2025-2026
Use j and k keys to slide.
Soetmelksvlei ("sweet milk's valley") is a working farm belonging to Babylonstoren. We visited for a day, and enjoyed the best buffets we've ever had.
During December, this is our closest beach. It's wide, lots of people (and dogs!) around, but watch out for the waves.
Some days, we just hang out at the guesthouse we're staying at. There are tons of things to do around the Cape, but sometimes, the startup cost is just too steep.
On a Wednesday late afternoon, we went to the (new) Oranjezicht market near the Waterfront. It's a very trendy spot, and tons of people. Almost too many. But the goods are amazing, and the vibe is great. We (Johan) kind of prefer the Hout Bay indoor market: a bit more relaxed.
The oldest wine estate in South Africa. A lot of white buildings (literally and figuratively).
Our beloved Kalk Bay! We spent a few weeks here the first time we visited the Western Cape. It's the only town we've visited in the country so far that is very walkable. It's so small and full of cafés, galleries, bars, restaurants, shops, tidal pools, and stuff that you can walk to all of them.
The grand beach, some 40 minutes away from us. This is very much a surfing beach. The town of Kommetjie is very chill. There are some low key eating places around. The Imhoff Farm area is very cool.
Today, Linah watched the kids while Johan and Clara did fun stuff.
We did a spontaneous trip to Newlands — a lush suburb on the eastern slopes of the Table Mountain. Their beautiful forest have both gigantic trees and the oldest tavern in South Africa: Forrester Arms ("Forries").
Another day at the beach. The laid back surf food truck has this year expanded with a separate refurbished trailed for serving coffee and espresso. When you wondered how a good thing could be even better.
On New Year's Eve, our month in Cape Town came to an end, and we started our January road trip. We are in the town or Riebeek-Kasteel for two nights. The area is Swartland — famous for hosting wine estates with a generation of renegade winemakers.
We continue to the Cederberg mountains, where we check into a Bed & Breakfast run by a cute elderly couple. We thoroughly enjoyed their company; and got their Brazilian family friends as a bonus over the weekend. We'll treasure all of this, because it's what we love about travelling anyway.
Swellendam is South Africa's third (or fifth, depending on the source) oldest town. It's nicely situated right in between Cape Town and the Garden Route (our end goal for this road trip). It boasts a ton of super well preserved Cape Dutch architecture, and… not much more, as we discovered. Except for this random berry camping farm, where we spent a whole full day doing water activities. Best "unplanned-day-gone-good" day ever!
Let's head east, into the Klein Karoo: a semi-desert area, whose fauna sort of resembles what we have in north Sweden. We're driving along the renowned R62 route, which offers desolate landscapes and steep mountain passes.
We're staying two nights in Oudtshoorn, which used to be the center of ostricht farming in the 1800s. Johan instantly falls in love with this desert city, with its hot winds blowing dry heat.
(The "K" is silent.) On the way down from Oudtshoorn, we stopped for swimming in Knysna. Looking at a map, the whole place feels like a giant lagoon. Clear, calm, shallow bays everywhere. We totally see that this is a summer resort town.
A highlight on the Garden Route is "Plett". Warmer water than the Cape, lush jungles in the Tsitsikamma national park, and a ton of outdoorsy activities if your that kind of person. After spending a long time inland, we loved coming down to the long, white beaches. As a bonus, the peak season is over, so we were having the beaches almost to ourselves.
We continue west on the Garden Route, to Wilderness. Now we stay on a huge working-and-guest farm named Oakhurst, in glamping tents. You can roam around on the farm, do activities, take dairy tours, ride horses, and so on. It rained heavily during one day, which made it a hot tub day.
The final stop on the way home to Cape town: the famous wine valley that is Heaven and Earth in English. Should be Heaven on Earth if you ask us. This is the land of superb pinot noirs and chardonnays, thanks to the cool ocean breeze coming up from the south. It's undoubtedly the most beautiful wine region we've visited in South Africa (the wines are good too, don't worry).
From Hemel-en-Aarde, we did the last leg on the N2 highway back to Cape Town. The drive itself was incredible, we couldn't capture it in photos. We checked in at lovely friends in Hout Bay for final hang and braaing.
Our trip has come to a close. We moved to the Greenpoint neighbourhood for two nights to soak in the last sunlight from the Atlantic seaboard. It was bittersweet to leave behind such a beautiful country, full of experiences, still knowing that we will return.
…to all the amazing people we've met during our time in the Western Cape. We've almost exclusively stayed in someone's extra house, and gone between exchanging a few sentences to having dinner with our hosts. We're grateful and happy, since this is the way we prefer to travel.
We covered
1 472 km
Bye, thanks for reading! 👋