scoorbar

My son, age 17, will be traveling to Cape Town and Johannesburg next week with a group for 11 days. We are trying to figure out how much money ($) to send with them. Their breakfast and dinner is already included - they only have to purchase lunch and incidentals. What is reasonable for lunch? What would be a decent allowance for souvenirs (remember these are teenagers).

I would also like to send some money with one of the adults to purchase a bottle of SA brandy for me. What is a good bottle and how much should it cost?

Thanks,
Sharon

Kavey

Sharon

Glad you got my email, and my suggestion to post here for extra information.

Just for info, this is what I emailed Sharon in response to her question:

<i>Food is not expensive and your budget of 60 Rand a day for lunch seems reasonable. Might be worth giving 10 Rand a day extra for a drink here or there.

Jewellery and little craft items are also not expensive - if he goes to the Greenpoint Sunday market he'll get better prices than at the Waterfront BUT he needs to bargain (at LEAST a third off the asking price). I would say that 200 Rand would be plenty for his personal souvenirs if he just wants a number of small items.

I have NO idea re Brandy!
</i>

ArthurSA

R60 just for lunch would be more than generous. To put things in perspective, a Macdonalds standard meal (burger, fries, and cooldrink) are round about R20-R25. (Not that I'm recommending the place!) A pie and cooldrink many places would be around R10.

S.A

ArthurSA

R60 just for lunch would be more than generous. To put things in perspective, Macdonalds standard meals (burger, fries, and cooldrink) are round about R20-R25. (Not that I'm recommending the place!) A pie and cooldrink many places would be around R10-R12.

S.A. Brandy? Depends on the quality, as with French brandies and cognacs. Starts at about R40, but could be much higher. Have a look at the brandy on the Makro liquor section site, using the URL http://tinyurl.com/44al9, for examples. KWV 10-year-0ld is on special there for R76.50, but the KWV 20-year-old is R369, and you can get a pretty good French cognac in S.A. for that kind of money.

That listing includes some French cognacs such as Martell. But the Martell brandy would be S.A. I think. Taking a quick look, I think all but those listed as cognac are made in S.A., despite some French names.

Selwyn_Davidowitz

Scoobar,

I think that both ArthurSA and Kavey are right on the button with their suggestions. R60 would be a good and generous figure to work on for lunch and R200 would be a reasonable amount to spend on souvenirs. If your son is not in Cape Town on a Sunday then he could go to the Greenmarket Square which effectively is a smaller version of the Sunday market Green Point Stadium, however the Square market is open from Monday to Saturday whereas the Stadium market opens on Sudays only. In actual fact the traders at the Square move to the Stadium on a Sunday.

With regard to bargaining I must mention that normally the only place you would bargain when shopping in Cape Town would be amongst informal traders such as those on the Greenmarket Square. I agree with Kavey that you should start at one third of the original asking price but generally you can work on the final figure being about 2/3 of the original asking price.

Brandy prices?? - As ArthurSA has indicated it virtually is a case of how long is a piece of string. I feel that for a reasonable brandy you could work on an average price of about R75.00

Hope the above all helps.

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa

cjstobbs

As for brandy, either KWV or Uitkyk.

ArthurSA

Curiosity had me do a search for other &quot;bottle&quot; (liquor) store websites, and the first hit I got was what seems to be an independent family operation on the main road of the small Cape town of Somerset West. They have KWV 10-year-old at R67. If you can get it at anywhere close to this price, that would be my recommendation. Better than the &quot;everyday brandy&quot;, at not a huge premium.

Selwyn_Davidowitz

ArthurSA,

I think the bottle store you are talking of is at Mooiberg Strawberry farms owned by the Zetler family. If so could you please send me their web address.

Thanks

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa

ArthurSA

Selwyn, it was the &quot;Sunrise Liquor Store&quot;, run (owned?) by Nico and Petra Reyneke. Website www.saonline.co.za/sunrise.

Celia

Sharon, my husband is a brandy aficianado, and he advises looking for Boplaas Potstill Brandy. It's really, really good. We paid R125 a bottle for it last May. It's hard to find, but Cape Town may be a better place to look for it than Jo'burg -- it isn't widely distributed in SA, and not at all in the US.

If he can't find it, or if potstill brandy isn't to your taste, the KWV 10 year old or 5 year old is a good bet. I think the 10 year old is about R100, and the 5 year old about R60, as I recall. It's easy to find in SA bottle stores (I love that term!), but can also probably be found in the US.