Graaff-Reinet

Founded in 1786, Graaff-Reinet is the fourth-oldest town in South Africa and holds well over two hundred national monuments - more than any other town - which is why the whole centre reads as a museum of Cape Dutch and Karoo architecture. The Dutch Reformed church at the head of Church Street is a large Gothic Revival building modelled loosely on Salisbury Cathedral, and the Drostdy, the old magistrate's residence of 1806, is now a hotel with a row of restored labourers' cottages behind it in Stretch's Court. Reinet House, a Cape Dutch parsonage, is a museum with a grapevine planted in 1870 in the yard. The town sits in a loop of the Sundays River inside Camdeboo National Park, so the Valley of Desolation is fifteen minutes away. Karoo heat in summer is heavy, and the town empties in the middle of the day.

What you actually see

• The 200-plus monuments - the densest concentration of declared buildings in any town.
• The Drostdy - the 1806 magistrate's residence, now a hotel with restored cottages behind.
• Reinet House - a Cape Dutch parsonage museum with an 1870 vine in the yard.
• The park setting - a town entirely surrounded by Camdeboo National Park.

When to go

March to May and September to November. Two days with the park.

Honest expectations

Summer heat exceeds forty degrees and the town shuts in the afternoons. Museums keep short hours and several close at weekends. Some monument buildings are private homes viewed only from the street.

Nearby

The Valley of Desolation is minutes away; Nieu-Bethesda and the Owl House are north.