17 things to do in Hermanus on the Cape Whale Coast
Once a tiny fishing village, Hermanus – just over a 90-minute drive south-east of Cape Town – is now a bustling seaside town with a range of accommodation in all price brackets and tons of things to do. Think wine tasting, good restaurants and art galleries, whale-watching, hiking and long white beaches. Here’s my pick of 17 things to do in Hermanus on the Cape Whale Coast, South Africa.
Hermanus has a magnificent natural setting between mountains and ocean at Walker Bay, with the Bot River Lagoon to the west and the Klein River Lagoon to the east. The town dates back to the early 1800s and later became a popular place for people with tuberculosis to recuperate. By the 1920s there were about 15 sanitoriums in Hermanus and some of them later became hotels that still stand today.
In 2019, Overstrand Hermanus became Africa’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. To achieve this, it had to put creativity and the creative community at the heart of its urban development plans and ensure a safe, inclusive and sustainable environment. Join in the gastronomic abundance of the area by sampling its food (see point 9) and wines (see point 8).