Waking up after a weekend of warrioring through Cape Town’s laid back yet hectic nightlife can be rough. The Winelands wine country makes for an enjoyable day trip, but if you have time, try to spend a night or two out this way. Less than an hour’s drive away (a mere 85km, about 52miles, from downtown) the sleepy town of Franschhoek makes an ideal base to explore the sprawling valleys and vineyards of the winelands. Escaping religious persecution, French Huguenots arrived in 1688 and settled in what was then known as Olifantshoek (“Elephants Corner”), due to the herds of elephants that used the lush valley as a birthing ground (baboons still populate the hills today), and brought the secrets and skill of winemaking with them.

Head to Franschhoek, known as the gourmet capital of South Africa.

Today, the Huguenot Memorial at the end of the antique shop-filled main road commemorates their arrival and 46 cellars laud their skill. Other surrounding valleys such as Paarl and Stellenbosch, famous for its Afrikaans language university and historic Cape Dutch architecture as much as its vintages, offer hundreds more options for the wine enthusiast. The souvenir enthusiast will go ga-ga at the 200-year-old Oom Samie Se Winkel (“Uncle Sam’s Shop”) in Stellenbosch, where you can buy everything from spices to clothes to warthog heads and other sundry bric-a-brac throughout its crammed dusty rooms.