Gravel rides - Cape Winelands

[Miroki]

I am looking at putting togeher a 5 day gravel tour around the Cape winelands that I want to do with some friends from overseas. I. normally mountain bike but want to start doing more gravel riding in the future as well. Does anybody know what nice trails there are to ride in the area of between 80-100kms and what itinerary  would you suggest for a 5 day tour? I was thinking of ending in Stellenbosch and maybe starting around the Swellendam area. I am open to suggestions of rides somewhere else as well?

[Shebeen]

11 hours ago, Miroki said:

I am looking at putting togeher a 5 day gravel tour around the Cape winelands that I want to do with some friends from overseas. I. normally mountain bike but want to start doing more gravel riding in the future as well. Does anybody know what nice trails there are to ride in the area of between 80-100kms and what itinerary  would you suggest for a 5 day tour? I was thinking of ending in Stellenbosch and maybe starting around the Swellendam area. I am open to suggestions of rides somewhere else as well?

How much do you want to pay for this? 

[milky4130]

14 hours ago, Miroki said:

I am looking at putting togeher a 5 day gravel tour around the Cape winelands that I want to do with some friends from overseas. I. normally mountain bike but want to start doing more gravel riding in the future as well. Does anybody know what nice trails there are to ride in the area of between 80-100kms and what itinerary  would you suggest for a 5 day tour? I was thinking of ending in Stellenbosch and maybe starting around the Swellendam area. I am open to suggestions of rides somewhere else as well?

You could essentially do the cross cape route then +-50kms per day from Swellendam or start further east if you want more distance per day.

[Miroki]

I looked at that, but the Montague Pass out of George is still badly damaged after the floods. It’s unridable with gravel bikes so will need to find another way to get around that part because we won’t have a vehicle to drive all of us and our bikes to the other side of it. 

[milky4130]

13 hours ago, Miroki said:

I looked at that, but the Montague Pass out of George is still badly damaged after the floods. It’s unridable with gravel bikes so will need to find another way to get around that part because we won’t have a vehicle to drive all of us and our bikes to the other side of it. 

I see people using it daily still, if it’s rideable with a MTB, I can’t see any reason why a gravel bike can’t do it.

[Skubarra]

On 8/24/2025 at 7:12 AM, Miroki said:

I looked at that, but the Montague Pass out of George is still badly damaged after the floods. It’s unridable with gravel bikes so will need to find another way to get around that part because we won’t have a vehicle to drive all of us and our bikes to the other side of it. 

Not sure where George would fit into your route if you start in Swellendam and end in Stellenbosch. But the Outeniqua pass is a good alternative to Montagu Pass, not gravel but its a beautiful pass to ride on a bike.

Also I see repairs on Montagu Pass is scheduled to start later this year, so depending on when your tour is taking place it might be fixed by then. 

[rampies]

You will probably either need to connect tar to gravel a few times, in which case I would include Van der stel pass close to Theewaterskloof dam. Alternatively head out to the Klein Karoo and connect the dots from there.
My personal favourite would be up to Cederberg up Eselbank and over to Wuppertal and Pakhuispass. Not the cape winelands, but very scenic if you can still catch some late flowers. There are great Chenin's at Cederberg Cellars on the way, and some cold beers at the Oasis 😁

[Anthem24]

Given all the accounts on here about muggings on the roads leading into Stellenbosch, that doesn't seem like the best place to end. Rather start further east in in Riversdale or Heidelberg and get fetched in Caledon or Bot River if you don't want to end with lots of tar and traffic.  

Other nice options are Ladismith / the lovely Seweweekspoort Pass back to Montagu via the Klein Karoo gravel corridor, and there's lots of info about that online.  https://makadasadventures.co.za/klein-karoo-gravel-corridor/

Avoid cycling in the Cederberg in the summer months obviously -- too hot.

I picked up a pamphlet recently from this crowd -- https://cycling-friends.com/ The pamphlet says they have Garden Route and Cross Cape gravel tours scheduled in January and February, and do personalized tours too, so maybe worth checking out. You'd best find out who is behind those tours though, in case it's that famous guy on here!

[MongooseMan]

My recommendation would be:
Day1: Riversdal - Swellendam (90k)
Day 2: Swellendam - Riviersonderend (75k)
Day 3:Riviersonderend - Napier/Bredasdorp (55/65k)
Day 4: Napier/Bredasdorp - Greyton (80/90k)
Day 5: Greyton - Franschoek  (75k)

Strava says 390k, 55% gravel (could probably increase this if you spent longer than the 5mins I took to make it).
Essentially the back half of cross-cape, with a diversion down south to Napier/Bredasdorp