I think we can safely tick the whole of America off our holiday wish list for the foreseeable future.

If we’re finger-pointing, and I think we should be, they started this global financial crisis with their Fannies and Freddies and subprimes. But it’s the pound that’s suffering. Last week it dipped briefly to $1.52, down from more than $2 this time last year. So no more bargain breaks Stateside.

The whole of Europe is out, too - bet all you Eurosceptics are wishing we’d joined the euro-zone now. The pound is at €1.23 as I write, but some gloomier experts are predicting we’ll be evens in the next few months.

It’s already frightening enough ordering a round of drinks in a Roman piazza. Can we just stop there, please? Before people who live in Calais start coming over here to buy cheap booze.

Bargain travel guide to South Africa

The pound has crashed but it’s still winning against the rand. Matt Rudd plots a southern migration

Inside South Africa's townships

Martin Wroewill will never forget his family’s holiday in the townships of South Africa; nor, he hopes, will his kids

BACKGROUND

• Table Mountain: a tough climb?

• Is the Table Mountain cable car safe?

• The best holiday bargain? South Africa

• Is Cape Town safe?

• Dom Joly in the Cape

Related Internet Links

• Research features from our South Africa section

Iceland is obviously quite a bit cheaper than it was this time last year, mainly because the whole country went bust. But is Iceland really the sort of place you want to go for some cheering winter sun? Not unless you like your winter sun brief and cold and framed by 20 hours straight of darkness, during which the only way to keep warm is to drink (now much cheaper) vodka.

In the past week, only one viable destination has emerged as making more of a hash of its currency than we have. And it’s South Africa. At the start of 2006, you got 10 rand to the pound, which was good value. By 2007, it had jumped to 14 and this section ran an article on how Cape Town was the world’s bargain city. Now, despite the pound’s own demise, it’s up to 15/16. Last w e e k , i t e v e n nudged 17. And it’s not as if it’s any less sunny. Or the wine is any less agreeable. Or the complete lack of jet lag has been cancelled. Here are the classic components to a classy SA adventure.

CAPE TOWN

You could just do a long-weekend, in-and-out job on Cape Town. Eat a year’s worth of bargain lobster at the fabulous Baia, right on the V&A Waterfront, take the cable car up the mountain (because these days, sadly, you get mugged if you hike), drive around some of the bijou beach neighbourhoods, eat some more lobster, fly home. If you have time, though, tag on a couple of nights in the Winelands. Because those £5 wines that taste like £30ers aren’t going to drink themselves.

Either way, the best value Cape hotels are the independent, boutique B&Bs, not the Waterfront five-stars. For example, there’s the trendy Lézard Bleu (00 27 21 461 4601, www.lezardbleu.co.za ), 10 minutes up the hill from town, with doubles from £70. Or the luxurious Hout Bay Hideaway (21 790 8040, www.houtbay-hideaway.com ), half a nice hour out of downtown in the leafy burbs, with just four rooms, pool, outdoor roll-top bath and gorgeous wild gardens, with doubles from £78. Or if you want the full-on playboy life-style, it will still cost you only £253. For that you can have the two-bedroom penthouse apartment of Glen Beach villas, on the posh beach just up from trendy Camps Bay. Book at www.i-escape.com . Fleewinter’s web-site (www.fleewinter.co.uk ) is also worth checking out... they do a nice line in plush waterfront apartments for nonplush prices.

THE WINELANDS

It would be silly, just plain silly, to come down to the Cape without spending at least one night wining and dining in Franschhoek. Two would be ideal. Three just plain excessive. Don’t you know we’re having a recession? A classy little town in the heart of wine country, it’s just over an hour’s nonstop drive from Cape Town, although you’re going to stop a lot at all the tasting rooms en route, so I’d plan on it taking closer to three. While we’re on the topic, hiring a car in South Africa is also a bargain. There are plenty of reliable local car-hire companies, which work out slightly cheaper than the international firms such as Avis (0844 581 0147, www.avis.co.uk) and Hertz (08708 448844, www.hertz.co.uk ). However, you need to be sure you’re fully covered and there won’t be any funny business if you have a prang, so I’d stick with the big boys. Expect to pay no more than £15-£20 a day. Use sites such as Travel supermarket.com and Kayak.co.uk to hunt down the best deal.

Now, somewhere to stay. May as well be honest about this and book a restaurant/winery with rooms, thus making the zigzag to bed a very short one. La Petite Ferme is a civilised place with tasteful suites and private plunge pools, as well as a masterly understanding of the long lunch. Prices from £100, B&B for two (00 27 21 876 3016, lapetiteferme.co.za ). Main courses with a view between £5 and £10. Failing that, the tourist office in Cape Town has a long list of excellent lodges and B&Bs in the area (21 405 4500).

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