Calvinia Snapshot
Tucked up against the dolerite-topped Hantam Mountains, Calvinia straddles the R27 heading west from Nieuwoudtville. Serving time primarily as farming centre for the wool trade, a stroll through this dorp’s quiet streets reveals a laid-back atmosphere and some interesting architecture. Heading out of town takes you into a maze of open back roads that burst into colour during the wild flower bloom in spring.
Things To Do
- Drive out to the nearby Akkerendam Nature Reserve and take on a range of short walks for any level of fitness, including two longer trails across the Hantam Mountains.
- Explore the town and its buildings from the times past. Among them are the Neo-Gothic-styled Dutch Reformed Church, Hantam House - a Cape Dutch styled home built in the mid 1800’s with its original cedarwood and excellent coffee shop housed in the original kraal - and the old Synagogue, which now serves as a museum portraying the realities of life as an early settler on the Northern Cape frontier.
- A number of 4x4 trails and mountain bike options, some steeped in Anglo-Boer War history, run from the town along the escarpment and Ooorlogskloof River. Well worth the trek during a balmy spring, when thick carpets of flowers smother the countryside.
- For a post-siesta outing, step out into the cool of night to a sky laden with stars. Calvinia boasts a impressively low light pollution factor, making it an astronomers dream.
Where You'll Also Find Us
Arniston (Waenhuiskrans) • Barrydale • Beaufort West • Betty's Bay • Bonnievale • Bot River • Bredasdorp • Caledon • Calitzdorp • Cape Agulhas and Struisbaai • Cape Town area • Ceres • Citrusdal • Clanwilliam & Cederberg • Darling • De Rust • Franschhoek • Gansbaai • George • Grabouw & Elgin Valley • Greyton • Heidelberg • Hermanus • Knysna • Ladismith • Laingsburg • Lamberts Bay • Langebaan • Malgas • Matjiesfontein • McGregor • Montagu • Mossel Bay • Napier • Oudtshoorn • Paarl • Paternoster • Plettenberg Bay • Porterville • Prince Albert • Pringle Bay • Pringle Bay, Betty's Bay and Kleinmond • Riebeek West and Riebeek-Kasteel • Riversdale • Riviersonderend • Robertson • St Helena Bay • Stanford • Stilbaai • Strand, Gordon's Bay and Somerset West • Swellendam • Tulbagh • Uniondale • Velddrif • Vermaaklikheid • Wellington • Wilderness • Witsand • Worcester & Hex Valley • Yzerfontein • Baviaanskloof • Cape St Francis • Cape St Francis & St Francis Bay • East London • Graaff-Reinet • Hogsback • Jeffreys Bay • Makhanda (Grahamstown) • Middelburg • Nieu-Bethesda • Rhodes • Sutherland