nieu bethesda tourism

Nieu-Bethesda

• 2 Get around

Nieu-Bethesda is a small Karoo village in the Eastern Cape , most well-known for the Owl House, and its artistic community.

Get in [ edit ]

From the north, take the N9. Turn west on the marked gravel road, 60 km south of Middelburg , and keep going for 27 km.

From the south, take the N9. Turn west on the marked tar road, 28 km north of Graaff-Reinet , and keep going for 25 km.

From the east, take the N10 from Cradock . After 4.5 km, take the R61 towards Graaff-Reinet for 86 km to the N9. At the T-junction, turn right towards Middelburg for 600 m, and then left, towards Nieu-Bethesda, for 27 km.

Get around [ edit ]

See [ edit ].

• Donkey Cart tours , ☏ +27 83 870-0381 . Sam will take you on his donkey cart through town and will tell you all you need to know about the village. In Jan 2009, 15-20 minute tours of the village were R30 for an adult, R10 for a child, or you can tour the township as well for double the rate. R30 for adults, R10 for children .  
• Ganora Excursions , ☏ +27 49 841-1302 . Guided tours are offered to San and Khoi shelters found on Ganora farm, where rock art dating back to 10 000 years ago can be viewed. The farm’s private museum also houses a collection of Bushman artifacts and fossils, while guided fossil walks are available if bookings are made in advance.  
• Kitchining Fossil Exploration Centre , ☏ +27 49 849-1733 . The Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre showcases the rich fossil deposits found at Nieu-Bethesda and in South Africa in general. The centre was established as part of a collaborative programme between the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the Albany Museum in Grahamstown and the Department of Science and Technology to set up palaeotourism and provide employment opportunities.  

• The Owl House , ☏ +27 49 841-1733 . Museum open daily from 8AM to 6PM in summer and from 9AM to 5PM in winter . A community effort to preserve the life work of Helen Martins, a home-bred artist who turned her house into an exhibit, until her suicide in 1976. Using raw materials, like concrete and glass, she and a Bushman artist sculpted the Owl House and its garden. Entry fee R25 .  
• The Helen Martins Museum and Owlhouse Visitor Center , Martins St Nieu-Bethesda , ☏ +27 49 841 1733 , [email protected] . Open daily from 8am to 6pm in summer and from 9am to 5pm in winter . Archive of photos, letters and documents paying tribute to Helen Martins ( updated Jul 2020 )
• NG Church , Auret Street , ☏ +27 49 841 1301 . by appointment . Working gas chandeliers predate the arrival of electricity ( updated Jul 2020 )
• The Cemetery , Grave Street . always open . Graves dating back centuries, some marked by beautiful local stone. A place to spend some quiet time ( updated Jul 2020 )

Do [ edit ]

• Bethesda Art Centre , ☏ +27 49 841-1731 . Art, music, dance, theatre ... visit the gallery, see a class in progress, take part in a workshop, or catch a performance at the magical open-air theatre.  
• Creche , ☏ +27 49 841-1656 . Visit the creche in the township.  
• The Two-Goats Brewery & Deli , ☏ +27 49 841-1602 . Enjoy homebrewed ale, fresh goat’s cheese and homemade bread under the trees at our micro brewery and deli. You can also meet the goats who provide the cheese, a couple of cows, ducks and a peacock or two. Take a tour in the brewery and cheese factory.  

There are several hiking areas around town, and good biking opportunities.

Buy [ edit ]

• Ware on Earth Gallery & Nieu Ceramics Studio , Immelman Street , ☏ +27 78 777 1966 , [email protected] . View works by acclaimed SA artist, Charmaine Haines ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Dustcovers Bookshop , Hudson Street , ☏ +27 82 517 0045 , [email protected] . open daily . for rare and collectible books and damn fine reads ( updated Jul 2020 )
• The Blue Cupboard , Martins Street , ☏ +27 83 400 2705 , [email protected] . open in Season . Honesty shop on the stoep. Natural bodycare products and honey ( updated Jul 2020 )
• “Stuff to Buy” , Immelman Street , ☏ +27 82 450 9649 , [email protected] . handmade clothing, crafts and other interesting things ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Tot Hier Toe Padstal , Martins Street , ☏ +27 82 579 7460 , [email protected] . Open daily from 8h00 . Gifts, jams and pickles, local Karoo lamb and venisondirect from the farm ( updated Jul 2020 )

Eat [ edit ]

Because the village is so small, most eateries require you to book in advance for anything beyond light meals. Most food includes the local karoo lamb, so vegetarian food needs to be specifically requested. Try some sheep's yoghurt or sheep's cheese, a surprisingly mild taste, and probably more palatable for most than goat's dairy.

• Auntie Evelyn se eetplek , ☏ +27 49 841-1780 . Traditional food served with township style. Book in advance, and Antie Evelyn will prepare a set 3-course meal for you, including "moerkoffie", which, translated politely, is very strong coffee! "Vegetarian" options include fish bobotie. It was superb, but let her know in advance if you don't eat fish. Evelyn will come and chat with you, making this an enjoyable way to meet the local community.  
• The Tower Restaurant , Miller Street , ☏ +27 71 347 0308 , [email protected] . Open daily for all meals . enjoy spectacular curries, Karoo lamb, and vegetarian meals ( updated Jul 2020 )
• The Brewery & 2Goat Deli , ☏ +27 49 841-1602 . Visit the local brewery & deli to enjoy Bethesda beer and goat cheese.  
• Die Waenhuis , c/o Martins and Hudson Street , ☏ +27 84 862 8289 , [email protected] . ( updated Jul 2020 )
• The Ibis , Martins Street , ☏ +27 72 110 6254 , [email protected] . reservations essential . Gourmet Karoo dining. Reservations recommended. ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Manna , Pienaar Street , ☏ +27 72 636 9176 , [email protected] . most Sunday mornings, while stocks last . Better cake and coffee ( updated Jul 2020 )
• The Village Inn , New Street , ☏ +27 76 136 9979 , [email protected] . closed Thursdays . Oldest restaurant in town, Breakfast, lunch and dinner ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Outsiders , Martins Street , ☏ +27 49 841 1642 , [email protected] . by appointment . local lamb and venison ( updated Jul 2020 )

Drink [ edit ]

• Boeties Pub , ☏ +27 782062925 . Joing the locals for a sundowner or catch a game of rugby ( updated Jul 2020 )

Sleep [ edit ]

There is ample accommodation in the town, with numerous guest houses available.

• Allemann se Huisie , ☏ +27 49 841-1642 , fax : +27 49 841-1657 , [email protected] . This cottage is a self-catering garden cottage with twin beds, suitable for two guests. It also features a kitchenette and en suite bathrooms, as well as a braai area.  
• The Water Tower , ☏ +27 49 841 1642 , [email protected] . Quirky self-catering unit with an interesting history ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Elke’s Self-Catering House , ☏ +27 72 742 7113 , [email protected] . Sunshine pours into this house with great views of the Compassberg ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Outsiders B & B , ☏ +27 49 841 1642 , [email protected] . en-suite double rooms, each with private entrance and stoep ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Two Owls , Petersen Street , ☏ +27 72 741 7113 , [email protected] . Quiet, beautifully decorated guest house with lovely views. pet friendly ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Quince & Cottage , Murray Street , ☏ +27 49 841 1642 , [email protected] . Comfortable old Karoo cottage ( updated Jul 2020 )
• House No1 , Hudson Street , ☏ +27 72 742 7113 , [email protected] . Newly renovated old Karoo house ( updated Jul 2020 )
• Ganora Guestfarm ( 7 km from Nieu-Bethesda ), ☏ +27 49 841-1302 , [email protected] . Choose between a cozy cottage with rustic charm that sleeps 6 has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and lounge or Double en suite bedrooms also in old sheep pens that has been changed into very comfortable rooms. Various activities available, mountain biking trails, birding, guided tours to Bushmen Rock Art, private fossil & artifact museum, fossil walk and you can enjoy a swim in the rockpools at the canyon walk. Transport can be arranged.  
• Owl House Backpackers , ☏ +27 49 841-1642 , [email protected] . Dorm beds, doubles, singles and camping are available in this bright, clean home, previously a Buddhist meditation centre.  
• Aandstêr Guest House , Martins Street , ☏ +27 49 841 1642 , [email protected] . Bright, cheerful self-catering house in a walled, Zen-inspired garden ( updated Jul 2020 )

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Nieu-Bethesda Tourism proud of new website

Nieu-bethesda is a mere 4 hours’ drive (400km) from the southern cape coast, and the tourism organisation invites foodies, lone wolves, adventurers, explorers, nature lovers, spiritualists, holiday makers, and families to visit..

NIEU-BETHESDA NEWS - The Nieu-Bethesda Community Tourism Organisation launched its new-look website – www.nieubethesdatourism.co.za - in April this year with the aim of supporting the local community, tourism, and its members with an active online presence.

The website showcases visual listings of member’s establishments, services, and products in the quaint, charming village – home to the world famous Helen Martins' Owl House, writers, a variety of other artists and interesting characters .

Nieu-Bethesda is a mere 4 hours’ drive (400km) from the Southern Cape coast, and the tourism organisation invites foodies, lone wolves, adventurers, explorers, nature lovers, spiritualists, holiday makers, and families to search and find accommodation and activities to suit their needs. 

Visitors to the site can also download a beautifully drawn town map which includes listings and contact details. Nieu-Bethesda is situated 50km north of the historic town of Graaff-Reinet and near various national parks and other national treasures.

"The Coronavirus pandemic revealed the necessity and benefit of taking your business online. Experiencing and seeing the long-term effect it is going to have on commerce, the committee saw the need to provide our members with an effective and affordable option to be found on the world wide web," says Ludolf Smit, Chairman of the Nieu-Bethesda Community Tourism Organisation.

Nieu-Bethesda is synonymous with being pet friendly and the easy-to-navigate website allows visitors to see a quick reference paw-badge of an establishment’s pet policy. 

Currently having three wedding venues on offer, the site also offers a list of professional service providers to successfully plan and execute your dream wedding in the heart of the Karoo.

"We saw the opportunity to assist and launch our not so tech-savvy members into the digital world. This in turn facilitates a broader reach on social media, which benefits all members," says Althea Jesersky, Treasurer of the Nieu-Bethesda Community Tourism Organisation.

The committee, working alongside a group of enthusiastic consultants and subject matter experts, drove the new vision for the CTO’s digital presence to grow domestic and international attention to the village. 

The committee wishes to thank Nils Flaaten, Sarina Engelbrecht, Yolandi van Zyl, Carla Smit and the late Niël Stemmet for their valuable contributions.

To explore the village of Nieu-Bethesda visit www.nieubethesdatourism.co.za .

'We bring you the latest NIeu-Bethesda, Karoo news'

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Nieu Bethesda – why it’s worth a visit

These days, Nieu Bethesda is described as a charming alternative to Graaff-Reinet . But back when I first paid the little town a visit, it was still ‘in the middle of nowhere’, rather off the beaten track. You went there primarily to visit Helen Martin’s Owl House .

In fairness, things were starting to happen even then. There was a little restaurant I remember, called something like the ‘wild fig’ or ‘burning brinjal’, or an equally creative name, on the sleepy main road in town (there are but two, main roads that is), the pretty Village Inn was already serving as an information / accommodation / coffee shop / tea garden as it continues to do today, and Egbert’s Coffee shop next to the Ibis Gallery (which I believe has also since closed) functioned as the town’s watering hole of the nonalcoholic kind.

It was also February, and hot as hell. But then Nieu Bethesda doesn’t lie in the heart of the Great Karoo for nothing.

It’s an utterly beautiful little village, surrounded by mountains, clear skies and heady breezes, when they blow at all. It’s typical of Karoo villages, founded in the mid-19 th century and filled with what would have initially been country homes, built in distinctive Victorian architecture, little whitewashed houses similar to the rich spread of houses in the town of Graaff Reinet , not even an hour away.

The quirky village still has wide, pear-tree lined dirt roads (there is an ongoing debate about whether or not to tar) along which stone water furrows run to accommodate the little stream that trickles its way down here only in the wet season (when the village becomes a gorgeous patchwork of green), and night skies that easily surpass those anywhere else in the country. Development here has been little, so little that even today there are no streetlamps, banking or petrol facilities (fill your tank before you head here) and vegetables find their way into town but once a week.

On the one hand, this lack of development held Nieu Bethesda in a rare state of architectural integrity, as it functioned primarily as a ‘town that time forgot’, but on the other, the local community became largely impoverished.

Today, Nieu Bethesda is the star of the Owl Route, developed as a tourist route to include the town in a 50 kilometre horseshoe-shaped stretch of road with views of the Compassberg and die toring, a tower like edifice that juts out of the surrounding mountains that functions as a landmark of the village. The town is no longer affiliated as a day’s outing to time spent in Graaf Reinet, but has become a destination in its own right, largely due to Helen Martins, the reclusive, eccentric artist of the Owl House.

But in Helen’s day, Nieu Bethesda would have been a very different landscape. It was quiet to the point of being isolated. How many other villages can boast that their roads have been so quiet in the past that they were leased to grow potatoes! And it was out of this intense isolation that a reclusive artist, with a predilection for owls and camels, evolved and placed the little dorp on the map, so to speak.

Today the village thrives – all fifty-odd white inhabitants and the thousand or so local coloured community – largely because of her art, even if they remain somewhat divided as to the validity of her work – some think it’s art worth protecting, whilst others regard the house as little more than the dabblings of a mad woman.

Go see for yourself, because the town gains perspective only after finding your way through the museum that was once Helen Martins’ house. Her work and her story are both riveting and enchanting. The inside of her house is a luminous tapestry of crushed glass in a myriad forms of sun-faces, owls and other images. It’s at once disturbing and beautiful.

Outside, her yard is given over to a feast of statues influenced by the works of the bible, and the poetry of Omar Khayyam and William Blake. It’s small wonder that the magnitude of her art served as the source of Athol Fugard’s play The Road to Mecca or that The Owl House is a National Monument that functions as the major tourist attraction of the town. Love it, or hate it, her art inspires thousands of artists, writers and sculptors across the world.

These days you can venture forth on a day trip to Graaf Reinet, rather than the other way around, as there are a myriad ways in which to keep yourself amused in Nieu Bethesda. Other than the colourful locals, there is a fossil museum (to display the rather rich uncovering of pre-mammalian (those that came before dinosaurs) fossils, there is San rock art on neighbouring farms, Donkey Cart tours around the village to take in the 1860 water mill, the Dutch Reformed Church and the old graveyard, amongst other things, and a local brewer and cheese maker at the Sneeuberg Brewery where you can not only do cheese and ale with a coffee on the side (they brew their own coffee here) but stop off for a meal.

However, don’t visit Nieu Bethesda unless peace, quiet and getting away from it all completely are high on your agenda. Things slow down in this little gem completely, and the pace of life, whilst treasured by those who live here, might wear on some people’s nerves after a while once the town’s highlights (easily done in a day) have been ticked off the list. But if you’re even remotely into hiking, reading and simply watching the world go by, then this is the spot for you…

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Things to Do in Nieu-Bethesda, South Africa - Nieu-Bethesda Attractions

Things to do in nieu-bethesda.

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• Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.

1. The Owl House

2. Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre

3. Bushman Heritage Museum

4. Nieu Bethesda Church

5. Infinity Gallery

6. The Brewery and Two Goats Deli

7. Dustcovers

8. The Honesty Shop

9. Dalveen-pienaar 4x4 Trail

What travelers are saying.

• The Owl House
• Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre
• Bushman Heritage Museum
• Nieu Bethesda Church
• Infinity Gallery

EVENTS CALENDAR

Monthly & annual events.

Nieu-Bethesda Village Run

Explore our village with fellow outdoor enthusiasts – the best way to start your Saturday. 

The Village Run is every Saturday, departing from the NG Church at 07h00 in Summer & 09h00 in Winter. The 5.8km route has a mixed terrain. Both runners & walkers are welcome. 

This event is dog friendly. 

Tel: 073 291 7425

Pub Quiz at Boetie’s

Come and join us at Boetie’s Pub for trivia and food in the small Karoo village of Nieu-Bethesda!

Our trivia evening is hosted by Danie Boneschans who will give you clues and riddles to answer. Enjoy a night filled with entertainment, laughter, bar items, and engaging trivia challenges – plus a chance to win vouchers for best dressed! Walk away with voucher prizes, your pride, and an autographed photo of Zanele – die Karoo krokodil, our floating mascot and trivia trophy

Tel: 076 090 1016

E-mail: [email protected]

Afval Gilde

A gourmet event for ‘nose to tail’ foodies, held biannually in February and October. Hosted by Tot-Hier-Toe Padstal in Martins Street. 

Tel: 082 579 7460

E-mail: [email protected]

Nieu-Bethesda Pumpkin Festival

This annual charity event falls over Easter Weekend and is a celebration of everything Pumpkin. In aid of the elderly in the areas of Nieu-Bethesda, Graaff-Reinet, Aberdeen and Middelburg. 

Stoep Tasting Wine Weekend

The annual Stoep Tasting Wine Weekend is one of the premier wine tourism weekends in Africa. It incorporates the towns of Graaff-Reinet and Nieu-Bethesda and wine tasters and buyers travel from across Southern Africa to stroll the streets of these two picturesque Karoo towns, from stoep to stoep and taste and purchase some of the finest tipples in the world.

Tel: 083 599 9302

E-mail: [email protected]

Garlic Festival

Join in the fun at this annual community event as locals and visitors share their creative garlic dishes! Come and experience the likes of garlic rum, garlic ice-cream, garlic wors, garlic sushi, etc at Boetie’s Pub in Nieu-Bethesda.

This event generally falls over the first weekend of November.

Tel: 078 206 2925

E-mail: [email protected]

Festival of Lights

This festival is a joyful celebration, as hundreds of candle-lit lanterns wind up the hill from the Arts Centre and through the village. Annual event on new year’s eve (31 December).

Tel: 049 8411 731

E-mail: [email protected]

Family Constellations Workshops

Family Constellations explores the hidden dynamics within a system that may result in an individual being stuck and unable to move forward with their lives. Workshops are facilitated by Paula Kingwill, a qualified Family Constellations Therapist with a MA in Counselling Psychology on their farm, The Rest.

Tel: 049 841 1351

E-mail: k [email protected]

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About Nieu Bethesda , Tourism

Nieu Bethesda is an isolated community, far off South Africa’s main tourism routes. It forms part of the Camdeboo in the Eastern Cape Karoo that is identified by National Government as a poverty node and [...]