Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch is, after Cape Town, the second oldest European settlement in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. It lies on the banks of the Eerste River 50 km north east of Cape Town. The town is known as the City of Oaks or Eikestad in Afrikaans because of the large number of oak trees that the towns founder,  Simon van der Stel, had planted along its streets.

Stellenbosch University lies in the town centre while Technopark Stellenbosch which is a modern business- and research centre, lies in the southern part of the town, close to Stellenbosch golf course.

The idyllic town of Stellenbosch is the second oldest in South Africa, and at the very heart of the wine growing district. The historic atmosphere of this charming town can best be felt on Dorph Street, where you can find many charming pavement cafes and shops lying side by side with old, well preserved houses  and other buildings built in the Cape Dutch-style.

In and around the Stellenbosch-district as a whole, lie around 100 vineyards, so you will be in no danger of running out of opportunities to do a bit of wine tasting. But it is not just the wines that make Stellenbosch so attractive, there are also the breathtakingly beautiful Cape Dutch-farms, some of which are centuries old. Here you can find well-known names such as Morgenhof, Simonsig, Jordan, Kanonkop, and Spier/Savanha.

The Stellenbosch–, Paarl– and Franschhoek–valleys together make up the Cape Winelands, the largest of the two most important wine producing regions in South Africa. The South African wine industry produces around 1 billion liters of grape juice a year, over 80% of which is made into wine. Stellenbosch is the main area for cultivating, and research into, grapes. The Stellenbosch wine route, which was established in 1971, is world renowned and a popular tourist destination in itself.