The Franschhoek Wine Tram

The Franschhoek Wine Tram has been running since 2012 and offers a great hop-on hop-off wine tour of this beautiful wine producing region. Every hour a friendly tour guide will pick you up and take you to your next wine estate.

Tickets are R220 per adult and, considering it's a full day out, it's well worth it. There are four different routes to choose from, each with different styles and estates.

We started the day in town where the tram-bus picked us up and took us out to our first wine estate of the day, Chamonix. Chamonix has a great wine tasting experience as well as grappa and schnapps. This tasting wasn't complimentary but is still worth a visit.

An hour later the tram arrived to take us on to the next estate, Dieu Donne. Here we stopped for lunch to make sure we didn't over-indulge on an empty stomach. The views out in Franschhoek are truly wonderful, and the restaurant offers lovely, panoramic views of the valley. Once we'd finished lunch we went through to enjoy our complimentary wine tasting before getting on board the tram and heading down to another estate.

Our next estate was the small boutique estate of Maison where we enjoyed two complimentary tastings.

Up until now we'd been taking the tram-bus, but finally we headed down to the tram and rolled along the rail to Rickety Bridge. The tram is modelled on Brill Trams of the 1890s, and was a lot of fun with beautiful scenery as we passed alongside the vineyards.

We arrived to our final tasting of the day at Rickety Bridge. People were playing boules on the lawn while we sat sipping our wine. After an hour there we headed back to the tram where the party started kicking off. The libations had certainly been enjoyed and the trip back to town was full of song and merriment.

If you're visiting Franschhoek and are looking for a fun way to get around to see the estates without having to find a designated driver, the Franschhoek Wine Tram is a must.

To book a trip on the wine tram please go to http://winetram.co.za.