My husband and I and our 2 friends have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Cape Town. Bicycle Lodge was a great find, located in a quiet, residential area in the attractive suburb of Tokai. From the moment we arrived we were made to feel very welcome by John and Sharon, the owners, and their friendly dog, Zoe. The property is spacious and tastefully furnished with good sized bedrooms and plenty of storage space and is surrounded by beautiful gardens and seating areas. We loved sitting on the terrace eating our breakfast whilst watching the wildlife including birds, squirrels and lizards. Zoe would often join us for a biscuit and a tummy tickle! There is a lovely pool ideal for cooling off on warmer days and there are sun beds and small deckchairs with beach towels provided.
We hired a car for the 2 weeks of our stay and explored a lot of the Cape, including the wine route and as nowhere was further than a couple of hours drive away it was ideal for days out. Our favourite places were Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden’s ( just up the road), Boulder Bay to see the penguins, Simonstown, Stellenbosch, Franschoek, Hout Bay, Llandudno, Cape of Good Hope ( but avoid the baboons!) Table Mountain, Bo- Kaap and the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town.
Eating out was an amazing experience as the quality of food and wine is so high and the prices are so low! We tried many of the local restaurants and without exception they were all excellent with friendly service and spotlessly clean. Just across the road from Bicycle Lodge there is a small row of shops and restaurants and we enjoyed wonderful breakfasts and lunches at Bootleggers and dinners at The Brasserie. A couple of miles up the road at Steenberg Village centre is a larger shopping precinct with 2 good supermarkets selling everything you need and a number of restaurants, all of which we tried. Jakes in the Village, The Hussar Grill, Basilico and Fish Market all served delicious freshly cooked food. We also had a lovely final evening of wine tasting at Steenberg Estate followed by wonderful tapas at the BistroSixteen 82.
There are walking and cycling trails around Tokai and John, a keen cyclist, kindly lent my husband one of his mountain bikes and took him for a spin around the area which he really enjoyed.
Overall we had a wonderful stay at Bicycle Lodge and can highly recommend it. We loved everything about S Africa and hope to return again before too long!