Cape Winelands, South Aftica

This may be an unpopular post.

We had such high expectations for the few days we were spending in the Cape Winelands during our 2+ weeks in South Africa. And the entire experience was disappointing - especially our stay at Babylonstoren. The hotel and the area came highly recommended from friends who had visited and yes, the area was beautiful. Babylonstoren may be one of the prettiest hotel properties in the world- its one of the oldest working Cape Dutch farms in South Africa. But it felt more like Disney World - overrun with day visitors, crawling with kids and fret with rushed “experiences” during our stay the last week of March.

There was nothing relaxing or enjoyable about our stay at this hotel.

Maybe we envisioned the high-end adult focused retreats that we’ve experienced in Napa (Solage) and other areas, but what we found were mediocre accomodations, no privacy, no working wifi and areas that were in desperate need of service and attention.

We booked a one bedroom farmhouse suite which was really just a hotel room. The bathroom was tiny and old and there was no place to put suitcases besides on the loveseat in the room. In fact, the day we arrived we called our travel agent to see about moving hotels - and contemplated both Delaire Graff and La Residence but seeing how we had prepaid for our stay, we decided to try and gut it out.

Our travel agent Jet Set Getaways (and their contact at Travel Artisty Africa) was able to get us upgraded to a 1 bedroom cottage which was a larger 2-room accomodation with a separate bedroom, living space, a larger bathroom (2 sinks) and a small kitchen/ dining area. The larger room made the entire experience much more enjoyable.

To focus on some positives:

• The breakfast at Babel every day was excellent. It was an outrageous spread of fresh fruit, cheese and bread and eggs to order. I wish I had a picture, but I refused to be one of those people videoing breakfast.

• The spa was also lovely, as was the spa pool (until it filled up with day visitors sneaking in).

• The experiences that we actually enjoyed and that didn’t feel rushed and cheesey were:

  • The Mountain Drive

  • The Cellar Tour (nice tasting spread but wines very mediocre)

  • The Water Buffalo Tour- I got to feed a baby buffalo (Dave was working and missed this experience)

• The gardens are beautiful

• Its worth a visit to Babel if you find yourself in the Paarl/ Franschhoek area in the Cape Winelands.

Overall, the Cape Winelands didn’t live up to expectation or the relaxtion we had hoped for this portion of the trip. Next time, its a one-night stay or a day visit at most — not a three night stay.

To note, we had lunch at the Restaurant at Delaire Graffe later in the trip and in the end, I am glad we didn’t swithc hotels and move there either. It suffered from the same issue - tons of kids and day visitors crawling all over the property.

No part of this trip was gifted.