Self Guided Franschhoek Wine Tour GPS Audio Guide
- 2–13 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- 2 languages
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
Drive Franschhoek yourself, with a GPS audio guide that plays automatically as you go. Your booking unlocks the whole valley in the free Wine Trails app: pick your date and starting point, Franschhoek village, Groot Drakenstein, Simondium or Paarl, choose the estates you want from the 34 mapped between the pass and the Simonsberg, and the app builds your personal route with turn-by-turn narration. Narrated stories cover the people behind the gates: the Huguenot refugees of 1688 whose farm names are still on the signs, Paulina Pepler at Rickety Bridge, the Rupert family's three estates, Charles Back's arrival from Lithuania in 1902, and the cellars that make Cap Classique and nothing else. No group, no schedule, no guide; pause for a long lunch in the village, ride a Wine Tram line, replay anything, and the audio keeps working when the signal drops on the pass, because everything downloads offline. You'll need a car and a designated driver; tastings are paid directly at each estate.
Inclusions
What's included
- Email and in-app chat support
- Narrated stories on the Huguenots of 1688, Boschendal, La Motte, the Rupert farms and the Cap Classique cellars
- GPS-triggered audio driving tour of Franschhoek: stories play automatically at each location
- Trip planner to build, reorder and save your own route
- Buy once, no expiry: use it on this trip and every future trip
- Complete offline download: audio, maps and route stored on your phone
- In-app map with navigation between stops
- 34 mapped wine estates from the Franschhoek Pass to Simondium and Paarl
- Free content and audio updates for life
- One purchase covers everyone in the vehicle
What's not
- Tasting fees (paid directly at each estate)
- Tasting reservations, where required
- Food, meals and snacks
- Transport: rental car, fuel, parking or driver
- Mobile data used to download the tour (download over wifi and it is free)
- Franschhoek Wine Tram tickets and museum entry at the Huguenot Monument
Itinerary
Three white arches at the head of the village, unveiled in 1948 for the refugees of 1688; the museum beside it tells the story of the edict that drove them out of France.
Family-run cellar on the pass road above the village, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay only, led today by cellar master Takuan von Arnim under the creed that wine is grown, not made.
Cap Classique house making nothing else, from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier; claims the first Agrafe Cap Classique in the Cape, fermented under cork and clip.
One thing, two grapes: Cap Classique from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, more than half the Chardonnay from its own farm; Brut Reserve, Blanc de Blancs and Brut Rosé on the counter.
Founded in 1991 with what it calls South Africa’s first underground maturation cellar; 36 hectares of vines planted high on the valley slopes between 400 and 600 metres.
One of the farms acquired by Huguenot Pierre Joubert after he arrived in 1694; manor house, gallery and restaurant at the village end of the R45.
Land granted to Huguenot farmers in 1694 and owned in the 1830s by Paulina Pepler, one of South Africa’s first female landowners; tastings at the bridge on the R45.
Food, literature and conservation on the valley’s main road: rotisserie restaurant, family tables, a shop and sponsor of the Cape Leopard Trust.
Named in 1709 by Huguenot Pierre Joubert for his Provençal village; manor from the 1750s, owned by the Rupert family since 1970, with a bakery, farm shop and concert programme.
L’Ormarins, named for the Huguenot village of Lourmarin, the farm on which Rupert Wines was founded; a large estate at the heart of the family’s valley.
A story that begins in 1685 with Jean le Long; Cape Dutch manor now a national monument, 1,900 hectares of working farm with the Werf and the Cellar Door for tasting.
Allocated in 1688 to Flemish merchant Jacques de Savoye off the ship Oosterland and named peace and delight; the Buys family has farmed it since 1996.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Know before you go
- Meeting point
- These are self-guided wine tours, so these are just where a user can drive in from. The user can start from wherever they are at.
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Operated by
- Wine Trails
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
How it compares in Franschhoek
- Its from-price is 83% below the median of the 8 day trips we list in Franschhoek.
- Its length is typical for the group.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Franschhoek
Franschhoek is a wine village in a mountain-ringed valley of the Western Cape, founded by French Huguenots, with Cape Dutch houses and fine restaurants.
Franschhoek, Dutch for French Corner, lies in a valley ringed by mountains in the Cape Winelands, east of Stellenbosch, and was settled in 1688 by Huguenots, French Protestants who fled persecution. The Huguenot Memorial Museum and a large monument at the head of the main road tell their story, and white Cape Dutch gabled houses stand among vineyards, oak trees and rose gardens.
Top-ranked sights in Franschhoek: Franschhoek Motor Museum.
Special offers in Franschhoek
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
