A Swell Weekend Getaway

The small town of Swellendam, is loc­ated approx­im­ately half way between Cape Town and Mossel Bay on the N2 highway.You will know you are reach­ing the town when you pass over the Breederivier, and see the Ostrich pro­cessing facil­ity on the right hand side, approach­ing from Cape Town. To reach the main road of the town, lined with his­toric build­ings, turn off the high­way and travel a short dis­tance along a minor road.

With a pop­u­la­tion in the region of 30 000, Swellendam offers small town hos­pit­al­ity, com­bined with many activ­it­ies for the tour­ist, and is well worth a visit, even if one is only passing through. One of the most unique attrac­tions in the town is the Sulina Faerie Sanctuary. An ideal fam­ily exper­i­ence, this small piece of fantasy was the brain child of a recent set­tler to the town, who has cre­ated a magical, mys­tical haven for all things fairy.

A walk through the garden reveals scenes of fair­ies, elves and other myth­ical beings that would take hours to view in its entirety, and which is only sur­passed by a visit to the shop at the end of the trail, which is an indes­crib­able treas­ure trove in itself.Also ideal for the fam­ily is the farm stall and pet­ting zoo loc­ated just off the N2 high­way, where one can enjoy a leis­urely farm break­fast, served on the lawn, while watch­ing the kids play with chick­ens, pot bel­lied pigs, mini­ature goats, don­keys, tur­keys and other tame farm animals.

Horse rid­ing, moun­tain bik­ing or 4 x 4 trails are on offer for the more adven­tur­ous, or visit the nearby Bontebok National Park, Marloth game reserve, or Sanbona Wildlife reserve for game viewing.

Or for nature of a dif­fer­ent sort, visit the Grootvadersbosch indi­gen­ous forest, which spans 250 hec­tares, or the nearby fish­ing vil­lage of Witsand, which offers some of the best whale watch­ing in the Cape.

Being loc­ated at the foot of the Langeberg Mountains, a major dairy pro­du­cing region in the Cape, there is also a farm stall just out­side town where one can sample and pur­chase the vari­ous cheeses and other products man­u­fac­tured locally.

Swellendam is the third old­est Western set­tle­ment in South Africa, foun­ded in 1745 by the Dutch East India Company, and being sur­passed only by Cape Town and Stellenbosch, and, aside from a few con­ces­sions to mod­ern liv­ing, one would be for­given for think­ing that you had stepped back in time.

For those wish­ing to exper­i­ence more of the Swellendam town and regions his­tory, a visit to the Drostdy Museum Complex is well worth it. Located in a com­plex of sev­eral his­tor­ical build­ings, ori­gin­ally con­struc­ted by the Dutch East India Company when the town was foun­ded, the museum offers insight into life at that time, includ­ing fur­niture and other exhib­its, as well as res­taur­ants, cof­fee shops and art galleries.

Other towns worth vis­it­ing as you leave Swellendam, en route to the Garden Route and bey­ond are Suurbraak, ori­gin­ally a mis­sion sta­tion estab­lished by the British in the 1800’s, Malagas, a coastal vil­lage reached by a hand drawn pon­toon across the Breede River, Barrydale and Stormwvlei.

For such a small town, Swellendam is packed with both fas­cin­at­ing his­tory, and unique activ­it­ies, and is well worth a visit as one travels up the East Coast of the Western Cape.

When plan­ning your trip to Swellendam, find a place to stay by view­ing the Swellendam Accommodation options lis­ted. You will find accom­mod­a­tion in Swellendam ranges from the extremely lux­uri­ous to more mod­est B&B's and Guest Houses and, for greater inde­pend­ence, con­sider the self cater­ing options available.

Useful Links:
For more des­tin­a­tion info see:
Swellendam Attractions
Harold Porter Nature Reserve
Kogelberg Nature Reserve