Do you love the Southwest of the USA? But wish it was in South Africa? Then you are in luck! Here are some of the things to do in Clarens, South Africa. The Golden Gate National Park is right there, and this town is near Lesotho, so it makes for a good stopping point. The area has a frontier, southwest USA, feel to it. It’s about fours from Pretoria.
Golden Gate Park.
Cheese tasting at Baris: This farm cheese shop is so fun. Go for lunch and order a cheese tasting.
Cheese tasting platter at Baris.
Hiking: This is the real reason many people visit this area.
Gorgeous sunset in Golden Gate Park.
Gin tasting: At Clarens Brewery, they have a gin store, Junipers Craft Gin Bar, and they do tastings (plus they have some yummy food including their ‘chips’ or fries and they have Bunny Chow, a curry-in-a-loaf-of-bread specialty of South Africa.
View over my Bunny Chow.
Shopping: Lots of artwork, souvenirs, cards, clothes, and gin. I almost bought paintings by this local artist, Johan Smith. There are other cute shops including the Purple Onion. Make sure to check them all out. They are all next to each other. Everything from art, fudge, cards, shoes, clothes, and antiques.
Clarens has a Southwest wild west feel.
Entertainment: This town has live entertainment including a local guy who is famous in this local town.
Old timey feel at Purple Onion.
Eating: Surprisingly good restaurants for such a small town. The Italian one, Bocca di Lupo, run by a guy from Bologna, is divine. Excellent pizza and pasta.
Spicy spaghetti.
Sleeping: You can stay in a castle. I stayed at the Protea, a Marriott hotel because it was about four minutes downhill by food from the Clarens square with the shops and restaurants. Made for an easy commute after shopping or eating.
The shop at Highland Brew.
Outside of the town of Clarens, there are other things to do and see. Other than the cheese place, there is also a dinosaur center. If you want another cafe with views of the mountains and hiking areas, check out Highland Brew. It has food and drink, plus a shop selling jam and coffee.
South Africa is known for safaris, Capetown, penguins, the garden route, where the two oceans meet, and wine country. If you want to get inspired, I recommend a South African Youtube channel called “Like a Tourist” (I think they may soon run tours as well). Get inspired by the lesser known parts of South Africa, shown with excellent cinematic skill, by a native. I got inspired to go to Barrydale Hand Weavers, but otherwise, I relied on the recommendations of a friend who lives there… If you want to do what I did, then I’ve listed it below. Note: I will write about these places in separate blog postings in the next six months.
My itinerary:
You might make eye contact with a lion.
Safari –– Four night safari at Madikwe Hills: Madikwe is a private game reserve to the north of Pretoria. It is a four hour drive of which the last hour or so is inside the game reserve (so you will be on your own game drive!). Madikwe Hills is a luxury safari lodge (Think in the $500 per night and up range). I will write more about Madikwe in a separate article. I highly recommend them. I will write about safari in a separate article.
The view of the “game drive” vehicle at our luxury lodge.
The Garden Route — two nights in each — Capetown, Hermanus, and Knysna:
Breakfast view of the back of Table Mountain, at the Vineyard Constantia hotel.
Capetown: We stayed at the Vineyard, not in downtown Capetown, and it was a lovely hotel with views of table mountain. While in Capetown, we went to the Cape of Good Hope (the “southernmost” point of Africa — actually location is Cape Agulhus which is 90 miles away), we did fancy dinners (Chef’s Table at the Beau Constantia Vineyard and Belly of the Beast). We took Uber (your account will work here too) as to avoid driving, drinking and driving, and parking nightmares. We flew to Capetown on Safair, a domestic airline, and two things to note about that — it is possible to take liquids onto your domestic flights so load up on your coffee or tea — and you can reserve the middle seat for not so much money thus making it a pleasant flight. While in Capetown, you can go up the cable car to Table Mountain. Some days you will see nothing but we were lucky with sunshine. The cool thing about the funicular is that it rotates! So you will get a good view wherever you are standing when you get in. The ride is short (five minutes?) but the line is long (buy the VIP passes). Check out the botanical gardens.
There is also a restaurant at the botanical gardens.
Hermanus: We drove to a secret spot to see penguins (Betty’s Bay, on the way to Hermanus, and park at the Stony Point Penguin Colony entrance — you will still see penguins even when the colony is closed. It’s an insider’s secret!), did wine tastings (more to come on those later), and stayed at the Marine One hotel. The staff are helpful, the penthouse is large with a view of the whale-filled bay, but there are no elevators). The staff there can help you get to your whale watching and wine tasting. This is the place for whale watching.
Penguins hanging out on the beach. Amazing views along the Garden Route.
Knysna (‘nice-naw’): This is a place to see the Knysna Headlands (I really liked the East Head Cafe), enjoy a sailboat ride, eat seafood, shop at Old Nick Village (a small outdoor shopping area including Mungo and their workshop), visit Barrydale for the drive and the shopping, and explore other shopping opportunities such as a farmers market. We stayed at Mount Knysna which has amazing views (and an elevator) and very nice rooms (the presidential suite has an extra bedroom).
View of the Heads from Mount Knysna hotel.
Another national park and small town — Clarens: Not on my list, but I went along with it. The town is known for being a cute artsy town, for the local hikes, amazing vistas in the national park (Golden Gate is not just in California), and a fun pitstop on the way to Lesotho. We stayed at the Marriott in town because then the town square and delicious restaurants were within walking distance (five minutes), but you can stay at a castle or a palace, or something more rural. Up to you. There is lots of do in Clarens, from dinosaur hunting, hiking, gin tasting, brewpub visiting, and cheese tasting. I had the most delicious Italian food there. The owner is from Bologna.
Golden Gate park in Clarens.
Pretoria: See the government building and giant statue of Mandela, have clothes made (or not), enjoy the malls, the low prices for steak ($20 for a steak dinner) and other meat. Enjoy the jacaranda trees in bloom in spring.
Tender meat at cheap prices everywhere! This was a happy hour snack while on safari.
What time of year to visit? I went in October which is spring but the temperature varied depending on where we were. Some days it was unseasonably hot in the 90s F (35 C) and other days it was down to 50 F (15 C). The baby elephants and jacarandas are a springtime thing. Whale watching is in the spring.
