What 2679 DialAFlight clients thought of South Africa

Thank you to Donovan and Brandy for always being so helpful and efficient. I am very happy I found your travel agency as it is making my travel experiences so relaxed knowing you guys have done it for me.

Your service has been as good as the first time I used your company 6 years ago

Everything went like clockwork

As usual, a great travel company every time!

Dale at DialAFlight always delivers a first class customer service.

Thank you for your excellent and efficient service.

Thanks Billy. Another great adventure. Speak again next year.

Gordon excellent

Always great helpful service. Have used you for several years

Marvellous as always

Thomas our Travel Manager is extremely helpful and ensured that everything happened smoothly.

Thank you Michael for booking my flights for my recent trip to South Africa. Everything worked to plan and your communications and updates were timely and most helpful. I will be in touch next time.

Leah Jessop and her boss Aidan were very professional

Generally very good tour. Add on to Zimbabwe was fantastic!

Howard helped me every step of the way. He did an excellent! job. No hustle at all. I'll choose DialAFlight for my next holiday.

Problem with BA seat booking. But not with DialAFlight

The business seat configuration on the BA aircraft return flight was very poor. Very small too, nowhere to store your things around you. Film choice and food not too good either

We were given excellent service and guidance all the way through to take off by Les and his team. l would recommend DialAFlight and their service to anyone.

Always looked after by Michelle Dooler

We have been most impressed by the professional and personal service we have always received from DialAFlight.

Always received excellent service.

Fabulous service as always despite us continuously having to change flights. Thank you to Jerry Bushnell yet again

We had a fabulous trip and thanks to your brilliant organisation everything went like clockwork. Will be in touch for next year's trip hopefully.

Everything was perfect and everyone very helpful.

Very helpful and patient with my many questions.

Brilliant service from beginning to end. Cannot recommend enough. Thank you so very much

Always felt confident using your service. Gino was always communicating and excellent call a few days before flight with reminders and helpful advice. All went smoothly.

Everything went smoothly and I will certainly use you if travelling abroad.

Everything worked out perfectly

The service we got was flawless.

Wonderful winelands

Touring South Africa, one sip at a time

Helen Atkinson Wood finds herself in a paradise for wine lovers - and also manages some serious eating

We'd come to sample sauvignon, sip shiraz, marvel at malbec, and savour world-class cuisine. But if you ask why we'd travelled to the southern hemisphere when we have all that on our European doorstep, you obviously haven't been to South Africa.

This pilgrimage to the wine-taster's paradise of Franschhoek began not with an aperitif - say a Graham Beck Game Reserve chenin blanc - but with an appetising few days in Cape Town. Our hotel, the Cape Grace, sits alongside the lively marina. From here, you can take a tourist bus ride around the city, a cable-car trip up Table Mountain, and shop at the Waterfront area.

At the Baia restaurant we feasted on seafood bisque, lobster and langoustine - and presented with a bill as cheap as chips.

For something more sedate, the colonial grandeur of Mount Nelson is the place for afternoon tea. However, if I could eat only one meal on the Cape it would be at The Pot Luck Club, the hottest restaurant in town.

From Cape Town, we headed for the open countryside, climbing through Helshoogte Pass with its amazing mountain views. Just 90 minutes later we were in a different country - think Tuscany comes to Cumbria, with some Dutch gable architecture thrown in.

The wine tram disgorges its merry passengers at the Rickety Bridge vineyard

After being hounded out of Europe, it was the Huguenots who brought their distillery skills to this verdant triangle of South Africa, transforming it into one of the World's most beautiful wine valleys. Relais & Chateaux has now captured a corner of Franschhoek and discreetly created the Provencal-style retreat of Le Quartier Francais.

The hotel has a tranquil hidden garden, lavender-lined walkway and Tasting Room restaurant, all set within the charm of a Victorian village square. There is a glorious list of wine estates to visit in this area, all with restaurants and tastings.

La Petite Ferme sits at the back of Franschhoek and has mountain views and a mouthwatering lunch menu. Delaire Graff is a gem of an estate, where you can view the oak-barrelled seasoning process, or visit its famous art collection, including Tretchikoff's Chinese Girl (it's said to be the most reproduced painting in the world), and a diamond showroom on which the Graff fortune is built.

We opted for the hop-on, hopoff Franschhoek tram tour of the vineyards, along with a boisterous party who got ever squiffier as we rumbled from one distinguished estate to the next.

Mont Rochelle cellar

There was Mont Rochelle's chardonnay, fermented in a butterscotch-flavoured barrel, La Couronne's plummy malbec which we partnered with a local cheese platter, and my favourite, Moreson's In My Bed cabernet sauvignon merlot.

Moreson's has a brilliant collection of wines, wittily named around the good-natured naughtiness of their Weimaraner dog. Rather tipsily, we left the tram party to the strains of Chicago's If You Leave Me Now. We needed all our concentration for the task ahead: a night in The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francais.

Some restaurants are worth making a pilgrimage to - and this is one. Award-winning chef Margot Janse weaves her magic in the kitchen, combining earthy African and sophisticated French to create two audacious flavour combinations.

Janse once considered a career in the theatre - and each of the eight courses, accompanied by a different wine, was drama on a plate. There was texture, humour, sex appeal and surprises with every mouthful. The Eastern Cape marron crayfish, Cape gooseberry and lemon verbena was like leaping into the freezing Atlantic - so tinglingly exhilarating I nearly went to change into my swimwear to eat it.

We finished our trip on the coast at the glamorous Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa in Camps Bay.

The unabashed luxury of Twelve Apostles was like being treated to a glass of Klein Constantia Vin de Constance - a silky, rich dessert wine much loved by Napoleon. The perfect end to a trip as well.

First published in the Mail on Sunday - November 2016

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