A Weekend in Greyton (and a bit of Malgas)

After our recent stay in Suurbraak, Thorsten and I had a weekend to kill in the Overberg before flying back to Joburg. We decided to spend two nights in Greyton, about 90 minutes from Cape Town, where neither of us had been before. We also made an afternoon detour to Malgas for lunch and a wine tasting at Sijnn Wines.

This part of South Africa has a magical quality to it, kind of like being inside a fantasy novel.

Bridge over the Riviersonderend — The road to Greyton, which crosses over the romantically named Riviersonderend ("river without end" in Afrikaans).

Greyton

Greyton is a very small town with a few thousand people. But after three days in Suurbraak it felt like a big city, with lots of shops, restaurants, and facilities for tourists. Greyton has an English village vibe with hundreds of oak trees, waist-high walls, and thatched, white-washed cottages with big gardens behind them.

We stayed in one of those thatched houses, in an Airbnb called Rosewood.

Rosewood Airbnb in Greyton — The house where we stayed, complete with stunning autumn foliage. The owners live on the ground floor and we stayed in the attic apartment.

I do recommend Rosewood – find the Airbnb listing here – but be aware that the bathtub is wedged under the sloping roof in a way that makes it kind of hard to actually bathe. Otherwise we loved it.

Rosewood airbnb bedroom — The Rosewood master bedroom.

Bathroom in Rosewood Airbnb — The weird (albeit cute) bathroom.

We spent most of our time in Greyton hiking and walking around town. The town is basically surrounded by the Greyton Nature Reserve and we took two nice hikes there: The three-kilometer Platkloof Walk and the seven-kilometer Gifkloof Trail. (Read more about Greyton’s walking trails.) Here are some photos from our hikes:

Horse walking past Thorsten — It’s a short walk from Greyton’s town center to the nature reserve. We passed several horses along the way.

Greyton house that Thorsten liked — An architectural Greyton sketch by @theThinking_Hand.

A glimpse of the ridiculously beautiful Riviersonderend Mountains on our way to the nature reserve.

House in Greyton — More views on the way to the reserve.

Morning in the Greyton Nature Reserve — The light on the mountains couldn’t have been more perfect as we started the Platkloof Walk. In the foreground is a glorious field of protea flowers.

Mountain sketch by Thorsten — Thorsten’s interpretation of the Riviersonderend Mountains.

Thorsten sitting by a waterfall — There is a lovely waterfall on the Platkloof Walk.

Dodder plant — We were fascinated by this parasitic indigenous plant, called dodder, which was all over the trail. Dodder strangles other plants until they die, then eventually dies itself once it runs out of plants to kill, and then the other plants grow back and the cycle starts all over again.

Heather with proteas in Greyton — Hanging out with my protea friends (Photo: Thorsten Deckler)

Gifkloof trail — I didn’t take as many photos of the Gifkloof Trail, which we walked in the early afternoon when the light wasn’t as nice. But the views on this trail were also stunning.

We hiked for almost the whole day and saw only two other people.

In addition to hiking, we enjoyed browsing Greyton’s popular Saturday Morning Market. We also had two nice meals in Greyton: one at Abbey Rose (tasty but very rich South African dishes,) and one at the Old Potter’s Inn (brew pub with very good beer and burgers). All in all Greyton was a great weekend getaway – perfect for Capetonians who can get there in less than two hours.

Sijnn Wines (Malgas)

Malgas is a tiny little settlement best known for its hand-drawn pontoon ferry that carries one car at a time over the Breede River. We didn’t get to see or use the ferry, unfortunately, but we did enjoy some really great wine and Malgas scenery at Sijnn Wines.