Reviews of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

We visited Kirstenbosch on September 12, 2011 – at the peak of the annual protea display. If you have not been to Cape Town before, plan to spend at least half a day visiting the gardens and make sure the batteries on your camera are fully charged. Kirstenbosch is a world-class garden, both from a botanical and landscape design perspective. The breadth of plant material, the layout of the gardens, and the overall visual aesthetics of its location at the foot of Table Mountain are amazing.

I don’t usually comment on the reviews left by others, but I find the review and the 1-star rating of the gardens by Albert van der Poll based on the quality of the tea and coffee in the tea shop to be amazing. To base a rating of the garden on the price and quality of the tea is outrageous! For what it’s worth, we ate lunch at the tea shop during our visit. Although the menu is limited, the food quality, service, price and overall ambiance of dining al fresco were excellent.

(5.0/5)

We visited the tearoom after spending pleasant afternoon in the gardens at Kirstenbosch with my daughter and her friend visiting from England. Decided to have coffee/tea and ordered same at Caffe Botanica. We were attended to, there was no one else except a gentleman discussing trivia with the two attendants; we had little opportunity after placing our order to get their attention. When the order was ready, we thought we would mention the offer of tea/coffee at reduced price to pensioners advertised on the stand outside the shop and how we should show that we 'qualify'. (My wife and I are both between 67 and 69.) We were then told 'it's only for a small cup' and we enquired what this small tea cup looked liked. We were rather off-handedly indicated another cup which was indistinguishable from the one in front of us. Our guests paid the bill and we settled down in the courtyard outside to have our refreshment. I noticed that the sign regarding tea/coffee at R10 made no mention of size or quantity. The tea we had was acceptable, but the coffee was insipid and certainly nothing to encourage our return there or recommend the venue to others. (Better quality and friendlier service can be had at many other places at a lower price.) It is better to remove the misleading sign about reduced price refreshment when both the service and what is served leave much to be desired. Shame that many overseas visitors should receive such poor quality coffee and service in South Africa. Lasting impressions are formed in this manner.

(1.0/5)

Truly an amazing garden with a spectaular view of the mountains in the background. The collection of South African native plants is world-class. Take note of the Leucodendron argenteum on the mountianside. Truly spectacular!

(4.0/5)