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Cape Town and the Winelands by road bike
Photo: South African Tourism, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Sample trip

Cape Town and the Winelands by road bike

Nine days for two couples who ride: the Cape Town Cycle Tour on closed roads round the peninsula, then a cottage on a wine estate in Franschhoek and quiet valley roads between the vineyards.

9 days, 8 nightsFor two couplesA townhouse hotel and a vineyard cottageFine dining and Cape wine
Cape TownCape TownChapman's PeakChapman's PeakFranschhoekFranschhoekStellenboschStellenbosch
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Once a year Cape Town closes its most beautiful roads to cars and hands them to 30,000 cyclists. The Cape Town Cycle Tour runs 109 km from the city centre down the False Bay coast, over Smitswinkel and Misty Cliffs and back up the cliff road of Chapman's Peak, with Table Mountain in view almost the whole way. This trip builds a week around that Sunday: three easy days in the city to settle in, the ride itself, and then the Winelands, where the roads are empty, the mountains close and the lunches long. Bikes are carbon road bikes delivered to the hotel, and a local guide leads the valley rides so nobody needs to look at a map.

Into the city bowl

Day1

Getting there

Fly into Cape Town (CPT), about 20 minutes by car from the centre.

  • Four carbon road bikes, Trek Madone or similar, are delivered to the hotel with helmets and your own pedals fitted; during Cycle Tour week the minimum hire is seven days, about 7,700 rand a bike

Where you're staying

The Cape Heritage Hotel, in a restored 18th-century townhouse on Bree Street, is a short roll from the start line on the Grand Parade.

  • Every room is different: four-poster beds, yellowwood beams and old Cape furniture
  • Bree Street outside has the best run of cafés and restaurants in the city
A four-poster room
A room with wood panelling
A room under old beams
A junior suite
The lounge

Photos: capeheritage.co.za

Dinner

FYN, on the fifth floor of an old building on Parliament Street, pairs Japanese technique with South African produce in a room that looks out over the city.

  • Dinner is served Monday to Saturday from 18:00 to 20:30; book well ahead for Cycle Tour week
The dining room
A course on dark stone
Two small plates
A course served on moss

Photos: fynrestaurant.com

A spin along the Atlantic, then up the mountain

Day2

Morning

An easy hour on the bikes along the Sea Point promenade to Camps Bay and back, to check the fit and loosen the legs after the flight.

Afternoon

The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway lifts you to the top in five minutes in a car whose floor turns as it climbs, so everyone gets the view.

  • Go up in the afternoon, when the morning cloud has usually burnt off; the cableway closes in high wind, so there is a spare slot on Saturday
  • Short paths on the summit plateau lead to viewpoints over the bay, Robben Island and the route of Sunday's ride
The rotating cable car near the top
The cableway up the cliff face
The city and bay from the summit
Table Mountain from Signal Hill

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (ZS1TP, Entropy1963, Romain Pontida, Mike Peel; CC BY-SA 3.0, Public domain, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Registration and a slow day

Day3

The day

Collect your race numbers at the Cycle Tour expo, then a lazy afternoon at the V&A Waterfront and an early pasta dinner on Bree Street.

Flagship day

The Cape Town Cycle Tour

Day4

Day 4

The ride

The Cape Town Cycle Tour is the largest timed cycle race in the world: 109 km on closed roads, starting in waves from the city centre, south along the False Bay coast through Muizenberg and Simon's Town, across the peninsula and home over Chapman's Peak to Green Point.

  • Chapman's Peak comes late in the ride: a road cut into the cliff high above the Atlantic, and the view most riders remember
  • International entry is about 1,815 rand; the start groups go by seeding, so we enter you early with your best recent times
  • Back at the hotel by early afternoon, then a long lunch and a well-earned sleep
Climbing Chapman's Peak
Riders with Table Mountain behind
A long descent on closed roads
The sprint to the finish

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (Les Morison, Olga Ernst, Axxter99, JohnPeter64; CC BY-SA 4.0)

The ride that started as a protest

The first Cycle Tour in 1978 had 525 riders and was held to call for proper cycle lanes in Cape Town. It now draws around 30,000.

Out to Franschhoek

Day5

Getting there

An hour by car to Franschhoek, with the bikes on the roof.

Where you're staying

Rickety Bridge: The Cottage, a two-bedroom house of its own among the vines of a working wine estate, with breakfast in the old homestead.

  • Four nights, walking distance from the village

Guided ride through the valley

Day6

The day

A local guide leads a loop through the Franschhoek valley and over to the Wemmershoek dam, with a coffee stop and the afternoon free at the pool.

Franschhoek Pass

Day7

The day

The classic climb of the Winelands: up the Franschhoek Pass to the viewpoint over the valley, down the other side to the dam, and back the same way.

Dinner

The chef's tasting menu at La Petite Colombe, on the Leeu Estates, about 2,495 rand a head.

Stellenbosch and a last lunch

Day8

The day

Over the Helshoogte Pass to Stellenbosch for a tasting, then a long last lunch among the vines.

Home

Day9

Getting home

About an hour to the airport for the flight home; the bikes are collected from the cottage.

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