Elgin and Hermanus: road trip into the Cape Overberg

​By Roxanne Reid
When last did you go online to book a little getaway? And which accommodation aggregator did you use? I’ve just used Afristay for the first time to book an Elgin and Hermanus road trip into the Cape Overberg and it was an easy, pain-free experience. Find out more...

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Afristay is an internet accommodation booking service with thousands of listings across South Africa and beyond into southern Africa. They recently offered to sponsor a few days’ accommodation so I could experience and review their service.

The site currently has 20 000 listings and 12 000 reviews across 2100 African locations and is growing by some 7000 listings a year. Check out the team on their website and you’ll see it consists, among others, of an ‘admin wrangler’, a ‘ticket slinger’ and a bunch of ‘dream makers’. They sounded like a cool bunch to handle my bookings.

Grotto Beach, a popular spot in Hermanus

Rupert Bryant is the CEO. I reckon he needs a funkier title in keeping with the ticket slingers and dream makers, but that’s just me. ‘Although we concentrate on South Africa we’ve expanded into Botswana, Kenya and Namibia,’ he says. ‘In 2018, we’re planning to do a big push into Sub-Saharan Africa and start focusing on Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania.’

The experience
Browsing the options and booking our choices was a breeze. We wanted a stopover in Elgin (to do some wine tasting, what else?) and then a few nights of self-catering in Hermanus so we could hit some of its long list of fabulous restaurants (think Moggs and Source).

I’ll write about some of the things we got up to in Hermanus in another post, but what did we think about the places where we stayed?

Belfield Wines & Farm Cottage, Elgin

Acorn Cottage at Belfield, Elgin

​The self-catering two-bed Acorn Cottage under shady oak trees in Elgin was really sweet, a little doll’s house of a place that captured our hearts. There was a small living room with a dinky fireplace for cold winter’s days and a porch where we could dream away the late afternoon in mid-summer. If we hadn’t been little piggies at Peregrine Farmstall’s recently spruced up restaurant, we could even have made a braai.

The kitchen was well equipped with a cheerful red-and-white colour scheme and lime green accents. The housekeeping staff had written a personal welcoming message on a kettle-shaped blackboard, and there were fresh flowers in the bedroom.

The cheery kitchen

Ask owner and winemaker Mike for a wine tasting of the farm’s red wines or chat to Mel about the history of the farm. She might even tell you about some of the odd characters (think jailbird and prostitute, thankfully long gone) they found staying on the farm when they first arrived 17 years ago. There are bigger cottages for families too – just not as cute.

Robin’s Nest, Hermanus

The self-catering accommodation at Robin's Nest, Hermanus

Of all the places we chose for our road trip, Robin’s Nest at the start of the Hemel en Aarde Valley Road at Hermanus was our favourite. Up a short flight of wooden stairs we found a lovely big space, with queen-size bed, easy chairs to relax in and a neat little kitchenette that allowed us the independence of self-catering.

There’s a dedicated area in the garden below for anyone who wants to have their own braai, but my favourite place to sit was on the balcony. It looked out over a beautiful garden with big trees and to the hills beyond. It was a perfect place for sampling some of the cheese and wine we’d bought on the surrounding farms, or for a pink gin before dinner.

The bedroom, taken from the living area and kitchenette

With just four self-catering rooms to let, Robin’s Nest retains a personal touch. If you need advice, Leonie is a happy to recommend things to do in the area or places to eat. She told me she was about to start a picnic basket service, where a local woman will provide picnic meals for those who don’t want to bother with cooking for themselves or eating out. She’s in the big house on the other side of the garden if you need her otherwise she leaves you to get on with the business of having a good time.

The view from the balcony, of the syringa tree in the garden and to the hills beyond

I liked that we were in walking distance of one of the best wine shops in the country as well as three restaurants (including the fairly new Source, which we went to twice it was so nice). You can even walk to the Hermanuspietersfontein winery for a tasting, while the riches of the Hemel en Aarde Valley are only a short drive away so you don’t have to fight with Hermanus’ crazy traffic.

47@WhaleRock, Hermanus

The living room at 47@WhaleRock

The approach through an industrial area next to the working harbour wasn’t promising but once we signed in at the security gate and got to the apartment, everything changed. It was light, airy and modern, with a palette of white, cream and grey. The kitchen was very well equipped for self-catering, with more things than I have at home.

In the living room there was space to lie flat on large couches, and a flat screen TV for those who crave such things on holiday. Beyond a small table and chairs, sliding doors opened on to a small patio outside, but we chose not to braai because of a prickly little wind coming off the sea. 

​The apartment is on the ground floor with houses in front of it so there are only thin slices of sea view. Even though no one had promised me a sea view, I was vaguely disappointed; we could hear the pounding surf but the sea seemed tantalizingly out of reach. A good wifi connection was a bonus, as was a shaded parking bay on a hot day.

The kitchen

What I liked about the website
Once you’re on the Afristay website you’ll see that the listings cover a wide range from upmarket boutique hotels and self catering to caravan parks and backpackers. Enter the destination you want to visit – Elgin or Hermanus, in our case – punch in the number of guests, choose your dates and browse the available options.

​I liked that you can select your price range with a neat little slider button. You can also select must-haves like pool, wifi or a place that’s wheelchair friendly. If you’re just browsing and see a place you like, you can add it to your wish list with one click, and then come back to it later.

Once you’ve selected your dates and accommodation, you can contact the host directly with queries you may have – a useful feature. After the booking is confirmed, you’ll get a reminder a week or so beforehand, just in case you forget or get the dates muddled (as happened to us once before, to our shame).

Walk along the cliff path at Hermanus and listen to the waves crash on the rocks

The process was effortless and seamless. (Not like one of the other accommodation aggregators that recently told me to pay a deposit, and only then set about finding out if the place I wanted to book had space for me! Not cool.)

Another thing I liked was that Afristay gave some more information about Hermanus – a little history, things to do, where to eat, and so forth. Although I know Hermanus fairly well, if I was visiting a new destination this sort of info would be useful.

Finally, there are reviews of some – though by no means all – places from real visitors to give you deeper insight. It’s like an accommodation portal and Tripadvisor rolled into one. After your visit you’ll be prompted to write a quick review. Please do it because the more reviews there are, the more they’ll help future visitors (including you) to make better choices.

Click through to the Afristay website to browse some of the options and plan your own getaway.

You may also enjoy
15 things to do in Hermanus on the Cape Whale Coast
​Mogg’s Country Cookhouse: a winning recipe

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