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DAY TOURS – YAY OR NAY?

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shelley in South Africa,, Family Holidays,, Food & Wine,, Self-drive holidays,, Travel Tips,,
October 12th, 2011 at 4:33pm
Tags: Attractions,, Boat,, Cape Point,, Cape Town,, Franschhoek,, Hout Bay,, Kirstenbosch,, Penguins,, People,, Simons Town,, tour,, Tours,, Towns,, Views,, Walking,, Wine,, Wine Tasting,, Winelands,

This seems to be a question in everyone’s mind when booking a vacation to Cape Town in particular. There is so much to do in beautiful Cape Town and most of it is pretty easy to find information on the web or even book. The next question is always, should I do full day or half day, private or scheduled tours? This is completely up to you as many people only have a few hours available which would make the half day tour ideal for them or they don’t like to be in a vehicle with strangers, which in that case I would recommend a private tour. I have personally done both scheduled and private and they are both enjoyable in there own way. Its nice to be on your own with your family/friends but its equally as nice to meet new people with similar interests as you.

I have recently been on a Full Day Cape Winelands Tour and a Full Day Cape Point & Peninsula Tour and I can highly recommend that this is the best way to experience these attractions. Being a Capetonian you often do most of these attractions on your own accord or with family/friends and most of the time these experiences are great. Well so I thought until I went on my first Full Day Winelands Tours. I had previously been to wine farms and done wine tasting in the past but never had I been with someone that had so much knowledge of the areas we were passing and the wine farms we were visiting. The nice thing about it as well is, you don’t have to worry about drinking and driving, because you get collected, driven around and most of the entrance fees are paid on your behalf, so no worrying about do I have enough cash on me etc. The same goes for the Cape Point and Peninsula Tour, we were driven around, entrance fees paid for and received excellent knowledge of the places we were visiting throughout the drive.

On the winelands tour you visit the three major wine routes like Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl. The wine farms you visit are of a high standard and each region is completely different from each other. My favourite wine farm we stopped at on the day was Lanzerac Wine Farm close to Stellenbosch. They have a chocolate and wine tasting session where you pair different wines with chocolate or nougat. This was a real treat with the lovely flavours on offer and the great expertise of the wine maker himself who did a brief appearance mentioning that he is working on a few new combinations. A must taste at Lanzerac is their Honey Liquor, there just isn’t anything as nice as this. I cant wait to go back and see what the wine maker has come up with.

The four wines & chocolates we tasted at Lanzerac Wine Farm

The recent Full Day Cape Point Tour that I did, really gives you some of the highlights of Cape Town with some spectacular views and scenery. You depart early morning around 08h00 and drive over Chapman’s Peak to Hout Bay. At Hout Bay Harbour you can either walk around or join one of the boat cruises departing to Duiker Island where you can see the popular seal colony. Once back at  the harbour, you will make your way to Cape Point to part-take where you can enjoy one of the walking trails or walk to the lighthouses and enjoy the views from there. Then its off to Simons Town for some lunch at one of the guides hand picked restaurants. Boulders Beach is the next port of call to see the African penguins in there natural habitat. Last but not least you head to the popular Kirstenbosch Gardens for a leisure walk around the gardens, soaking up the African sun.  This is a great tour to see some of Cape Towns beautiful attractions. These types of tours usually finish between 17h00 & 17h30 leaving you with plenty of time to still freshen up and enjoy dinner out on the town.

If you are still pondering on the decision, then try it out, you really don’t want to be missing out. 

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Recent Comments

  • 1: 

    Thank you for this wonderful article on day tours. I am also a very big fan of the day tours, especially for clients that are not confident to self-drive but wish to see as much as they can. smile I absolutely agree that it is a really great way to see the Cape. There are also day tours available in Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg smile

    Professional Expert
    ashley
    October 14th, 2011 at 1:02pm

  • 2: 

    Lovely article & insights, thank you Shelley!

    I am also a big fan of tours; in particular, being guided by a local expert who is able to provide invaluable knowledge, history and personal anecdotes about an area or attraction they might have grown up in and is close to their heart ... does so much more to enhance a client’s experience grin

    Professional
    tamsin
    October 17th, 2011 at 3:17pm

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