Hermanus
Old fishing town 120 km east of Cape Town where southern right whales come within metres of the cliff path between June and December.
Cliff path above Walker Bay at Hermanus with a southern right whale close inshore
Why people stay in Hermanus
Hermanus is a town of about 40,000 on Walker Bay, 120 km southeast of Cape Town, and its claim is not marketing: between June and December southern right whales come so close to the rocks that you watch them from a bench, unaided, with a coffee. The bay is deep right up to the cliff, so cows and calves park thirty or forty metres offshore for weeks. Peak is late September and October, when the Whale Festival takes over Market Square and the town crier walks the front blowing a kelp horn. In February you will see nothing but kelp and it is a different holiday entirely.
The 12 km cliff path from the New Harbour to Grotto Beach is the single best thing here, free, mostly flat and open all day. It threads past Gearing's Point, the Old Harbour with its 1855 stone slipway and beached fishing boats, then Kammabaai, Voëlklip and the dune section to Grotto, which is a proper Blue Flag beach with 12 km of sand. Walk it eastwards in the morning with the sun behind you. Whale spotting from the path costs nothing; boat trips out of the New Harbour run about R1,600 a person and are worth it only if you want the size of the animal to shock you.
The town itself is more ordinary than the setting. Main Road and the Market Square block have the restaurants: Bientang's Cave is built into the cliff face below the Old Harbour and sells the location more than the seafood, at mains near R250; Burgundy on Marine Drive occupies the oldest building in town and does it better; Char’d and Harbour Rock at the New Harbour do steak and sushi with the water below. At 21h30 midweek in winter almost everything is closed. In the October festival fortnight, and again from 20 December to 5 January, the population triples and you cannot park.
Do not overlook the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, 5 to 15 minutes inland on the R320. It is the country's serious pinot noir and chardonnay country, cool and misty, with Hamilton Russell, Bouchard Finlayson, Creation, Newton Johnson and Ataraxia strung along one gravel-and-tar road. Tastings run R120 to R250, several do genuinely good food pairings, and the valley is quiet even when the seafront is chaos. If you have one day and the whales are not in, spend it here rather than shopping on Main Road.
The premium is on the cliff, and it is worth part of it: Marine Drive, Westcliff and the streets between them put you on the whale path with the water audible from bed, at R1,800 to R3,500 for a double in October and R1,100 to R2,000 in March. The Marine Hotel on Marine Drive is the grande dame at several times that. One block back, around Main Road, Mitchell Street and Church Street, the same standard drops to R900 to R1,500 and you are still five minutes from the path. Voëlklip and Eastcliff, near Grotto Beach, suit families with a car and self-cater from about R1,400. Avoid Sandbaai and Onrus if you expect to walk to dinner, since they are 5 to 8 km west along the R43. Book October and the Christmas fortnight four months ahead, or forget it.
Things to do in Hermanus
Free, open dawn to dusk, running 12 km from the New Harbour east to Grotto Beach. The busiest and best whale stretch is the 2 km between Gearing's Point and Kwaaiwater, with benches every hundred metres. Between August and November you will typically see three or four animals within an hour. Take a windbreaker; the southwester on the cliff is fierce.
The 1855 stone harbour below Market Square, with wooden fishing boats hauled up the slipway and a small museum in the old harbourmaster's house. Entry is around R30 and it includes the whale house with the acoustic recordings of whale song. Open roughly 09h00 to 16h00 weekdays, shorter Saturdays, closed Sunday afternoons. Half an hour, and it explains the town.
Head 5 to 15 minutes inland on the R320 off the R43. Hamilton Russell, Bouchard Finlayson, Creation and Newton Johnson sit within a few kilometres of each other on a cool, misty ridge. Flights are R120 to R250 and Creation runs a well-known food-and-wine pairing lunch, booked ahead. Book a driver; the valley road is narrow and unlit.
Entrance on Fir Avenue above the town, free, gates 07h00 to 19h00 in summer. Sixty kilometres of marked path across 1,800 hectares of mountain fynbos, with more than 1,400 plant species recorded and a small visitor centre with a display of what is flowering. The 4 km Contour Path loop takes 90 minutes and looks straight down on Walker Bay.
Permitted operators leave from the New Harbour slipway west of town, two-hour trips at roughly R1,500 to R1,700, several departures a day between June and December. They may legally approach to 50 m and whales often come closer of their own accord. Morning sailings are calmer; if you are prone to seasickness take something an hour before boarding.
Eastern end of the cliff path, off the R43 at Voëlklip, with a paid parking area and a beach cafe. Twelve kilometres of Blue Flag sand running towards De Kelders, lifeguards in season, and water at 17 to 19 degrees in February. The lagoon end at the Klein River mouth is warmer and shallower and is where families go.
What to see
Hotels near Hermanus
No hotels are listed in Hermanus yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Getting around Hermanus
There is no train and no useful scheduled bus, so this is a car or a booked shuttle. From Cape Town International the fast route is the N2 over Sir Lowry's Pass to Botrivier, then the R43, about 120 km and 90 minutes; the beautiful route is Clarence Drive, the R44 from Gordon's Bay along the cliffs through Rooi-Els, Betty's Bay and Kleinmond, which takes two hours and is worth every minute in daylight. Airport shuttles run R1,100 to R1,600 one way. In town, the cliff path and Main Road cover most of what you want on foot, and Uber operates locally at R60 to R120, thinning after 21h00.
Questions about Hermanus
September and October are the peak, with the largest number of southern right cows and calves in Walker Bay and the Whale Festival at the end of September. The season realistically runs June to early December, with July and August already good and quiet. From January to May there are essentially no whales, though you may see Bryde's whales or dolphins offshore.
From land, easily, and this is what makes Hermanus unusual. The cliff path between Gearing's Point and Kwaaiwater regularly has whales within thirty to fifty metres of the rocks, close enough to hear them breathe. A boat trip at about R1,600 gives you scale and a different angle but is not necessary. Bring binoculars anyway for the further animals.
It works as a day trip at 90 minutes each way, but it is a long day and you will arrive after the best morning light. Two nights lets you walk the full cliff path, spend a morning in Hemel-en-Aarde and do a boat trip. If you only have a day, drive out on Clarence Drive and back on the N2 so the road itself is part of the trip.
The R44 Clarence Drive from Gordon's Bay is one of the great coastal roads anywhere, hugging cliffs above the water through Rooi-Els, Pringle Bay and Betty's Bay, and adds about thirty minutes. Do it in daylight, watch for baboons and cyclists, and pull into the marked viewpoints rather than stopping on the road. The N2 over Sir Lowry's Pass is faster and the sensible choice after dark.
