10-Day Cape Town, Winelands, Hermanus, Garden Route & Safari

Make a difference. Make unforgettable memories.

Spier’s wide range of Growing for Good initiatives empower our communities to unleash positive social and environmental change. With Time for Good, hotel guests are invited to be a part of the action!
Guests can now book one of these inspiring activities, and we guarantee their visit to our historic wine farm will be meaningful, moving and memorable. Whether they're on a family getaway, a romantic escape or travelling as a group, Time for Good activities are an essential, unforgettable add-on to their Spier experience. Each takes place either on our farm or in the surrounding community.

Volunteer in our Food Garden
On a tour of our Food Garden, they will learn all about regenerative agriculture and permaculture gardening from our team of friendly, knowledgeable gardeners — and get to meet the pest control patrol: a paddle of runner ducks! Fancy getting some dirt under their fingernails? Volunteers are welcome in this tranquil space, where they will help the team cultivate a bounty of nutrient-rich and delicious produce without inorganic pesticides or artificial fertilisers. Their time will be well spent, whether weeding and harvesting or packing seedlings and veggies that are donated to local community feeding schemes.

Donate essentials to under-resourced schools and the elderly
If guests have some space to spare in their suitcase, they can fill it with essential items to be donated to some of the Winelands’ most vulnerable residents. As a proud member of the global initiative Pack-for-a-Purpose, we’ll distribute any school stationery, art supplies, children’s books, educational games and sporting goods they bring to under-resourced rural schools. If they're able to pack adult toiletries, bedding and other household items, we’ll pass these on to Zandvliet Care Facility which looks after the elderly.

Tackling poverty one seedling at a time
Guests can enjoy an inspiring tour of the Tree-preneurs nursery on our farm, home to 23 000 indigenous plants! Project manager Lesley Joemat has empowered dozens of “Tree-preneurs” living in impoverished communities to grow indigenous trees and plants. Once the seedlings she’s given them to nurture have reached a certain height, they are exchanged for essentials such as food vouchers, clothing, agricultural goods, tools, bicycles and educational support.

Taste wines in our organic vineyard
There’s no better person than our Organic Winemaker, Tania Kleintjes, to show guests around our farm’s organic vineyards. At the tour’s completion, they will unwind between the rows of vines as Tania pours them a taste of our three acclaimed organic Farm House wines. The cost of the tour includes two organic wines for guests to take home. If the tour falls during the annual harvest (typically a several-week period in February and March), guests are able to both lend a hand with picking the perfect grapes and tasting them too!

Visit and volunteer at the Sustainability Institute
A close neighbour and longtime partner of Spier, the Sustainability Institute runs a range of activities and programmes aimed at creating more equitable and empowered futures. As a volunteer in its food garden, guests will plant, harvest and enjoy a wild food tasting, followed by a harvest table lunch. Other volunteer opportunities through the Institute include tree-planting, soup-making, knitting, children’s reading circles and youth sports. Guests can also tour the Sustainability Institute’s campus, learning about its educational programmes, as well as the renowned Lynedoch Ecovillage – an ecologically designed, socially mixed community built around the campus.

Explore regenerative agriculture and recycling
Our Segway tours aren’t just exhilarating fun in the fresh air: they’re also a great way to learn about Spier’s deeply rooted commitment to the earth. As guests glide effortlessly past our organic vineyards, they will get the lowdown on all things green — from recycling to regenerative agriculture. Along the way, they will meet happy, free-roaming chickens, visit our eco-friendly wastewater treatment plant (which recycles 100% of the farm’s black and grey water), and stop by the tranquil Food Garden, where delicious produce is cultivated without artificial fertilisers or inorganic pesticides.

Venture with raptors into the wild
Guests can walk amidst Cape fynbos with majestic hawks, learning how birds of prey keep ecosystems healthy and balanced as they enjoy their daily exercise and conduct natural “pest control”. Into the Wild sessions will begin at Eagle Encounters — the raptor rehabilitation, conservation and education centre at Spier — with an introduction to falconry. Guests will then enjoy a leisurely hike on the farm with the Harris hawks freely following on and gliding around them. Eagle Encounters is also open to visitors, with exhilarating personal encounters and spectacular interactive flying shows with even more birds of prey (including eagles, owls, kites and buzzards). Guests will also get to meet other critters, including foxes, snakes and lizards.

Become a patron of the arts
The Creative Block project invites artists, both established and emerging, to create work on a small blank block. The blocks are submitted for critique, and the best are purchased and made available for sale to visitors – showcased across the farm. Creative Block is ideal for the budding art collector. With a modest budget, guests are able to establish – or expand – a collection of delightfully diverse artworks. This will ensure they are among the early collectors that help to support artists at the beginning of their careers. Curious to learn more about South Africa’s thriving art scene? A walking tour showcasing the highlights of Spier’s art collection (one of the country’s largest) is available upon request.

Connect and craft with local artisans
The vibrant Craft Market at Spier is a sustainable social enterprise which improves local livelihoods, provides eco-friendly shopping and adheres to Fair Trade principles. As guests browse the stalls, they can chat with talented artists and artisans creating striking art and design. Their one-of-kind pieces range from paintings, carvings and jewellery to beadwork, textiles and ceramics. There are also extraordinary items made from recycled and upcycled materials. Give it a go! Individuals and groups can book a fun make-it-yourself session where they will try their hand at painting, jewellery-making, beadwork or wirework. Our experienced artisans will share their techniques and know-how, encouraging guests to unleash their own creativity.

Read more here https://www.spier.co.za/time-for-good. If you have any questions, please contact Comien Grobler on comieng@spier.co.za.

Award-winning wine is paired with innovative food at Spier’s Tasting Room which is located on the banks of the Spier dam, with stunning views of the Helderberg Mountains. Wine is available for sale at cellar door prices. The Tasting Room’s retail space offers wine-related products, locally-made homeware, gifts and books.

Tastings include:
• Spier Tasting: choose wines from the Spier Signature range, Spier Seaward, Spier Creative Block and 21 Gables
• Chocolate and wine tastings
• Winemaker Selection: Taste from our 21 Gables and Creative Block ranges plus the organic red blend, Spier First Stone.
• The Children's Grape Juice Tasting is the ideal way to keep the youngsters busy with a tasting of two different grape juices and an educational activity sheet highlighting the role insects play in our vineyards.
• Food platters to pair with the tastings are also available for sale

Spier Wine Tasting is open from 10:00 – 16:30 daily, with Sales from 09:00 -17:00. Contact us on +27 (021) 809 1143/7 or visit https://shop.spier.co.za/ to order wines online.

The Spier Elemental Garden is just a stone’s throw from Spier Farm Café and Vadas Smokehouse & Bakery – both much loved by families. It was conceptualised by landscape architect Ed Brooks and local landscape architect Danielle Croly, using mostly indigenous plants.
The garden is divided into quadrants representing the four elements: water, air, fire and earth. Intersecting all four is a spiralling waterway that symbolises the Fibonacci Sequence – a set of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. Many patterns in nature follow this rule — such as the spiral shape of a seashell, the arrangement of leaves on a branch, or the petals of some flowers (such as daisies and sunflowers).
Features of the garden include a slide landscaped into earth mounds, a tunnel to crawl through, a Charl Conradie wind sculpture and a swing bridge. The water in the Water quadrant has been treated and is safe to splash about in – perfect for hot summer days.

The Elemental Garden is open daily until sunset; entry is complimentary.

The Segway PT (personal transport) is a two-wheeled, self balancing electric vehicle. Users lean forward to go forwards, lean back to go backwards and turn using a "lean steer" handlebar. As you glide through the farm past our beautiful vineyards and pastures, your guide will share interesting insights about farming, Spier’s river walk and wastewater treatment plant.

Eagle Encounters has been going strong since 2001, rehabilitating and releasing birds of prey, promoting conservation and education, on land donated by Spier. Birds of prey keep the farm’s ecosystem in balance, making it possible to naturally control pests, without pesticides. Enjoy up-close-and-personal interactions with eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, kites, buzzards, snakes and lizards. Take part in heart-stopping falconry displays, where we fly birds to you. Kids will also enjoy our piglets, rabbits, tortoises, chickens and unique playground.

Take time off from real life and indulge in a facial or massage at the Spier spa, set inside the spacious Spier Hotel. Melt away tension and feel revived and refreshed with a full programme of skin, body and massage treatments on the menu.

Close to our Tasting Room, the Spier Craft Market showcases craftwork at eight custom-designed units – each manned by a cluster of artists. Wire and beadwork, 3D paintings, mosaics, items from recycled materials, jewellery, textiles, ceramics and woodcarving are all represented. Whether you want something simple like a key ring or fridge magnet, or a collectable art piece, there will be something to win your heart. Many of the artists work on site several days a week and would be happy to answer your questions and share the production process with you.

Spier has two audio tours you can listen to on your smartphone using the VoiceMap app (available on Google Play and the App Store):

· The Gables tour takes you around Spier’s historic farmyard, the Werf, offering a fictionalised account of the world of a Stellenbosch wine farm around 200 years ago. It was researched and written by acclaimed playwright, Brett Bailey. The narrator is Sannie de Goede, a slave woman on the Spier Estate in 1836, on the eve of her freedom.
· The hour-long Walk the Spier Farm tour will introduce you to the farm’s many facets: from art and wines to hospitality and heritage. You’ll also discover our efforts to forge a sustainable future, through biodynamic farming, the rehabilitation of fragile indigenous ecosystems and our eco-friendly wastewater plant and water-wise winery.

Discover the farm for free, using one of the Qhubeka Buffalo Bicycles located at the Spier Hotel entrance. These are sturdy and strong machines, designed for rough African terrain (and prove more than a match for our farm roads). Designed by Chicago-based World Bicycle Relief and assembled in South Africa, these bikes were named by the BBC as one of the 10 most beautiful bikes in the world.

Find everything you need for a challenging workout at Spier’s gym. Feel the burn, then pour the wine. Exclusive to hotel guests. Situated above the Kids Club.

Whale Watching
Hermanus is known as the Whale Watching Capital of the world with some of the best land-based Whale Watching spots. But besides the land-based Whale Watching you can also do Boat-based whale watching in the Walker Bay which gives you an amazing experience.
We have got a close working relationship with Souther Right Charters who are based in the New Harbour, which is situated just across the road for Whale Rock Luxury Lodge at approx. 200 m.
The whale seen most frequently in the Walker Bay area is the Southern Right Whale, but other species do make an appearance occasionally. The whales start arriving in May in order to calve and to mate in the shallow water. Peak time for whales at any one time is October, but many can still be seen in November, tailing off in December.
Humpbacks migrate through the region between May and December each year, while Bryde's whales are found slightly futher offshore all year round. Occasional sightings of Killer Whales have been made. Dolphin species which may be seen in the region include the endemic Heavisides dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin and Common dolphins.

The first Whale Crier in the world is not only a major attraction but keeps visitors informed as to where the whales can be seen when he does his rounds every day. The sound of his kelp horn has become a characteristic of the charm of this seaside resort during the whale season.

A whale watching hotline provides visitors who wish to travel to Hermanus and environs with up to the minute information on the whereabouts of the whales ( 0283122629 ). Walker Bay is one of the favoured bays for Southern Right Whales to calve and mate and between September and November sitings are practically guaranteed on a daily basis.

The Hermanus Wine Route can be found along the Walker Bay Wine District’s famous R320 and meanders through the picturesque area known as the Hemel-en-Aarde Area.
This wine route unites the passion and reputation of fifteen wineries, each growing small volumes of premium quality wine in carefully and sustainably managed vineyards. While these wines draw wine lovers from all over the world, the pristine shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the towering mountain ranges and fynbos-clad hills add to the attraction – to guarantee visitors to the Hermanus Wine Route a memorable experience.

Some personal favourites are Creation, Ataraxia, Newton Johnson, Bouchard Finlayson and Hamilton Russel Vineyards.

Golfers can enjoy 2 superb golf courses in Hermanus, The Hermanus Golf Club and of course the Championship Course of Arabella just outside Hermanus.

In 2006, this classic country course of Hermanus Golf Club has undergone a major overhaul with the introduction of nine new holes, based around a new real estate component, and the charming and gentle layout of the past has been replaced with modern classically designed holes, that have added much to both the visual and challenging aspects of the course, without losing any sense of its former tradition. This tradition, created by original designer Bob Grimsdell, which was based around the gentle mountain surrounds, sea views and country hospitality, and though those ingredients remain, this golfing venue has truly reached a new level. This is not surprising, as South Africa’s foremost golf course architect, Peter Matkovich, was retained to infuse his special brand of flair and experience to maximise the potential on this scenic and gentle landscape. The flair is immediately noticeable in the use of new water and rocky features, as well as the introduction of visually pleasant grassy mounds adding definition and shape to the holes.

The Arabella Country Estate is home to one of the top ranked golf courses in South Africa, with pristine grass, tricky sand traps and challenging water hazards on the golf estate. The Arabella golf course was recently voted the 4th best golf course in South Africa.
The golf estate course was designed by Peter Matkovich, a highly acclaimed golf course designer with serious architectural talent.

The Arabella Golf Club has been enjoyed by holiday makers, celebrities and professional golfers like Ernie Els and Gary Player. On this golf estate, we believe that every game is a true sporting experience, and that it should be savoured and enjoyed.

This is why the Arabella golf estate is ranked as the fourth best golfing experience by a top rated golfing magazine.

The golf course itself is an 18 hole masterpiece, a Par 72 championship course that you won’t find anywhere else in Africa. Among our golf estate awards and distinctions, is our 18th hole, which was voted the best finishing hole in South Africa.

We have also been congratulated by the golfing community for our stunningly scenic surrounds. With a flowing river and a mountain backdrop to your game, this golf estate will give you all the fresh air and sunshine you could ever want.

Hermanus is known as the Rivièra of the Cape with it's lovely beaches and bays, like Langbaai, Kammabaai and the Blue Flag and well known Grotto Beach, which is great for swimming and boarding.