Riding the wine train in Franschhoek, South Africa

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What is it like to ride the wine train in Franschhoek, South Africa? And what even is a wine train? The Franschhoek Wine Tram is actually made up of both trains and buses, and offers a fantastically charming way to travel around vineyards.

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Franschhoek Wine Tram - Franschhoek Wine Tram

The Franschhoek Wine Trame consists of charmingly designed trains and buses that take you around the vineyards of the region. You choose whether you want to ride the blue, orange, pink, red or navy line, and start at the Franschhoek Terminal, where both trains and buses depart.

We chose the pink line and started with a ride on the train. Later in the day we came back to the terminal and continued to further wineries by bus.

We travelled on the wine train in Franschhoek with Peter's son Robin and his wife Alexandra, who had come down to South Africa and spent two weeks there with us.

The train offers a fantastic turn-of-the-century environment and on board you are offered ... a glass of wine of course! A voice tells you about the vineyards you pass, and then you just have to choose where to get off. You could describe it as a "hop on hop off" journey.

Once you get off at a winery, you choose whether you want to stay for one or two hours, and then you hop back on the train or bus, or a tractor-trailer that takes you to the train station.

Vineyard in Franschhoek: Rickety Bridge Estate

Our first stop was at Rickety Bridge Estate, in a stunningly beautiful location, surrounded by mountains and vineyards.

Here we sat down at an outdoor table, with lovely views, and ordered a tasting with a number of different wines. The winery makes wine from grapes such as Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Pinotage and Shiraz, and everything we tasted was very good.

There are also nice indoor rooms, for rainy days.

When we browsed the menu, we discovered that you could choose the "sabre experience". Sabring is a method of opening champagne bottles with a sabre, by breaking the neck of the bottle. Here you could order an experience, or a crash course if you will, in this noble art.

Robin and Alexandra didn't want to miss this opportunity, and our knowledgeable waiter took us, along with bottles of champagne and a sabre, to a secluded spot in the courtyard.

He first instructed Robin and Alexandra how to do it, and then it was time to test it. How did it go? Well, it went very well!

Everyone was very happy with the winery visit, and now it was time to continue with the wine tractor and wine train to get to the next destination.

Vineyard in Franschhoek: Dieu Donné Vineyards

There are more wineries along the same train route, but we chose to go back to Franschhoek Terminal, and take the wine bus. Now we headed to the winery Dieu Donné Vineyards, which also has an amazingly beautiful location. We sat down at a table in the garden, where we could enjoy an absolutely wonderful view.

It was wine tasting again, and we chose the place's "Premium tasting", with five different premium wines. To give an example of the price, we paid 130 rand (about SEK 75) per person for this, so in other words, it is affordable to taste wine in South Africa. The wine glasses are relatively well filled and Peter and I always chose to share a tasting, which is why the price also ended up at half for us.

Now it was also time to order something smaller to eat. We chose a cheese and charcuterie tray to share, which was really good with the wines.

Winery in Franschhoek: Chamonix Wine Farm

Our last winery visit of the day was at Chamonix Wine Farm, which is a short distance from Dieu Donné. This was perhaps the least exceptional of the three, as we were not treated to the same stunning views, but it was still a pleasant visit.

Here Peter and I chose to try some white Chardonnay wines (15 kroner/glass!) and then we ordered a simple lunch in the form of "mini burgers" with chicken and coleslaw.

After these three winery visits, we felt satisfied and headed back to Cape Town. We could have visited one more place if we wanted to, but at this point we thought it felt right to round off.

The wine train in Franschhoek - what a great experience!

All in all, travelling on the Franschhoek wine train was a fantastic experience and we can definitely recommend this day trip if you are making a trip to Cape Town. About 3-4 winery visits can be just right and it is easy to book in advance at the experience's website.

If you want to be sure to be able to have lunch at a specific winery, it may be good to book this in advance as well, as they have a little difficulty knowing how many people will come at each stop. However, it is usually always possible to order a cheese plate or similar, even if you have not booked in advance.

More to see and do in the neighbourhood

If you like the wine train in Franschhoek you will also like the lovely Stellenbosch and the vineyards of Stellenbosch. Nearby, of course, you don't want to miss the wonderful Cape Town or charming Simon's Town. In addition, we can recommend driving along Clarence Drive and Hermanus.

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