French Huguenots settled in this spectacular valley over 300 years ago, bringing their vines with them. Ever since, this Winelands town has clung to its French roots, and July visitors will find that Bastille Day is celebrated here. Franschhoek bills itself as the country’s gastronomic capital, and you’ll certainly have a tough time deciding where to eat. Plus, with a clutch of art galleries, wine farms and stylish guesthouses thrown in, it really is one of the loveliest towns in the Cape.
Vagabonds bästa tips för en familjeresa till Sydafrika.
If any landscape lives up to its airbrushed, publicity-shot alter ego, it is the jagged, green sweep of the Drakensberg’s tabletop peaks. This forms the boundary between South Africa and the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, and offers some of the country’s most awe-inspiring landscapes.
Cosmopolitan Durban, South Africa’s third-largest city (known as eThekweni in Zulu), is sometimes passed over for her ‘cooler’ cousin, Cape Town. But there’s a lot more to fun-loving Durbs (as it’s affectionately known) than meets the eye.
En bubblande storstad inramad av en palmkantad strand med ljummet havsvatten och subtropiskt klimat. Durban håller på att förvandlas från beryktat surfmecka till trendigt turistparadis.
Kapstaden har en viktig historia och kittlande smakupplevelser, men också mäktiga bergsäventyr, lummiga trädgårdar och vita badvikar. Pernilla Sjöholm guidar till sin favoritplats på jorden.
Två familjer, fyra små barn och en riktig drömdestination – Sydafrika. Ett äventyr som kräver sin research, men som belönar med möten att bära genom livet. Följ med från Kapstadens vackra dramatik till Stellenboschs lantliga idyll och vidare ut till savannens vilt norr om Johannesburg.
With the feel of a small country village, despite its double-capital status – it’s the Free State’s capital and the judicial capital of the country – Bloemfontein is one of South Africa’s most relaxed and welcoming cities. Although it doesn’t possess the type of big-name attractions that make it worth a visit in its own right, you’ll likely pass through 'Bloem' at some point on your way across South Africa’s heartland, and there are some small-scale sights and good restaurants to keep you occupied for a day or two.
Venturing inland and upwards from Cape Town you’ll find the Boland, meaning ‘upland’. It’s a superb wine-producing area, and indeed the best known in South Africa. The magnificent mountain ranges around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek provide ideal microclimates for the vines.
With only a million people inhabiting its 373,000 sq km, the Northern Cape is South Africa’s last great frontier. Its scattered towns are hundreds of kilometres apart, connected by empty roads across the sublime, surreal wilderness expanses of Namakwa, the Kalahari and Upper Karoo. Under the remorseless sun, vehicles share park roads with lions, dune boards swish down roaring sands, and Kimberley’s pubs serve cold beer as they have since the 19th-century diamond rush.