floridagal23

Thanks so much, everyone. We just booked our flight there (Air France business from London via CDG, a bit of a trek but easier to position with miles) and will be arriving 1.5 days earlier than originally anticipated.

We have a guide for 1 full day of winelands and 1 full day of the peninsula tour. For our full extra day, I think we will do the tour of Robben Island and maybe take the tram up to table mountain. Is it better to attempt table mountain in the morning or afternoon? We'll be there at the tail end of August so the tour times are limited for Robben Island.

For our first afternoon in town, I think I'll make a reservation for tea somewhere (Mt. Nelson? Ellerman House?) and we can have a low key dinner. I imagine that we will be tired but we love going to tea.

I have a few more questions if you will indulge me:

1. Hotels. We're going to change our hotel. We are considering Mt. Nelson, Cape Grace, or Ellerman House. Given our hectic itinerary and limited time, where/what area do you suggest? Our guide will be picking us up and I assume most hotels have some sort of shuttle/car service to V&A waterfront so we can pick up our Robben Island tour.

2. Winelands: Our guide suggests Jordan and De Morgenzon in the morning as they have a bit of red to keep Mr. Floridagal happy. She suggested a number of places for lunch: overture, delaire (with these 2 choices, stay in Stellenbosch for the day), la petite ferme, foliage, babel (with any of these three, spend afternoon in Franschhoek or Paarl).

We enjoy nice dining, though it's not a must - but how to choose? I love SA white wines, sauv blancs, etc. Any other suggestions? Are these good choices?

As an aside, Mr. Floridagal is happy with white wines but does love his red.

We did make a reservation at test kitchen. Very excited.

Thanks again for your help.

Edited to add that we will actually be spending 4 nights in total in Cape Town but leaving very early on the last day (really - our flight is at 6AM). So we will have 3 full days and one half day.

DrGiggles

I might be mistaken, but i believe that if you are not staying at ellerman house then you cannot eat there nor use the spa facilities. Smart move spending time in europe before heading down--should significantly reduce impact of jet lag.

1) i was not a huge fan of the V&A. i thought it was a bit crowded/touristy; so i'd go camps bay and ellerman. I don't believe they have a shuttle, but taxis are reasonable and the car ride is fairly short.

I thought on the white side the chenin blancs were universally surprisingly good. on the red side, i thought the meritages drank the best.

Cheetah_SA

This is not a term I have heard before; I had to Google it. I very much doubt most sommeliers in the Cape would be familiar with it. We still manage to get by calling them "Bordeaux blends" around here.

Not sure how long before that goes the way of "Methode Cap Classique" - which is what our version of a bubbly made in the champenoise style is called.

Cheetah_SA

Both activities are weather dependent - and our weather is notoriously fickle. At that time of year a north westerly storm could scupper your plans. I can't say one time is better than another but I would suggest you keep your plans as flexible as you can.

Mount Nelson is lovely for tea. As mentioned, Ellerman House is not open to non-residents.

Distances between those three are small so getting around will be no problem. We have Uber in Cape Town too these days so if you are used to using them you will feel right at home.

The hotels are quite different in atmosphere though. The Nellie is a grande dame with a bit of a colonial feel set in lovely gardens with the backdrop of Table Mountain. Close to museums and lots of restaurants. The Cape Grace is more in the style of a Four Seasons, conservatively modern, and is set in a working harbour. It has the V&A Waterfront facilities on your doorstep if that appeals. Ellerman House is more like a private manor house set in a very upmarket residential neighbourhood. It is undoubtedly the most exclusive of the three but you need to drive 5 minutes to access the restaurants of Camps Bay or 15 minutes or so for the Waterfront or the City.

The choices are endless to be honest. And that is a rather bewildering array of lunch venues you are being presented with! For example La Petite Ferme is homely, simple food in a thoroughly gorgeous setting overlooking the Franschhoek valley; Foliage is daring haute cuisine on the main street.

Personally, for a first visit I would lunch on a farm with lovely views. La Petite Ferme, Overture, Delaire and (less so) Babel would all fit the bill. There are many, many more. Delaire's situation is spectacular - right at the top of the Helshoogte Pass between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. But the main restaurant is a bit big and touristy (as in some busloads) and its fabulous Asian restaurant, Indochine, doesn't have the best views (though still quite wonderful - it looks back toward Cape Town).

One of my latest favourites is The Postcard Cafe on the Starke-Conde farm. It has an exquisite setting deep in the Jonkershoek Valley of Stellenbosch and evinces a slightly Japanese feel its views over a large dam with the tasting room in a pavilion set over the water. The food is pretty simple bistro fare - but the views are breathtaking.

Whether you want to visit both Stellenbosch and Franschhoek depends on how much you like packing into a day. Food and wine wise there is more than enough to keep you occupied in either for a week! But the drive between them over the Helshoogte Pass is lovely and each offers unique vistas so there are good arguments for visiting both.

bhrubin

For reds, I hpighly recommend Kanonkop. You won't be far from Tokara/Thelema or Delaire from there, either. We loved Rokara for lunch, but Delaire looked yummy too--though it is a touristy place. (We weren't as thrilled with the Delaire tasting room service because it was so crowded and touristy.)

There are amazing white and red wines throughout the area, depending on your style preferences. They all are extremely cheap by US standards, too. :-)

Overture was one of our fsvorite lunches in all our years visiting SA, but it is a bit more distant. The wines there at Vergelegen are splendid, too.

Braniff

I havent been there in several years but this was my home away from home for 5 years once upon a time. It is simply wonderful in every respect. I loved the Old World charm, which I hope has not been ruined with the "renovations." This is (was?) a true heritage hotel.

It's not at the crass Waterfront; Cape Town must have changed a lot for some previous posters to say it's in the middle of the business district ;-)

Yenakad

I will travel the 2nd week of May for 6 nights to Cape Region for my honeymoon. I already visited South Africa a couple of years ago. I thought to set-up the following itin:

2 nights Cape Town (Taj Hotel)
2 nights Paarl (Grand Roche)
2 nights Hermanus (Birkenhead House)

What do you think about the Taj Hotel? My budget in CPT is about $200 to $250 per room/night. O&O is over the budget and I think I prefer the Taj even more. Any other recommondation? I prefere rather Chain Hotel however my wife likes as well boutiqe hotels.

The Grand Roche I already booked and confirmed.

The last two nights in South Africa before we leave we would like to spend somehwere at/near the cost, small reomantic town. I really like Plattenberg Bay however as we fly out at 9 AM the hotel should be located about 1.5h to max 2h by drive from CPT. Till now I think Birkenhead House is the nicest option. Any other recomondation?

My itinary for the 6 days looks as following:
1 Day: Arrival late in CPT
2 Day: B'fast / Helicopter Flight from V/A Waterfront to Steenberg Wine Estate / Lunch / maybe Table Mounts in afternoon
3 Day: Drive to Paarl (maybe first to Cape Point)
4 Day: Paarl (maybe day excurstion to Stellenbosch / Franschhoek)
5 Day: Drive to Hermanus via Cost (nice Seafood Lunch)
6 Day: Arround Hermanus (walking at the beach / maybe Whale watching / Shark cage diving?(
7 Day: Early morning drive back to CPT to catch flight to JNB at 09:00

Its a honeymoon and we spen the week before in th St. Regis Mauritius.
Do you have any recommendation? Romantic places & restaurant (wine & seafood).

jiaotze

I'm sure there will be experts here who will know better than I do, but I think you will be a little early for whale watching in the middle of May. You'd have to wait at least another five or six weeks to have a more reliable chance of seeing whales.

Hermanus is pleasant enough. We haven't stayed at Birkenhead House, but it obviously gets outstanding reviews.

One of our absolute favorite places to stay in that area (or anywhere for that matter) is the Forest Lodge at Grootbos, which is about 15-20 minutes beyond Hermanus. The service, food and lodging are simply outstanding, and there is a variety of activities that are included. I'd think it'd be a wonderful place to celebrate your honeymoon.

floridagal23

Thank you. We will take a look.

bhrubin

Check out the Dock House in Cape Town--we've just stayed there in Jan and previously in 2010 before our wedding.

You can do the shark dives out of Gonssbaai or closer to Cape Town. It's amazing. We did it a few days before our wedding.

You're moving around a lot. Don't be afraid to relax and enjoy yourselves.

For dining, there are TONS of amazing restaurants. If you can get in for lunch or dinner at The Test Kitchen, it's one of the best in the world. The winelands also have tons of great restaurants not 45-60 min from the city. The winelands there are the most beautiful and dramatic of any in the world IMO...

worldiswide

We have done full day touring to Franschoek with lunch at petit feR me beautiful setting and nice food. on a different trip, tasting at to Kara and Delaire with lunch at rust en Vrede ..good value and beautiful setting. Listening to all of these posts makes me want to go again. It is beautiful country

floridagal23

Just an update as we are leaving for our trip soon. A great FHR rate with free night popped up at the Nellie. We have one day on our own, one in the wine lands and one peninsula tour. Have a dinner res at test kitchen. Then, off to singita! Anywhere else for dinner in cape town or any last minute recommendations? Thanks again!

shuigao

If you're a steak fan, Carne SA is pretty great. Steak pics:

Pausanias

I'm in Cape Town in December for a few days. Judging from my distinctly underwhelming experiences at The Fat Duck and L'Enclume in the UK, I think I'll give The Test Kitchen a wide berth. That sort of oh-so-fussy-trendy food just doesn't deliver for me on any level. Hopefully it's a passing phase and the world will regain its appetite for classically-based cooking without the need for nitro blasters, water baths and micro-herbs. The sort of food that doesn't need a pair of tweezers to be plated up. I like the sort of food currently being explored by Rick Stein in his latest TV series through the Balkans. Real food.

bhrubin

Aubergine is another great restaurant in Cape Town. Just dined there in January and were very pleased. They also had a wonderfully diverse and incredibly hospitable staff, which we noticed was more common than in our previous visits over the years.

In the Winelands, we've eaten at The Tasting Room, Overture, Tokara, Camphors, Delaire, Pierneef a la Motte, Rubens, etc. There is such an abundance of amazing restaurants that it's hard to imagine you could go wrong, to be honest.