Things to Do in Western Cape

South Africa is increasingly well-known for its wines, with the wine country near Cape Town being a particularly popular stop with oenophiles and foodies alike. One highlight of any wine tasting trip near Cape Town is to the oldest wine estate in South Africa at Groot Constantia.

The property in Constantia was given to Simon van der Stel in 1685 by the Dutch East India Company, which had an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope. At the time, van der Stel was the Dutch East India Company’s Governor of this area, and it’s his name that later was used at Simon’s Town south of Cape Town. He built a manor house and began farming grapes for wine production.

In 1779, a wine-making family purchased the part of the Groot Constantia estate that included van der Stel’s manor house. It’s that family, the Cloetes, who is to thank for making Groot Constantia one of the area’s top wine estates, especially noted for its Constantia dessert wine. A fire in 1925 destroyed van der Stel’s original manor house, but it was rebuilt according to the original design.

Today, visitors to Groot Constantia can tour the wine-making facilities as well as the historic manor house (now a part of the Iziko South African Museum with rotating exhibits on display), the beautiful grounds, and enjoy a meal at one of the estate’s on-site restaurants. Groot Constantia is part of the scenic Constantia wine route, and the winery is also producing dessert wine again (it had stopped for more than 100 years) along with highly-rated red wines.

This quaint harbor on the western side of the Cape Peninsula has a seaside charm that attracts both travelers and locals to its sheltered shores. Whether it’s sampling ocean-fresh seafood from one of the restaurants lining its harbor or exploring the shelves of world-class antique shops, Hout Bay has proved itself a worthy destination despite its small size. Visitors love wandering along the bustling docks where commercial fishing boats unload their daily catch, and its close proximity to Seal Island and World of Birds makes it a perfect lunch stop on a tour of the Cape.

Settled in the mid-1920s as a designated area for black Africans, Langa Township is Cape Town’s oldest and largest township. This lively community, which was established pre-apartheid, is steeped in history of the Xhosa people. Even its name pays homage to a famous tribe member who rebelled against the government in the late 1800s and was later imprisoned at Robben Island.

Visitors can tour the community with local Xhosa guides and explore the streets of Joe Slovo, the largest informal settlement in the township. A monument recognizing those who lost their lives in anti-pass campaign protests during apartheid stands at the community’s center, as well as a newly opened craft market stocked with local handmade items and a recently renovated cultural and multi-purpose center.

One of the oldest museums in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Iziko South African Museum is home to more than half a million unique artifacts. Visitors can explore the halls of this historic place, which was founded in 1897, and learn more about the history and the people of the continent’s most-southern country.

Fossils dating some 700 million years back and tools fashioned by natives more than 120,000 years ago are just some of the unique—and archaic—items that make Iziko a destination for history lovers.

The Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, established in 1913 to protect indigenous flora, were the first of their kind in the world. The main garden covers five of the six South African biomes, most of which are found inside an indoor greenhouse. The Kirstenbosch gardens are also home to various exhibitions of sculpture ranging from Zimbabwean stone sculptures to the world-famous bronze animals of Dylan Lewis.