17 things to do in Tulbagh, Cape Winelands

​By Roxanne Reid
Jagged mountains and gnarled old oaks, the curve of a Cape Dutch gable, long rows of vineyards or fruit trees, a farm dam – these are the memories you’ll bring home from Tulbagh. In the Cape Winelands just a 90-minute drive from Cape Town, it’s a place to discover history and magnificent scenery, to explore 17 things to do in Tulbagh.

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1. Walk Church Street 

Building after building in Church Street is a national monument

Walk up and down Church Street to look at beautiful buildings that were restored after the earthquake of 1969. Each has a plaque in front telling what it used to be, how badly it was damaged and how it was restored. Every house in this street has been proclaimed a national monument – the biggest ever restoration project in South Africa. Thanks to the earthquake, it’s now both a tourist attraction and a fine example of cultural heritage.

2. Visit a museum 

Tulbagh's Earthquake Museum

Tulbagh’s Church Street is rich in museums – four of them. At number 4 you’ll find the Earthquake Museum, where you can buy a R15 ticket that gets you entrance to all four museums. This one documents the events of 1969 and paints a picture of the restoration of Church Street. A separate room tells the stories of three settlements that disappeared completely after the earthquake, the houses either demolished or their occupants moved.

​Quick tip: Tulbagh Tourism’s info centre is in the same building so it makes a good place to start. Pick up a map of the town and surrounding area and attractions. 

Oude Kerk Museum

The Oude Kerk should be your second stop on the museum trail. It’s one of the last surviving cruciform churches in South Africa and was built in 1743 by the Dutch East India Company. The gable and ring-wall were added in 1795. Once another church was built, it fell into disuse but reopened as a museum in 1925.

At 14 Church Street is a Victorian Period House that depicts the lifestyle of the rural middle-class family at this time, with its dark velvet drapes, florid wallpaper and overstuffed chairs.

22 Church Street, built in 1803, was originally a postmaster’s house and is now the Pioneer House Museum. There’s a red-walled period kitchen with open hearth, a simple room with rietdak ceiling, a more formal voorkamer with wooden ceiling, and an eclectic collection of old kitchen implements, furniture and china.

3. Stay over 

Farmstay, treehouse or historic lodge, Tulbagh has everything from budget to luxury accommodation

It would be a huge mistake to rush your visit to Tulbagh; as you can see in this post, there’s plenty to do and see in the area. Rather stay over for a couple of nights and savour the experience of slow travel. Whether you’re looking for a boutique hotel, B&B, self-catering cottage or farmstay experience, Afristay’s multiple Tulbagh accommodation listings have you covered – in all price ranges from budget to luxury. Stay in a restored building in historic Church Street, in town or in the country, and make the most of a few days away from the hurly-burly of the city.

4. Go wine-tasting 

Saronsberg wine estate

With some 15 wine estates in this part of the Cape Winelands, you’re spoilt for choice. Most offer tastings for a fee of R45 to R85, but this is swept away if you buy a few bottles afterwards. Saronsberg has some impressive sculptures in the gardens. Enjoy your tasting outside overlooking a dam or inside in the double-volume tasting room. Take your wine and wander the art gallery upstairs or sit in a ghost chair at the long tables downstairs.

At Lemberg, you’ll be greeted by rows of white roses if you visit in October as we did. The modern tasting room offers a chance to savour wines named after the estate’s dogs, like Lady, Spencer and Louis. Lemberg produces wine from the harsevelu cultivar, so unusual and sought-after that there was none left for tasting. They were particularly proud of the Tim Atkin (master of wine) score of 95 recently awarded to the Louis 2015 blend.

Montpellier's chapel in the vineyard

​Krone (Twee Jongezellen) is the place to go if you love your Méthod Cap Classique (MCC) wines. You get to taste six of them, from sweeter night harvest types to rosé and brut, including the classic Krone Borealis Cuvée Brut made from chardonnay and pinot noir. You’ll also be offered two MCCs that have been on the lees for 10 or more years – definitely more honeyed but very shy on the bubbles.

Montpellier wine estate is a must if only to appreciate its gorgeous little chapel in the vineyards and its restful garden. Unlike Lemberg or Saronsberg, the tasting room here is in a historical old Cape Dutch gabled house, or you can sit in the garden to enjoy your tasting. Apart from Krone, where the tasting was free, this was the cheapest at R45 (though we bought six bottles so didn’t pay the tasting fee).

5. Wine by Bike 

Wine by Bike - photo courtesy of Vindoux Guest Farm & Spa

Vindoux Guest Farm lies very close to the wine estates of Saronsberg and Krone, and not too far away from Montpellier or Oakhurst Olives. Hire a bike at Vindoux for a slower ‘Wine by Bike’ way to explore the area’s estates and farm tracks. Choose half day or full day, and your fee includes helmets and water. Special wine carriers on the bikes help you transport your purchases. You can even venture further afield and explore Church Street (see point 1 above) by bike. Bookings, tel 023-2300635.

6. Do an olive oil tasting 

Oakhurst olive oil tasting

Oakhurst Olives lies at the end of a cul de sac just outside Tulbagh. Here the granite and sandstone soils and summer sunshine make for happy olive trees. The crop is hand-harvested from March to June. A tutored tasting in the gorgeous double-volume tasting room was one of our highlights in Tulbagh.

You get to taste plump kalamata olives, a delicious tapenade made with capers instead of anchovies (it’s less fishy and slightly less salty than usual, which I liked), as well as two cold-pressed extra virgin olive oils – delicate and intense. Oakhurst uses up to ten different varieties like leccino, frantoio and carotina in the oil blend for complexity. The delicate oil is very buttery but with a peppery bite in the back of the throat. The intense oil is stronger flavoured and also peppery on aftertaste.

We bought a litre of olive oil, a few jars of tapenade and a 250ml bottle of oil as a gift.

7. Enjoy a relaxing spa treatment 

Photo courtesy of Vindoux Guest Farm & Spa

Sore muscles after your bike ride or hike? Stressed from working too hard? Book a spa treatment at Vindoux Guest Farm & Spa, from a 30 min de-stress back massage to a one-hour full body deep tissue massage, from facials to hand and foot treatments. Bookings essential, tel 023-2301737 or 073-8748454. Closed Tuesdays.

8. Explore the art route 

Saronsberg art gallery

If you’re a lover of fine art, you’ll be happy to know there’s a number of art galleries and artists in and around Tulbagh. Treat yourself to some visual stimulation by visiting the Monbijou Fine Art Gallery & Olde Curiosity Shoppe or Christo Coetzee Art Gallery in Church Street, or take in the sculpture and paintings at Saronsberg wine estate (see point 4 above). You can also make an appointment to visit the area’s artists in their studios, where they sculpt, paint or do printmaking. For more information, drop in at Tulbagh Tourism’s information centre at 4 Church Street.

9. Indulge your chocolate passion 

Moniki Chocolatier tasting with Amarula

If you love chocolate, you have to visit Moniki Chocolatier on the Klipfontein estate a few kilometres out of Tulbagh. Chocolatier Berry Horing uses 70% dark Belgian chocolate that’s very smooth and shiny thanks to the long tempering process. There’s also milk and white chocolate.

​You can do a tasting/pairing of three chocs of your choice, paired with tea, coffee, Amarula, port or brandy. The tea pairing is R40, brandy R60 and the rest all R50. With two of us selecting three chocolates each, we got to taste six different ones before deciding what to buy for later. Some flavours included marzipan, Amarula, Dutch caramel, cappuccino, lime and eikeberry.

Given how charming and helpful Berry was, how delicious the quality chocolates and how peaceful the setting on a farm, this was another highlight. The tot of Amarula didn’t hurt either.

Quick tip: A craft brewery will open soon near Moniki at Klipfontein once it gets its licence.

10. Go hiking 

Photo courtesy of Tulbagh Tourism

Put on your hiking boots and explore the mountains around Tulbagh to enjoy scenic views and mountain fynbos. Two popular walks are the Waterval Trail (15-30 min) to a waterfall and pool, and the Murludi trails, with a 4km River Route and a 10km Elsbos Route. There’s a small fee (R10-R25 per adult) for permits for these trails; get your permit and map at the Tulbagh Tourism info centre at 4 Church Street.

11. Go horse-riding 

Photo courtesy Tulbagh Tourism

Saddle up and go horse-riding in the foothills of the Winterhoek and Witzenberg mountains, through orchards and vineyards on a working farm. Both novices and experienced riders are welcome, just book ahead with Tulbagh Horse Trails, tel 023-2300615.

12. Eat out 

Reader's Restaurant

Don’t expect Franschhoek-style gourmet food in Tulbagh, but do try out some of the eateries. Paddagang had been closed when we were there, but has since reopened in a new guise in March 2018. We enjoyed a very nice lentil bobotie at Reader’s Restaurant in Church Street, where the décor is mostly on the theme of cats. The old building dating back to late 1700s used to be the sick comforter’s house (he read the bible to sick people – hence the name).

Things I Love

Another place worth a stop is Things I Love, which has a nice terrace, or you can sit inside among the décor and bric-a-brac. The butternut and beetroot salad was nice, the gourmet burger more of a normal cheese burger than a gourmet one.

The Olive Terrace at the Tulbagh Hotel on Van der Stel Street is a very popular venue so you might need to book ahead on the weekend. The prize seats here are definitely on the pretty terrace, but you can sit inside if the weather doesn’t co-operate. Our hake-and-chips and pork belly filled our tummies but the crackling was like leather.

[Update May 2018: the famous Paddagang has now reopened under new management and a friend reports that the 'ambience is seriously cosy' and it is 'serving the kind of food you're happy to travel from the Cape to experience'.]

13. Go on a tractor ride 

Tractor rides at Oudekloof wine estate

Go on a scenic tractor ride up the historic Oudekloof Pass to enjoy the mountains and views out over Tulbagh. The trip at Oudekloof Wine Estate takes about two hours and includes a picnic at the top. You’ll learn a bit about the history of the area too, and imagine what it must have been like for the Voortrekkers and their oxwagons when they came through here. Book ahead, tel 082-4409459.

Further afield
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14. Zipline the cobwebs away 

Ceres zipline, photo courtesy of Tulbagh Tourism

Just 20 minutes away from Tulbagh is Ceres, where you’ll find a zipline adventure among the rock formations of the Schurweberg. Kit up with special harness, helmet and gloves and get an adrenalin rush on eight slides, from 100 to 290m long. Total distance is 1.4km. Great fun for the whole family (ages 3 and older) but small children will need to do tandem slides.

15. See a Boer War blockhouse

Anglo Boer War blockhouse

On the R43 near Wolseley you can see a well-preserved Anglo Boer War blockhouse guarding the railway line and bridge over a river. Back in 1899-1901, the British Army depended for supplies and troops on the railway line from Cape Town to the Boer Republics in the north, so the Boers began to attack railway lines and bridges. The Brits countered by building blockhouses like this. There were water tanks on the ground floor, living quarters housing up to 20 men on the first floor, and a lookout post on the top floor. Not a single bridge protected by a blockhouse was blown up.

16. Visit Bosjes chapel and gardens ​

Bosjes chapel

Take a detour past Bosjes wine estate in the Breede River Valley, between Wolseley and Ceres, to see a wedding chapel inspired by a bird in flight. As unusual as it is beautiful, it opened in March 2017. Take a walk around the indigenous gardens, through the sculptural water fountain and stop for tea/coffee and cake in the tea garden.

17. Drive Bains Kloof Pass 

Bains Kloof Pass is a national monument

If you’re travelling from Cape Town/Paarl/ Wellington to Tulbagh, don’t miss driving over the historic Bains Kloof Pass. Built by the masterful Andrew Geddes Bain from 1849-1853, this 18km engineering masterpiece on the R301 is now a national monument. As the official ‘gateway to the north’, Bains Kloof Pass would have seen many oxwagons and horse-drawn carts in the 19th century. Today, it’s a snaking tarred pass through indigenous vegetation to a height of 594m, with the river running like a ribbon at the bottom of the deep kloof.

Note: This post is a partnership with Afristay, which offers thousands of accommodation listings in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Kenya. I had free rein to write what I pleased.

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