Vredendal in the Olifants River Valley

Vredendal

Vredendal; Afrikaans for Peaceful Valley, is a mod­ern town that thrives on the banks of the Olifants River. The town marks the bound­ary between the Mediterranean cli­mate of the south­ern part of the West Coast and the dry, arid north.

The Olifants River is the large artery that drives the eco­nomy of the town and the region and makes this a small para­dise for those who want to get away from the city, yet have access to all the mod­ern amen­it­ies; the best of both worlds in tech­no­logy and the warmth of small-town hos­pit­al­ity and living ...

Vredendal is sur­roun­ded by diverse farm­ing made pos­sible by the intric­ate irrig­a­tion scheme from the Olifants River. This has turned this region into a fer­tile green val­ley that sup­ports agri­cul­ture and vit­i­cul­ture. The val­ley is sur­roun­ded by the majestic Gifberg, Maskam and Koebee peaks, cre­at­ing a cli­mate that is hot and dry in sum­mer that makes this ideal wine pro­du­cing coun­tryside. The wines pro­duced here have a repu­ta­tion for excel­lence and form part of the Olifants River wine route. The petite boutique cel­lars and the vine­yards of Westcorp and Lutzville should be on every wine-lover’s to do list.

Vredendal

Vredendal is seen as the ideal base from where to explore Namaqualand, the Cederberg range and the sur­round­ing West Coast. The Matzikama Eco-Park boasts some of the most diverse suc­cu­lent plant spe­cies in the world and brings vis­it­ors from all over. Nature lov­ers come to the Eco-Park in large num­bers to visit the com­munity and botan­ical gar­dens, bird hides and aviary.

Visitors are fas­cin­ated with the con­trasts of rugged moun­tains, the sandy plains and the green oasis that Vredendal forms. The whole region is known world­wide for the yearly spec­tacle when the arid and bland look­ing coun­tryside meta­morph­oses into an unend­ing car­pet of spring flowers.

The people of Vredendal are true-blue West Coast dwell­ers with the warmth and spon­taneity that is so much part of this region. Modern and tra­di­tional co-exist and on a nor­mal Saturday morn­ing you will see the farm tract­ors arrive with the long pas­sen­ger trail­ers bring­ing the farm laborers into town to do their weekly shop­ping that is accom­pan­ied by shout­ing greet­ings as friends meet and greet.

Melkboomsdrift Lodge

In the months lead­ing up to October the whole region gears up for the annual Rittelfees (Jitterbug fest­ival) that brings the eight main towns of the area together in a fam­ily fest­ival for four days of music, arts and crafts that is atten­ded by some of the country’s celebrities.

Vredendal offers some­thing for every­one; local and vis­itor alike. Panoramic views of the lush vine­yards with good wine tast­ing, canoe­ing down the Olifants River and fant­astic hik­ing, 4x4 and quad-biking trails.

For those who want to simply relax and soak up the sun while sampling all the deli­cious regional foods there is styl­ish accom­mod­a­tion aplenty with the Melkboomdrift Lodge tops for chic and styl­ish accom­mod­a­tion with all pos­sible trim­mings plus excel­lent con­fer­ence facil­it­ies for sem­inars. So next time you're feel­ing spon­tan­eous simply point your car north­wards on the R27 and exper­i­ence this all firsthand.

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For more des­tin­a­tion inform­a­tion please see:
Vredendal Attractions
Vredendal Accommodation