sure to activate it when entering and exiting. At the same time, we made sure that the windows were closed and the doors were locked.
• If you’re going back to Cape Town by car or UBER, you can also check the wine places on the way back.
• You can find my other articles about South Africa here.