WESTERN CAPE & WINELANDS WITH MARTYN THOMPSON SOUTH AFRICA 14 JAN 2024

Today your adventure begins, by boarding your international outbound flight to Cape Town.

Arrive at Cape Town Airport where you will be met by our representative. Transfer to the V&A Waterfront and check-in at The Table Bay Hotel for 4 nights. Enjoy a 3-course welcome dinner at the hotel.

✅ Welcome Dinner

After breakfast, you will be collected at the hotel for a full day city tour of Cape Town. Start your tour at the V & A Waterfront, where you will board the Robben Island ferry at Nelson Mandela Gateway.

Upon reaching the island, you will be guided by a former political prisoner, who will share their day-to-day experience of the prison island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years of incarceration. Upon returning to the mainland, you’ll continue on to The Company Gardens, the oldest garden in South Africa, created in the 1650s by the region’s first European settlers to replenish fresh produce for ships rounding the Cape.

Today, the gardens offer a tranquil oasis of diverse plant life in the midst of the bustle of the city. Continue on to the BoKaap, an iconic neighborhood situated at the foot of Signal Hill and renowned for it’s brightly painted houses and steep cobblestone roads. Formerly known as the Malay Quarter, the Bo-Kaap’s origins date back to the 1760s when numerous “huurhuisjes” were built and leased to slaves known as Cape Malays, brought from Malaysia, Indonesia and the rest of Africa to work in the Cape.

The neighborhood has a rich and distinct micro-culture that celebrates the vitality of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Complete your tour with a cableway trip to the top of Table Mountain, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and the ideal site from which to view Table Bay in the panorama. Return to the hotel and spend the evening at leisure.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Tour ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, you will be collected at the hotel and transferred to Westlake for your round of golf at The Royal Cape Golf Club.

Built to high USGA standards and having hosted the South African Open and the SA Amateur Championships multiple times, the Royal Cape Golf Club is a true championship course that tests for amateurs and professionals alike. Emanating a rich history and tradition, South Africa’s oldest golf club offers beautiful setting views of Table Mountain from most holes that will make your visit truly memorable.

The narrow fairways demand extreme accuracy off the tee, wayward shots can be heavily penalised amongst the trees and the greens are well bunkered. There is also plenty of water on the course, especially at the corner of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and also the 14th, 15th, and 16th.

The most difficult holes are the par-4 3rd and the par-4 14th. The second nine offers quite a challenge for the average golfer: two challenging par 3s and a very magnificent par 4!

The locals do not call it their own ‘Amen’ corner for nothing! Return to the hotel and spend the afternoon and evening at leisure.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Golf ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, you will be collected at the hotel and transferred to Melkbosstrand for your round of golf on the Atlantic Beach Links.

The Atlantic Beach Links, lying a mere 700 metres off the stunning Atlantic Ocean, is a unique 18-hole links layout that provides keen golfers with exciting challenges, thanks partly to the strong winds that are often in attendance.

However, the course has been designed in such a way that few holes run in the same direction, thereby allowing golfers a regular respite from the wind challenges. With panoramic views of the historic Robben Island and the iconic Table Mountain, a round of golf on this course serves you with delightful sights of the Mother City at its finest.

It is indeed a golf course blessed with natural contours that sweep upwards and downwards among the dune-lined valleys. The course is set out in two nine-hole loops that each return to the clubhouse. Each hole comes with a challenge of its own as the course winds its way through rolling dunes, surrounded by spectacular expanses of indigenous Fynbos and impeccably maintained fairways and greens. Return to the hotel and spend the afternoon and evening at leisure.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Golf ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, check out of The Table Bay Hotel. You will be collected at the hotel for a full day guided tour of the Constantia Winelands. Start your tour at Eagle’s Nest, originally a section of Groot Constantia, the wine supplier to European nobility, established by Simon van der Stel in the late 1600’s.

This stunning vineyard hugs the mountains of the Constantia Valley and offers beautiful grounds combined with a fusion of classic and contemporary architecture and decor, enjoying a taste of the estate’s award-winning wines.

Your next stop is Buitenverwachting, a beautiful farm on the east-facing slopes of the magnificent Constantiaberg mountains. Enjoy a tasting of 5 of the estate’s wines before continuing on to the magnificent Steenberg Estate, the Cape’s first farm, established in 1682. Enjoy either a tutored tasting of 4 kinds of cheese and wines OR a tasting of 6 flagship wines plus a Cap Classique. After your wine tasting at Steenberg Vineyards, check in at the Steenberg Hotel for 4 nights. Spend the evening at leisure.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Tour ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, make your way to Steenberg Golf Club for your round. Rated among the top 3 golf courses to visit in South Africa, Steenberg, nestled in the crook of the Constantiaberg Mountains, lives up to its fame with a charming location amidst vineyards.

Designed by the eminent golf course architect Peter Matkovich, Steenberg follows his principle that good golf course architects “listen to the land”.  Spend the afternoon and evening at leisure.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Golf ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, you will be collected at the hotel for a full-day guided tour of the Cape Peninsula. Start your tour at the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and Cape Point, which is perceived to be the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Watch the dramatic clash of the seas from the viewpoint which can be accessed via the Flying Dutchman Funicular. Continue on to visit a large penguin colony at the beautiful Boulders Beach. Boulders penguin colony is home to a growing colony of the protected African penguin.

Wooden walkways allow visitors to view penguins in their natural habitat. From Boulders Beach you will move on to a brief walking tour of Kalk Bay, a picturesque town built on the oceanfront and renowned for its boutique shops and art galleries.

Complete your tour at The Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world. Few gardens can match the sheer grandeur of the setting of Kirstenbosch, against the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

The gardens, which are home to over 2,500 species of plant, also boast of one of the largest varieties of plant life in the world. Return to the hotel and spend the evening at leisure.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Tour ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, you will be collected at the hotel and transferred to Westlake Golf Course for your round of golf.

Set in the leafy Cape Town suburb of Lake Side, with its back enclosed in the walls of the Silvermine Mountains, Westlake Golf Course has gained an illustrious reputation as one of the Cape’s premier courses.

The natural beauty and wildlife that the surrounding mountains have added bring forth an element that most city suburb golf courses can only dream of. Towering flat pine trees which line many of the fairways are a highlight as well as a characteristic feature of the course.

To achieve a good score, you have to stay out of the trees. Westlake has an interesting but user-friendly design and quite a few doglegs. From the first to the eighteenth hole, every step affords panoramic views of the surrounding mountains.

The par 4, 12th, Westlake’s signature hole deserves a special mention with tall pines flanking the right-hand side of the fairway and offering a challenge to most golfers. Return to the hotel and spend the afternoon and evening at leisure.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Golf ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, check out of Arabella Hotel & Spa. You’ll be collected at the hotel and transferred to George.

Check-in at Fancourt Hotel for 3 nights. Spend the rest of the day at leisure, exploring the hotel and surroundings.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, make your way to the Fancourt Outeniqua Golf Course for your round.

A majestic 18-hole parkland layout at Fancourt, designed by the legendary Grand Slam golfer Gary Player, the Outeniqua is quite similar to the Montagu and offers challenging design and fine conditioning to ensure an excellent test for all levels of golfers.

With play being restricted to hotel residents, members, and their guests, the course rarely seems crowded and you can enjoy a peaceful and comfortable round of golf at your pace. Although set in the same surroundings as its better-known counterparts, the Outeniqua has developed an individual personality rivaling the others.

As with all courses at Fancourt, there are a variety of tees from which to choose to play, ensuring that golfers are unlikely to ever feel overpowered by the course. Excellent water features and creeks interspersed with uphill and downhill challenges and excellent bunkering (recently renovated) are all augmented in the charm and challenge by the colourful flora to be seen throughout the course. Spend the rest of the day at leisure.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Golf ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, make your way to the Fancourt Montagu Golf Course for your round.

Voted the number one golf course in South Africa in 2000, the Montagu Golf Course at Fancourt is named after the mountain pass of the same name and is part of the original 27-hole design at Fancourt by the legendary Gary Player in the early 90s.

This classic tree-lined parkland layout underwent a major facelift in 2005 under renowned Scottish golf architect David McLay Kidd. The upgrade saw two completely new holes – the 1st and the 9th, redefined bunkers and greens and the introduction of several water features such as the dam.

Celebrated for its immaculate, round-the-year conditioning, the Montagu GC is currently ranked n the top 10 of South Africa. The signature hole is the Par-3 17th, reminiscent of the 12th hole at Augusta National – the permanent home of the US Masters. Enjoy a 3-course farewell dinner at Henry White’s restaurant at Fancourt Hotel.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Golf ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, make your way to The Links Course at Fancourt for your round of golf. An inland-links style challenge to test the best in the world is how the Fancourt Links was visualised at its conception.

Designed by the legendary Gary Player and considered to be his design masterpiece, the Links at Fancourt recreates the classic courses of Scotland and Ireland in a typically South African setting with the majestic Outeniqua mountains serving as a dramatic backdrop.

Conceived on a former airport site, the resulting aura is that of a pure links layout in spite of its inland location, with only the climate and the mountains serving as reminders that the golfer is not in the British Isles.

Having hosted the 2003 Presidents Cup (which ended in a dramatic tie between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els with Nelson Mandela in attendance) and the 2005 SAA Open, playing at The Links is a very, very special experience. Enjoy a 3-course farewell dinner at Henry White’s restaurant at Fancourt Hotel.

✅ Breakfast ✅ Golf ✅ Farewell Dinner ✅ Transfers

After breakfast, check-out of Fancourt Hotel. You will be collected at the hotel and transferred to George Airport for your outbound flights.

✅ Breakfast ✅ International flight ✅ Transfers  

Arrive back into the UK

With lovely views of Table Mountain from most holes this championship course offers a beautiful setting that will make your visit here truly memorable. Royal Cape Golf Club is a true championship course having hosted the South African Open no less than ten times and the SA Amateur Championships eight times.

Extensive work was done on the greens in 2000 to bring them up to the USGA standards and the course today is a fine test of golf and worthy of its championship rating.

Essentially it is a very flat parkland course, well maintained and a pleasure to play with lovely views of the surrounding mountains. But don’t be deceived by its apparent easiness. The fairways are narrow, demanding extreme accuracy off the tee, wayward shots can be heavily penalised amongst the trees and the greens are well bunkered.

Enjoy our Championship Links style Golf Course with its traditional style and an ocean breeze off the ocean. On calm days you can play your normal lofted shot or on windy days you can use the firm turf to play low running shots, beneath the wind.

Either way, we are sure you will enjoy the challenge around this 18-hole golf course. Atlantic Beach Links Golf Courses have been built with a serious commitment to the preservation of the indigenous fauna and flora.

Compared to other golf courses in Cape Town, on completion of your 18 holes around our course you will agree that it is the combination of good golf in unsurpassed natural surroundings that make Atlantic Beach’s Links Golf Course a unique golfing experience.

Experience one of the Cape’s top ranked golf courses with the Arabella Golf Tour Package and try tame the Arabella Turn. Surrounded by the magnificent Kogelberg mountain range and Bot River Lagoon, and edged by wild fynbos, the picturesque Arabella Golf Course is the ideal place to pursue a passion for golf and enjoy an ideal golf holiday.

Arabella Golf Club boasts an award-winning 18-hole Championship Golf Course, ranked number one in the Western Cape. Club facilities at the Arabella Golf club include a fully stocked pro shop, a warm-up range, putting green, chipping green, halfway house, golf club bar, locker room and showers, golf carts with GPS, golf clubs for hire, and golf clinics and coaching.

Against the amethyst slopes of the Silvermine mountains lies one of Cape Town’s Premier Courses – Westlake. This easy-to-walk, 18 hole Par 72 golf course is characterised by the towering trees, which line many of its fairways.

Westlake has a very interesting, yet user-friendly design and quite a few doglegs. If you manage to stay out of the trees, you will achieve a good score. From the first to the eighteenth hole, every step affords panoramic views of the surrounding mountains.

Established in 1932, Westlake Golf Club welcomes visitors with its special blend of old-world charm and modern amenities in an atmosphere of conviviality and camaraderie.

Outeniqua is one of two majestic 18-hole Parkland layouts at Fancourt. Designed by legendary Grand Slam golfer Gary Player, it is similar in character to its sibling Montagu, and its challenging design and fine conditioning will ensure an excellent test for all levels of golfers.

As with all courses at Fancourt, there are a variety of tees from which to choose to play, ensuring that golfers are unlikely to ever feel overpowered by the course.

Fancourt’s Montagu Golf Course, originally designed by Gary Player, has earned a world-class reputation as one of the finest 18-hole parkland layouts. It holds the prestigious  8^th position on South Africa’s top 100 list of top golf courses in the country. Golfers can expect a challenging, yet highly enjoyable golfing experience surrounded by the natural beauty of the Fancourt estate.

Sculpted into what Gary Player has described as his greatest feat as a course designer, The Links is the golfing hallmark of the Fancourt estate.

Featuring an undulating, windswept terrain and dune-style landscape, the course is the collaborative handiwork of golfing icon, Gary Player, course designer, Phil Jacobs and Fancourt’s owner, Dr Hasso Plattner. The Links is a private Club, limited tee times are available for guests staying at Fancourt Hotel or The Manor House at Fancourt.