The Franschhoek Wine Tram, South Africa

When planning our honeymoon, Dan and I both knew that we wanted it to involve wine.  Wine has been a passion of both of ours for a long time and our love for it definitely increased when we did the WSET wine accreditation course.  Heading to South Africa we knew we wanted to visit the Winelands so we started researching which places to focus on.  We quickly discovered the Franschhoek Wine Tram (!) through our research and decided that it would be the best way to see quite a few different vineyards hassle-free.

The Franschhoek Wine Tram sounded like a great idea for a few different reasons.  Firstly, we wouldn’t be hiring a car while in South Africa.  Uber is amazing out there, so cheap and always available so we just got taxis from place to place instead of worrying about car hire.  Secondly, no-one wants to have to abstain to be the designated driver so being driven around sounded like a great option.  Thirdly, the set-up is already planned.  The vineyards have been selected, the timetables are organised, you just hop-on and hop-off where you want.  There are also special offers/discounts at many of the vineyards if you are on the Wine Tram.  And finally, if you buy any wine they take it back to the depot for you to collect at the end of the day so you don’t have to carry it around.

How the Franschhoek Wine Tram works

The Franschhoek Wine Tram runs routes between many vineyards in and around the area.  You can choose a hop-on-hop-off ticket for one of the routes or they also offer other options such as a guided tour and tasting including lunch, or even personal group tours, tailored to the specific experience that you’d like. They also offer transfers from Cape Town if you’re not staying in the area.  We chose the hop-on-hop-off option and then looked at the different routes and vineyards on offer.

There are eight lines on the Franschhoek Wine Tram and they all run through a different selection of vineyards.  You can choose whichever line you want depending on which vineyards you would most like to visit.   Once you’ve decided which line to take it’s best to buy your ticket in advance online.  During the peak season they can sell out and you may not get your first choice of line otherwise.  Hop-on-hop-off ticket prices are R260 (around £14) for an adult or R90 (around £5) for a child.

Whichever line you choose, you will start every route from the Franschhoek Wine Tram Terminal which is on the corner of Main Road & Cabriere Street in Franschhoek.  (Parking is available there).  You need to arrive about 20 minutes before your chosen departure time to collect your tickets from the ticket office.  Once your tram is ready to depart you will be called forward to board.  (Some vineyards are not actually on the tram lines so there is a ‘tram bus’ that forms part of the route to take you by road to those ones).

On the tram, your guide will explain to you how everything works.  You just need to follow the timetable and hop off at the vineyards you want to visit and be ready to hop on when the tram comes through again (they’re about every 30-45 minutes).  The guide will also give you some helpful pointers along the way as well as some facts about each vineyard you visit.  Our guide asked us about our wine preferences and we even changed one of the vineyards we were planning to visit based on their recommendation.  We switched out Babylonstoren for Plaisir de Merle as our guide said they did much more full-bodied reds which is the style we prefer!

There are about 6-8 different vineyards on each line but to make the most of your day and not be rushed, I would suggest selecting a maximum of 3.  That will give you time for a leisurely lunch at one of them and enough variety to see a few different places.

At each winery, there are wine tastings available.  Depending on the wines you want to taste, the prices for tasting range from R25 (£1.30) to R250 (£13).  Most are around the R50-R80 mark (£2.50-£4.50).  There are also other extra options at some of the wineries including cellar tours, lunches, picnics etc but you may need to book in advance for some of these to ensure availability.

If you buy anything, just hand your bottles to the driver or guide and they will be waiting for you at the Franschhoek wine terminal at the end of the day.

Which lines we chose and why?

We decided to do the Franschhoek Wine Tram for two consecutive days and we chose the Grey and Purple Lines to visit.  We knew we definitely wanted to visit Haute Cabrière and Boschendal so we chose lines that ran through those vineyards.

Dan and I then did a bit of research on the rest of the vineyards available on those lines, to decide which ones to visit.  We ended up visiting Haute Cabrière, Rickety Bridge, Boschendal & Plaisir de Merle (but more on those in another post).

The first tram leaves Franschhoek at around 9.30 am but we didn’t want to drink that early in the day.  We started at around 11 am – 11.30 am both days which left us plenty of time for 2/3 tastings at different vineyards along with a long lunch (with wine pairings) at Haute Cabrière on one of the days.

The one issue we had with the Franschhoek Wine Tram is that we found that they didn’t always stick to the timetable.  A few times we went to hop back on to find that the tram had left a couple of minutes early.  My advice would be to make sure you’re waiting for the tram at least 5mins before its scheduled pick-up time so that it doesn’t go without you.  It didn’t matter and we got a quick Uber to the next winery but it was a bit annoying.

All in all, it was a very novel and fun way to visit a few different vineyards.  It was a fun day out and definitely something new to try.  The only downside is that as Uber is so cheap and available you could always just order taxis between the vineyards you want to see.  Then you’re not held to a timetable or at risk of being left behind!  There are also plenty of other boutique wineries not on the tram route (the tram tends to visit the larger more well-known vineyards).  If you want to try something a bit different then maybe it’s best to make your own itinerary.  Otherwise, the Franschhoek Wine Tram is a fun day out and a great experience!

The Franschhoek Wine Tram – Tel: +27 21 300 0338 | +27 21 876 4943

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