Franschhoek Wine Tram: Five Routes Through the French Corner

King Louis XIV outlawed Protestantism in France on 22 October 1685, and within three years, 200 refugees had walked into a South African valley they renamed Franschhoek — French Corner. They brought grape cuttings. Some of those vines, planted in 1905, still produce wine today. A vintage double-decker tram modeled on a 1923 Blackpool design runs the old 1904 wheat-freight railway through the estates they founded, stopping at 30+ wineries on five color-coded routes. Board at the end of the main street, pour a glass of 120-year-old Semillon at Rickety Bridge, and watch someone open a sparkling wine with a sword at Haute Cabrière.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Find the Broken Chain at the End of the Main Road History · Free

   Where: Walk to the very end of Huguenot Road — the main street of Franschhoek — until the road dead-ends at the monument grounds. The Huguenot Monument stands at -33.91383, 19.12352, unveiled in 1948.

   What: King Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau on 22 October 1685 and with a stroke revoked every Huguenot's right to exist in France. Within three years, 200 of them were standing in an isolated valley called Olifantshoek — Elephant Corner — having crossed two oceans to get here. They renamed it Franschhoek: French Corner. The central bronze figure at the monument is a young woman holding a Bible in her right hand and a broken chain in her left. That chain is the story of every wine you'll drink today.

   How: Walk up to the statue's base. Look at her left hand — the chain is snapped at the wrist, not at the shackle. The sculptor Coert Steynberg made a precise choice: freedom isn't granted, it's broken. On the globe below her feet, find the carved grape vine — it's on the southern hemisphere, right where Franschhoek sits. That vine represents the winemaking knowledge these refugees carried across the Atlantic, the same knowledge that planted the 1905 Semillon vines you may drink today.

   Backup: The monument grounds are always open and free. The small Huguenot Museum (Lambrecht Street, R30 entry, Mon-Sat 9:00-17:00) contains their actual arrival documents — original signatures from the 1688 fleet. Both are worth doing.

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2. 2 Board the Double-Decker on Tracks That Hauled Wheat in 1904 Adventure · Price: moderate

   Where: Franschhoek Wine Tram terminal, 32 Huguenot Rd (-33.910985, 19.119738) — a five-minute walk from the monument, back up the main street.

   What: The railway line under these wheels was built in 1904 so farmers could stop using ox-drawn carts to get produce to Paarl. Steam trains ran it until the 1970s. Diesel locomotives took over, then the line was simply abandoned in the 1990s. In 2012, a private operator bought the infrastructure and rebuilt it — then in 2017 commissioned South African engineers to build these double-decker trams modeled after the Blackpool Corporation Tramcar of 1923. The result is a 5-meter-tall open-top carriage traveling at 32 km/h through vineyard country, on tracks that still follow the exact route the wheat farmers drove a century ago.

   How: Book online at winetram.co.za (R350 base ticket, wine tastings R60-R260 extra per estate). Grab a seat on the UPPER deck of the double-decker — the overhead vines and mountain views require altitude. Choose the Blue or Red Line from the Franschhoek terminal: both stop at Rickety Bridge and Grande Provence, the two estates with the deepest stories. The tram passes each stop once per hour — plan 2-3 estates maximum to avoid the rush that kills the pleasure.

   Backup: The Orange and Navy Lines depart from the Groot Drakenstein terminal (20 min by free shuttle bus). Note: the Groot Drakenstein tram is currently out of service (2025-2026 disruption) — those routes run by bus until further notice. The Blue and Red Lines from the Franschhoek terminal are fully operational.

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3. 3 Ask for Paulina at Rickety Bridge — Then Taste Her 120-Year-Old Vines Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: Hop off at Rickety Bridge Wine Estate, R45 Main Road (-33.89904, 19.09129), a tram stop on the Blue, Red, and Green Lines.

   What: The Huguenots received this land grant in 1694. By the 1830s it had passed to Paulina de Villiers, making her one of South Africa's first female landowners. The 'rickety bridge' in the name was a railway sleeper crossing over the Franschhoek River — that rail connection ran until the 1990s, the same line your tram just came in on. Rickety Bridge still bottles a Semillon called 'The Pilgrimage' from vines planted in 1905 — the year the Paarl-Franschhoek railway was just one year old. That wine is now 120 years of unbroken vine history.

   How: At the tasting counter, ask to try 'The Pilgrimage' Semillon from the Paulina's Reserve range. Look for pale greenish-gold color and aromas of lemon pith, bee pollen, and white sage. When you smell it, you're smelling Franschhoek's Mediterranean-climate terroir through vines whose roots were sunk while your great-grandparents were children. Then ask staff: 'What do you know about Paulina de Villiers?' Watch what happens — this is a property that genuinely honors her story.

   Backup: If 'The Pilgrimage' is sold out, ask for the Paulina's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon — the flagship red, named in her honor. If tasting is fully booked (book ahead on weekends), the estate grounds and the bridge itself are free to walk.

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4. 4 Watch a Sword Open a Bottle in a Cellar Carved Into the Mountain Pass Wine · Price: low

   Where: Haute Cabrière, Lambrechts Road (the Franschhoek Pass), on the Red Line route (-33.9097, 19.1550 approx). The cellar is literally carved into the mountain — the restaurant above it looks down the length of the valley.

   What: Pierre Jourdan is South Africa's benchmark Cap Classique sparkling wine — made méthode cap classique (bottle-fermented, like Champagne) but with Cape grapes and Cape mountain air. Haute Cabrière started the South African sabrage tradition: the technique of opening a sparkling wine bottle with the flat side of a sword by running it along the bottle's seam until the neck breaks clean. This is not a party trick — it's physics. The CO2 pressure inside a Cap Classique bottle is 6 atmospheres. A single firm stroke travels along the seam (the weakest structural line) and the neck detaches without a drop spilled.

   How: Ask your tasting server: 'Can I see a sabrage demonstration?' Any purchase of a Pierre Jourdan bottle includes a complimentary demo (subject to staff availability). Watch the sommelier's hand position — the sword runs along the seam, not across the cork. If you want to go deeper, book the Cap Classique & Sabrage Masterclass with Cellar Master Takuan von Arnim directly at cabriere.co.za. Public cellar tours run weekdays at 11:00 and include a tasting.

   Backup: If sabrage isn't available at that moment, simply order a glass of Pierre Jourdan on the restaurant terrace. The view from the terrace looks straight down Franschhoek Valley — the valley those 200 Huguenots walked into in 1688. It's the same view. That's worth the glass on its own.

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5. 5 Step Into the Storm — Find the 1688 Arrival Signatures in the Museum History · Price: low · Optional

   Where: Huguenot Memorial Museum, Lambrecht Street, Franschhoek (-33.91383, 19.12352). Open Mon-Sat 9:00-17:00, Sun 14:00-17:00. Admission approximately R30.

   What: The 'Flight' exhibition room uses spatial audio to put you inside a 17th-century vessel crossing the Atlantic in storm seas. You hear the ship creak, the water, the panic — then it calms as the ship enters Table Bay. It's the 3-month journey those 200 Huguenots made with nothing but their winemaking knowledge and a copy of the Psalms. In the same room: the actual arrival documents from 1688. Real signatures. Real names. These are the people whose farms you just visited, whose vines you tasted, whose valley you came in on a tram.

   How: Enter the museum and go directly to the 'Flight' room — ask staff at the entrance to point you there. Stand in the center of the room for the full audio effect. After the audio, find the surname list near the exit: look for 'de Villiers' (Rickety Bridge's Paulina) and 'Joubert' (Grande Provence, Pierre who arrived 1694). These aren't historical abstracts — they are the names on the wine labels you just drank.

   Backup: If the museum is closed (arrives after 17:00), the outdoor Huguenot Monument is always accessible and free. Walk the sculpture garden between the monument and the perfume museum — the wild fynbos garden is at its best in spring (August-October).

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