An hour from Cape Town, the Winelands stack some of the finest road cycling in the southern hemisphere: Helshoogte between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, the amphitheatre of the Franschhoek Pass, Bainskloof out of Wellington, and hundreds of kilometres of vineyard back roads in between.
Stellenbosch is the hub — home of South African cycling, mountain and road, with cafe culture to match. From there the classics link up naturally: Helshoogte to Franschhoek, the long switchbacks of the Franschhoek Pass above the valley, Paarl's vineyard flats under Paarl Rock, and Bainskloof Pass out of Wellington, a nineteenth-century engineering piece that remains one of the great road climbs in the country. Gravel riders have their own network through farmland and forest, from the Jonkershoek valley to the Wellington wheat roads.
This is the point of the Winelands: you ride hard in the morning and spend the afternoon at a wine farm that would justify the trip on its own. Our Cape Winelands Weekender is built exactly on that rhythm — premium guesthouses, wine farm dinners, four days of curated riding.