Area Overview

Stellenbosch is the heart of South Africa's wine industry, a place of great beauty and culture. Stellenbosch Wine Route is the first and most famous in the country and includes 106 cellars. Whilst enjoying our great South African wines - you'll taste our South African way of life.

In 1679 Simon van der Stel was the founder of Stellenbosch, the second oldest town in South Africa. The oak-lined Dorp Street is somewhere near the heart of the town with its famous historical buildings. The University of Stellenbosch’s modern student life sits comfortably side by side with our history and architectural heritage. A walking map from the Stellenbosch Information Bureau will enable you to experience the many fascinating historic buildings of Stellenbosch.

The University of Stellenbosch has world-class sports facilities. Stellenbosch offers almost every outdoor activity such as: several scenic mountain hiking trails with 360° views of the wine lands and Cape Peninsula, popular mountain bike trails and is surrounded by six truly great golf courses.

As an important cultural centre, Stellenbosch has many galleries and museums housing important national and international art collections and the Stellenbosch Conservatoire is the country's oldest music school.

Strawberry picking at Mooiberge and Polkadraai in spring is one of the high lights on the calender.

Stellenbosch offers various facilities where one can observe wild life. These include Drakenstein Lion Park, Butterfly World, Crocodile farm and interacting with cheetahs and birds of prey at Spier.

The R44 which weaves through the wine lands leads to one of the world’s most scenic coastal routes to Hermanus on the famous whale route.