Riebeek Valley
Best kept secret of the Western Cape
Riebeek Kasteel is one of the oldest towns in South Africa, situated 80 km north-east of Cape Town in The Riebeek Valley together with its sister town Riebeek West.
The Riebeek Valley would have been known to indigenous Khoi people, but was first described by a party of Cape Dutch explorers under leadership op Pieter Cruythoff in 1661. The mountain, Riebeeck’s Kasteel Berg (Riebeeck’s Castle Mountain) was named after then Cape commander Jan van Riebeeck by this expedition.
The settlements along the eastern slope of the mountain later derived their names from it. In translation from Dutch to Afrikaans, the letter c in Riebeeck was dropped. The first settlers arrived in the area in the early 18th century. Riebeek West was established as a parish of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1858.