Hermanus — The Riviera of the South

Hermanus

My first memor­ies of Hermanus are from high school hol­i­days, my school friends and I tak­ing the bus up the East coast for a week of get­ting ejec­ted unce­re­mo­ni­ously from bars for being under­age, scorned by the local girls for not being cool enough and raid­ing the liquor cab­in­ets of par­ents that were gull­ible and unfor­tu­nate to allow us to stay in their Hermanus hol­i­day homes. At around 115kms South East of Cape Town, or around an hours drive from the city centre, Hermanus, also known as the Riviera of the South, can be found. Once a sleepy little fish­ing vil­lage, this bust­ling town is now a pop­u­lar hol­i­day des­tin­a­tion, with high school stu­dents still mak­ing that self-same pil­grim­age every year.

Originally named Hermanuspietersfontein, after Hermanus Pieters, who made this idyllic seafront spot his sum­mer camp­ing area in the early 1800’s, the town only sprung up in the late 1800’s. The devel­op­ment boom, how­ever, is a much more recent devel­op­ment. With sev­eral well-known lux­ury hotels, gues­t­houses, self cater­ing houses and cot­tages, and camp­ing grounds, Hermanus has become one of the primary hol­i­day des­tin­a­tions for Capetonians, and an attract­ive option for for tour­ists want­ing to see a little more of the Western Cape.

Hermanus is often referred to with ref­er­ence to its most fam­ous com­munity activ­ity — whale watch­ing. With the annual Hermanus whale fest­ival ded­ic­ated to this yearly breed­ing pil­grim­age by the gentle giants of the deep, and the sport­ing the only whale crier in the world; a man ded­ic­ated to alert­ing watch­ers to the where­abouts of whales, Hermanus is syn­onym­ous with this unique activity.

Hermanus

For the more adven­tur­ous, who seek a close encounter with that other den­izen of the deep, the Great White shark, cage diving tours are another pop­u­lar activ­ity. A visit to the old har­bour and museum should sat­isfy his­tory buffs, while boat­ing enthu­si­asts can take advant­age of the yacht club’s facil­it­ies. For nature lov­ers, there are a wide vari­ety of choices, from the sim­pli­city of the unspoiled beaches, to hikes or walks through the Fernkloof nature reserve, or along the unique cliff path that cir­cum­nav­ig­ates the town offers an oppor­tun­ity to enjoy the Fynbos typ­ical of and par­tic­u­lar to the area.

The town also has a mag­ni­fi­cent golf course, loc­ated on the slopes of the sur­round­ing moun­tains, and encircled by the nature reserve, or for a unique edu­ca­tional exper­i­ence, a visit to the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory, part of the net­work of sim­ilar obser­vat­or­ies dot­ted around the globe can be arranged. The town has a vari­ety of shop­ping options, from small craft shops, and sev­eral out­lets selling goods craf­ted from shells har­ves­ted off local beaches, to a bust­ling mar­ket selling han­di­crafts, over­look­ing the ocean.

Although there are many din­ing options in the town, from top class res­taur­ants to fam­ily ori­ented eat­er­ies, a good choice may be to visit one of the res­taur­ants loc­ated in the new har­bour, where one can enjoy tra­di­tional fish and chips (or the not so tra­di­tional sushi) while watch­ing the fish­ing trawl­ers in the har­bour and around the Walker bay area.

With good food goes good wine, and the region is fast devel­op­ing a repu­ta­tion as a wine pro­du­cer to watch. The Hermanus wine route includes the Hemel en Aarde Valley, where wine pro­du­cers nestle along­side upmar­ket res­id­en­tial devel­op­ments. If fish­ing, and not wine, is a pas­sion, the vis­itor will find the sur­round­ing waters well stocked with local fish, includ­ing gal­joen and steenbras.

All in all, Hermanus is a small town that packs in a mul­ti­tude of attrac­tions, whether for the fam­ily, out­door adven­turer (or high school stu­dent) and is well worth a visit.

Useful Links:
For more des­tin­a­tion info see:
Hermanus Accommodation
Hermanus Hotels
Hermanus Attractions
Hermanus Map
Hermanus Whale Crier
Hermanus Whale Festival
Hermanus Golf Course