Weekend Escapes: Western Cape
None more than three hours away, all with somewhere worth waking up in
Every Capetonian has the same Thursday thought: get out. The trick is knowing which village fixes which mood, because they are not interchangeable. One is for walking, one is for eating, one is for doing absolutely nothing with great commitment.
Here are the five we keep going back to, all within about three hours of the city, each with its own personality and its own causes quietly funded by the stays below. Pick your mood, book the bed, leave after work.
Oak lanes, mountain trails from the top of the village and the famous Saturday market, about ninety minutes out. Stays here back the volunteer fire crew that protects the thatch.
A Victorian village on the Klein River with wine farms at the gate and the whale coast twenty minutes away. Many Stanford stays give back to the NSRI.
The end-of-the-road village that never got the through road. Retreats, galleries, olives and the deepest quiet in the Breede valley.
Book two nights, not one. The first evening you are still driving in your head; the second is the one you came for. And buy the padstal jam on the way in, not the way out, because you will not stop twice.
The country's third oldest town, all Cape Dutch drosdty architecture beneath the Langeberg, with the Marloth reserve trails starting above the rooftops.
Through the Cogmanskloof arch into the Klein Karoo: hot pools, kloof walks, tractor rides and muscadel. The full 48 hour plan is in our Montagu weekend guide.
Round photo pins are stays across the five villages. Green leaf badges are the causes your booking supports.
Greyton to Stanford to McGregor to Montagu makes a superb four-stop circuit. Sign in to plan the route and book the beds.
Plan a tripBook any stay in this guide through Spekboom and a share of the booking supports the causes above. You can also donate to them directly.
Choose from 25 places to stay in this guide
A portion of booking fees goes to the linked causes
Your stay supports conservation and community work on the ground
