Franschhoek winery visits

Franschhoek is a small town at the head of a mountain-ringed valley, east of Cape Town, in the Cape Winelands. French Huguenot refugees settled there at the end of the 17th century, and the name means “French corner”. Today the valley is lined with wine estates, many of them open for tastings, the basis of the Franschhoek winery visits compared here. At the two estates compared here, a tasting costs 60 to 220 rand per adult.

The Franschhoek Wine Tram

One popular way to visit is the Franschhoek Wine Tram, which links wine farms by tram and open-air bus from its terminal at the corner of Main Road and Cabriere Street. It answers the main question of any wine day, who drives, and comes in two forms.

Hop-On Hop-Off costs 350 rand per adult and 90 rand for ages 3 to 17. It covers transport and nothing else: you get off at the estates you choose and pay the tasting fee at each one, which the tram company puts at 60 to 260 rand per person.

Flavours of the Vine is an all-inclusive day open to adults, at 1,900 rand: four wine estates, a wine tasting, platters and a wine pairing, leaving at 10:30 am and returning to the terminal at about 5 pm.

Both are listed apart from the estate tastings in the table below, since they are packages, not tastings. The company reserves the right to adjust prices, so check before booking.

Two estates on the R45

Leopard’s Leap, on the R45 Main Road, has the cheapest tastings on this page whose price is confirmed: a wine-only tasting of its flagship Pardus wines costs 60 rand, and a wine-only sparkling tasting 80 rand. A Culinaria Collection tasting at 55 rand appears on a secondary tab of its page, but the page’s default price list contradicts it, so the figure is not counted here: confirm it when you book. The same tastings are offered with a food pairing at a higher price.

Rickety Bridge, also on the R45, pours eight single-variety wines from its Foundation Stone range for 220 rand, or its Regna Loca range for 280 rand. Its Wine Blending Experience, at 600 rand, is a blending workshop.

Choosing your day

• No driver: take the Hop-On Hop-Off tram. The ticket plus tastings at Leopard’s Leap and Rickety Bridge comes to 630 rand per adult before lunch. Each further estate adds 60 to 260 rand.
• Everything arranged: Flavours of the Vine costs more but includes tastings and food.
• Short visit by car: one or two estates on the R45, with one person who skips the wine.

Franschhoek winery visits: when to go

Seasons are reversed: harvest falls in late summer, roughly February and March, when the estates are busiest. The South African summer, from December to February, is high season in the Winelands. Book the tram ahead then.

Getting there and where to stay

Cape Town International Airport is the gateway. Franschhoek has guesthouses and hotels within walking distance of the tram terminal, which spares the drive back to the city after a day of tasting.