Family-friendly places within a 2 hr drive of Cape Town?
False
South Africa
Family-friendly places within a 2 hr drive of Cape Town?
We are traveling w/ our 8, 5 and 2 yr old kids to Cape Town for a week, arriving mid-Nov, 2011. Well mannered kids (luckily!), but still concerned about finding family-friendly locations and lea
0
Cat:Middle East and AfricaForum:0EE6B362
Cat:Middle East and AfricaForum:0EE6B362Discussion:a11750cc-2e98-439a-9f3f-65335515b9e4
We are traveling w/ our 8, 5 and 2 yr old kids to Cape Town for a week, arriving mid-Nov, 2011. Well mannered kids (luckily!), but still concerned about finding family-friendly locations and learning tips about traveling w/ children in and around Cape Town. We're planning to stay in a Cape Town hotel for three nts, then renting a car to travel to a safari, the vineyards, Hermanus, Cape of Good Hope, etc. (kind of following "The Real Relaxer: Cape Town & Environs in 1 Week" listed in Frommer's South Africa). Would a guide be a necessity during any of this? We're trying to stay within a reasonable buget, as well.
I noticed on another discussion that Frommer's Humphreys reccomended some family-friendly safaris, so I'll research those ASAP. That's our biggest concern and priority. Any suggestions on a family friendly vineyard to stay over nt? Ideally we'd like to stay 1-2 nights at a safari location, and a night on a vineyard. Seems like prices range quite a bit.
Howzit and greetings from Cape Town, Laura. Great to see that you're heading out to the Rainbow Nation, and spending some time in and around our beautiful Mother City. Pippa De Bruyn's 1-week "Real Relaxer" itinerary is pretty close to the perfect week to explore Cape Town and her environs. As you are planning to self-drive, I'm presuming that you're not overly intimidated by the prospect of navigating your way around foreign terrain and therefore I don't believe you'll need a guide for any of your itinerary. Cape Town's major road arteries are well signposted...just remember to stay on the left hand side of the road!
For a relaxed start to your Cape Town holiday, you might prefer to sit back and enjoy the ride on the City Sightseeing Bus (www.citysightseeing.co.za). It's a great way to ease into the pace of the city and allows for plenty of hopping off-hopping on should your children wish to explore on foot.
You'll be offered plenty of guided day tours for in and around Cape Town, especially a "Cape Peninsula" day tour, but if you follow Pippa's "Peninsula Driving Tour" then you'll be fine. As you are traveling with children, I would recommend leaving out the stop numbers 1, 4, 5 & 6 as it is usually a long enough day just to visit all the other stops that are mentioned. I live in Kommetjie (see stop 9) and head down to our beach every day with my two littlies (4yrs & 2yrs), so I recommend a stop at our beach if your little clan is becoming tired of being in the car. I often find Noordhoek's beach is more windblown than our Kommetjie beach. (I'm not overly biased, am I?!).
Out in the Winelands, definitely plan a stop at Tokara (mentioned in Pippa's "Relaxer" itinerary). Their DeliCATessan (www.tokaradelicatessen.co.za) has a great jungle gym play area overlooked by a wooden-decked outdoor area with couches (and boxes of kids toys) where you and hubby can kick back and enjoy lunch/wine. They're closed on Mondays and the outdoor section can get quite busy on other days, especially for lunch, so perhaps make a reservation with them to ensure you can sit outside. La Motte Vineyard doesn't have any specific child-friendly attributes but they do have a nice, open, shaded grassed area dotted with comfortable outdoor furniture that beg an extended session of wine and cheese consumption, while the kids run around and explore a little stream and bridge (that leads to a separate building where the wine tasting takes place). Their restaurant is first class as is their wine. If your family has anything like the sweet tooth that mine has, then a stop in Franschhoek village at the little shop for Huguenot Fine Chocolates (www.huguenotchocolates.com) is an obvious necessity.
No matter where we travel in the Cape region (including Hermanus), we always have a scan through www.budget-getaways.co.za for reasonably-priced accommodation that is also family friendly. Out in the Winelands, I recommend looking more towards Franschhoek than Stellenbosch, as Stellenbosch has virtually no accommodations that are overly child-friendly.
I presume you are looking at either Aquila, Inverdoorn or Fairy Glen for your close-to-Cape Town safari. I'll admit I haven't yet taken my family to any of them so all that I know about them is second hand news. I think you're best to check out all three and see which fits best for you, in terms of location along your preferred driving route, budget, child-friendly activities etc.
I hope this helps, perhaps let me know if you'd like to call in and see us in Kommetjie and I'll see if we're home that day?
Thank you for your recommendations on the driving tour. Great advice. Additionally, we will definitely be going to the restaurants that you recommended in the Winelands, as we may be staying in Stellenbosch at the Spier Hotel. It was recommended in the kids section of Frommers. Any thoughts on that establishment? As far as a safari, we have decided on Inverdorn, we will let you know how the Safari went.
We would love to meet up with you on Stop 9. The beach sounds great. How should we contact you? It would be nice to have our kids meet.
I always forget about Spier for some reason. Spier Winery is a great set-up with plenty for the kids to experience (cheetahs and raptors) plus a nice grassed area around the dam. There's also a good restaurant...oh, and they also offer some wine tasting :-). It can get a bit busy and touristy on some days however, especially weekends. Feel free to email me at darren@compassodyssey.net and we can then sort out when we can meet up in Kommetjie.
