Route 62 — the longest Wine Route in the World

Route 62

Route 62 (reputed to be the longest wine route in the world) in the Western Cape is a slow, mean­der­ing wander through a series of fas­cin­at­ing small towns and breath­tak­ing scenery. The route is par­tic­u­larly well known for good food and excel­lent wine as it tra­verses some of the Cape’s most fam­ous farm­ing and wine pro­du­cing regions.

Route 62 starts within the greater Cape Town Metropole, and stretches as far as Oudtshoorn and Port Elizabeth. This is a moun­tain­ous altern­at­ive to the N2 high­way as it crosses a num­ber of moun­tain passes as it makes its way east­wards. Along the way, the vis­itor has the option to stop and explore any one of the numer­ous small towns loc­ated on, or just off the route includ­ing Barrydale, Ceres and Zoar.

At the town of Robertson, attrac­tions vary from game reserves, to the Soekershof Maze, and Birds of Paradise, to the Klipdrift Brandy Distillery and more. Other worth­while stops along the way are sail­ing at the Stompdrift Dam Water Resort at De Rust, the Tsitsikamma can­opy tour, where you can glide high above the forest floor amongst the tree­tops or exper­i­ence the his­tory of Ladismith or the art of McGregor.

Another fam­ous attrac­tion is the incon­grously named Ronnie’s Sex Shop. The ‘shop’ is actu­ally a pub that was painted with the name one night as a prank by Ronnie’s friends. The pub is loc­ated along the route in the town of Barrydale.

On Route 62

Two very dif­fer­ent attrac­tions can be vis­ited when in the town of Bonnievale. Platinum Koi, a world class Koi breed­ing facil­ity oper­ates from the town and the the biggest single cheese fact­ory in Southern Africa, the Parmalat fact­ory both call the town home, and are worth a visit when passing through.

Calitzdorp is another town along the way that has much to offer — from his­tor­ical monu­ments, to game farms, an art gal­lery and a suc­cu­lent garden along with shop­ping and din­ing out this town. Further along the route, one encoun­ters the his­toric Karoo town of Oudtshoorn — fam­ous for its ostriches and still home to work­ing ostrich farms that can be vis­ited by tour­ists as well as the Cango Caves, surely one of the most awe inspir­ing nat­ural cav­erns in the world.

Be warned how­ever, that the pop­ular­ity of many towns along the route make such an idea inad­vis­able dur­ing peak tour­ist sea­son, and you would be bet­ter advised to book ahead or plan your trip out of season.

Useful Links:
Route 62 Attractions (Includes a detailed map)
Things to Do on Route 62
Route 62 Accommodation