A week in the Riebeek Valley: seven days, seven moods
Why a week works so well here, with a plan that mixes slow village days and day trips within the hour.
A weekend in Riebeek Kasteel is good. A week is better, because the valley rewards slowing down and it sits within an hour of a remarkable range of places. Here is one way to spend seven days.
Day 1, arrive and walk. Check in, walk to the square, have a drink on the Royal Hotel veranda and dinner in the village.
Day 2, wine and olives. A morning tasting at Kloovenburg or Allesverloren, olives at Het Vlock Casteel, lunch on a farm, a swim in the afternoon.
Day 3, the mountain. Walk the Kasteelberg or the Kloovenburg trails early, then a slow afternoon. In the evening, a braai at your stay.
Day 4, Tulbagh. Drive about 45 minutes to walk Church Street, rebuilt after the 1969 earthquake, and have lunch there.
Day 5, the village. Galleries, antiques, Riebeek West and Die Boomhuis, the museum. On a first Friday, stay out for First Fridays.
Day 6, the sea or the mountains. Either Darling and Yzerfontein on the West Coast, or Paarl and the Bainskloof Pass via Wellington.
Day 7, slow morning. Breakfast in the village, the Saturday market if it is the first weekend of the month, and one last look at the valley from the Bothmaskloof Pass on the way out.
Self-catering stays suit a week best: a kitchen for the farm-shop produce, a braai and somewhere to sit outside in the evening.
