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I forgot to say for you or anyone else travelling to CPT. We use this company for a private tour in Cape Town. We have now used them a couple of times, and recommended them to others, all have come back exceptionally pleased:
https://capetownculinarytours.com/
NS
Amy C and Mike G – any feedback on your recent trips?
Squawk…. apologies for the delay in coming back to you. Life with a young one is my excuse.
Anyway, I am pleased to say we had an incredible time and loved every moment down in SA. We would about to book again when we discovered we have another impending arrival for end of year. With two under 2 we’re going to play safe next year and do the canary islands with a view to going to SA in 2026.
Stick with your plans and go!
I have to say every restaurant, even those that were at the posher end of the scale were so well set up for kids. We tended to have lunches rather than dinners out, preferring to stay in, in the evenings and cook something if were hungry. All the restaurants had high-chairs didn’t complain when noise was made, made sure there plenty of shade etc.From an itinerary pov we chose in the end 5 nights in Hout Bay, 4 in Franschhoek, 3 Hermannus and then finally 5 nights on the outskirts of Constantia.
Our daughter flew really well and again Ethiopian were great.
Happy to provide any more details if you need it, but +1 from us to say stick with your plans and enjoy.
Fantastic news, so glad you enjoyed it!
Did you hire a car for the aforementioned itinerary, including in and around Cape Town?
I’m quite happy driving up to the vineyards and down to Hermanus but was toying with Ubers around the city if it’s somehow deemed safer.
We really did and have some amazing photos of our little one crawling on grass for the first time and sat in the vineyards – mumma and pappa did the drinking on her behalf.
Yes hired through Woodford Rental, but all the major players are there. I am comfortable driving so we drove everywhere accept into Cape Town itself where we took an uber instead.
Some of the restaurants we ate at were:
Beyond, Constantia
Blockhouse, Constantia – a great reserve chardonnay I’m still drinking through
Jonkershuis, Constantia
Dunes Beach, Hout Bay
Noordhoek Farm Village
Chefs Warehouse, Franschhoek
Boschendal, Franschhoek
Babylonstoren – well worth the entry fee alone.Finally not sure what pram you have, but we left our Uppababy at home and borrowed a friends Babyzen Yoyo, the one that fits on the plane. We found this much much easier to take with us and didnt take so much room in the car etc either.
Having landed home from Cape Town last week, I felt I’d better report back on my own thread after some really helpful advice on here and perhaps useful for anyone stumbling across this in the future.
Firstly, let’s just say that we had one of the most incredible holidays (with our 9 month old). I’ve visited 80+ countries but South Africa has launched itself into the top 3 for me personally. Flew WTP+ both ways which was adequate for the night flight, baby slept most of the way on both flights.
Picked up a hire car in CPT and drove straight to Franschhoek, staying at Maison Montagne as per a recommendation above. Wow, what a beautiful guesthouse, and such a bargain! In terms of driving safety we followed advice from another forum which said to take the N2 initially towards the city, followed by the M5 connecting to the N1. Whilst you drive close to some of the notorious townships leaving the airport, you’re on a busy highway and honestly I felt totally at ease after the first few minutes. Wish I’d done less doom and gloom reading now and been more excited for the trip!
Anyways back to Franschhoek, it was a perfect place for mum and dad to get over the journey (and to wine taste) and baby to play in the grass. Spent a day at Boschendal and ordered a picnic on the lawn (highly recommended!) and a day on the wine tram which was a novelty but I probably wouldn’t repeat. An evening meal at Arkeste was probably the standout of the trip in food terms.
We initially had the Garden Route in mind for this trip but the distances seemed huge and I wasn’t entirely sure how amazing it would be versus the other sights closer to Cape Town. So we reigned in our trip and instead drove to a private game reserve, predator free, called Melozhori around 2 hours east (via a night in Hermanus which I found a little underwhelming). Melozhori was incredible! The wildlife is pared back versus other offerings but my oh my what a beautiful cabin we had, log-fired pizza oven, hot tub, miles from the nearest person and a family of giraffes walking past one morning (along with numerous zebra and antelope sightings). £180 a night including a game drive and a fridge full of food awaiting us to stick on the Braai, what a bargain.
Afterwards we drove to De Hoop which was probably my stand-out memory of the trip. Slightly older more “colonial style” accommodation and the on-site restaurant was 8/10 (whereas the rest of SA was 10/10) but drawing our curtains in the morning to zebra and bontebok outside our cottage was really special. It was utterly peaceful and the coastline that runs the length of the reserve was completely wild and devoid of tourists (in the best possible way!).
We finished with 4 nights in Cape Town (2 nights at the V&A) and 2 nights in Constantia (at a lovely guesthouse called Klein Constantia, right opposite the estate). There’s enough info on Cape Town on these forums but let’s just say we loved it. A boozy lunch at Mantra Cafe on Camps Bay and fixed-menu lunch on the Klein Constantia estate (at The Bistro) were the best we ate in Cape Town, but generally the standard everywhere was very good (and very cheap!). We held on to our hire car for the entire trip, including Cape Town, and was glad to have it. Provided you had plenty of 20R notes for the parking attendants, we felt very comfortable driving around and parking up.
In summary, I’m so so glad that we stuck to our guns and I didn’t get too sidetracked by the FCO website’s long list of ways to ruin a holiday.
We were so sad to leave that we snagged the gold-dust 2 x Club seats back to CPT for next November whilst we were sat in Constantia on our final day! Returning from JNB due to Avios availability and so seeking recommendations for a malaria free, family friendly reserve in that end of the country. Otherwise we might fly to Port Elizabeth and spend some time in Addo NP instead.
Thanks again and good luck to anyone else planning a trip 🙂
A nice read -thanks @squawk7700. We went to Marataba safari lodge a few years ago. Advertised as malaria free. It’s about 2 hrs + drive north from Jo’burg. Scenery was lovely as well as the game. We’ve also been to Addo – posh glamping at Gorah Elephant lodge within the Addo park . Both were very good
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