Cape Town January suggestions

[LadyMooMoo]

Going to Cape Town for 3 weeks in January.

We would like to go to Winery’s for a few days and stay there. Also fancy a safari for a few days.

any other suggestions? We like good food/drink/seeing the sights. Just regular touristy stuff.

we will also need a hotel for Cape Town too. Looking for recommendations 😎

It’s high season then so you need to check
out guest houses and hotels. We stay in guest houses as they give you really personal service. Always beautiful too. But they get booked up.

In the wine areas, you have choices. Stellenbosch or Franschoek make good bases. There are very many wine estates open and many do tasting and have restaurants.

Safari? Kruger is still the real deal. We’ve also been to Sabi Sands. There are others and especially farms that have been rewilded. Hluhluwe Imfolozi and the Wetlands north of Durban is another great area for a safari.

There are lots on booking.com for Jan that are great. Go for boutique hotel or guest house with excellent reviews. They are a treasure of South Africa.

Thank you 😊

Do you have recommendations for guest houses to start me off? We’ve only been looking at hotels, so would appreciate some intel.

We have stayed at Welgelegen. Look at Noah House, Fernwood Manor, Jardin dEbene, Parker Cottage, Cape Diem Lodge, Dolphin Inn, Bayview Boutique. You don’t need to be central if you have a car. Some of the suburbs are delightful.

You can get the old Greenwood Guides via Amazon. We found these useful. They can now be contacted on [email protected] as they have not produced a guide recently but will help you with places to stay.

It was 15 years ago or so but we stayed at Vineyard Hotel which we loved. Views of Table Mountain, beautiful gardens with giant tortoise wandering around, outdoor pools, lovely food, great staff. Its at 9.1 on Booking.com

Penguins on the beach was our favourite thing. Table Mountain.

My South African in laws used to stay at the Vineyard almost every Christmas. They don't go as often now as FIL's father is no longer with us, but it is a lovely spot.

Make the most of the restaurants, there's lots of great eating there. Camps Bay is lovely in the evening. If you can, walking up Table Mountain is a great experience, you'll need to start early. Some routes are just stairs, which is more tedious than a gradual ascent. Then take the cable car down, but check the weather as it can change suddenly and they don't run the cable car if the cloud comes right in iirc.

As a tourist it really is better to get the cable car up Table Mountain.

We went to Sanbona for wildlife spotting. Was amazing - luxury tents in the Karoo.

Also recommend Franshoeck over Stellenbosch for wineries - the wine train is fab!

In Capetown we found a lovely restaurant called Millers Thumb. So good we went back, which we never do on holiday.

I’ve stayed at Table Bay at the V&A Waterfront and The Hotel President in Bantry Bay and recommend either of these, I had a car both times.
Both times I went in February and loved the weather.

January 2024? It will be busy then OP as it's peak season and schools on 6 week break.

You will need to get to booking soon, as so many people head down to the coast for their annual holiday and many places will already be booked up.

Have a look on booking.com for B&B's but it would be nice for you to stay at one of the V&A hotels for at least a few days if you can.

Also have a look at going up the West Coast for some of the time as well. A more stunning trip will be difficult to find.

Try a webpage called safarinow, lots of b&b places if your moving about sightseeing

The wine estates are in the Stellenbosch / Franschoek area. Not in the towns. There are fantastic ones you seek out for yourself. The scenery is stunning and a car is worth it unless you seriously want to drink. There are other areas where there are wine estates and I certainly recommend the Little Karoo.

Vinyard Hotel is booked up for early Jan when I looked (7-15 Jan). It also does conferences so it wouldn’t be on my list but the rooms look great. I also don’t get the love of the V&A Waterfront. We really preferred other less touristy areas to stay in and a more personalised stay. The Vinyard does have a great location. Seaside might also be difficult in January. It’s still school summer holidays. We have stayed at other places in Cape Town but they are booked up.

If you want a safari you will need to book asap for January. Most will be full by now.

Schools go back on 17th Jan, so availability will be better after this date.

I hope this will help a little with your planning. Just keep in mind that it will still be peak rate though, so not the cheapest time of the year for most bookings.

@LadyMooMoo hope you have a great trip. Will you report back? We're going at Easter