South Africa will be a very
inexpensive holiday for most Europeans and first world
travelers. Food and wine is generally regarded as being
extremely good , and just cheap. Your plane ticket is
normally the major expense.
Self drive is easy and safety is not an issue if you
exercise common sense and use a map, bus tours tend to
be dictated to by time restraints and in our experience
see very little of the country or people. Smaller bus
tours would be a far better proposition. Back packing is
easy from an accommodation point of view but transport
can be a challenge. Hire cars are available in most
towns but it would be advisable to pre-book in season.
Contrary to travel agents advice South Africa is not
overcrowded in December. On the contrary, up until the
15 Dec it is pretty quite and then moderately busy. Over
Christmas and New Year it is absolutely necessary to pre
book. After New Year it is again only moderately busy.
Fuel costs about £3 per gallon and a very good 3 course
meal for 2 with a pretty good bottle of wine would cost
about £26.
Cape Agulhas
This is the Southern
most point of the African continent. It is well worth a
trip. You can have lunch in the light house and stand
with your feet in 2 oceans at once. The actual southern
most point is not all that exciting but it is one of
those things that is nice to cross off the list of
things to do. The trip there and back is really
beautiful through the countryside and if you love birds
it is even better. It does add a bit of time onto the
trip so be careful as there is really one road in and
the same road out.
Cape Town -
Must do / see
Table Mountain cable car or walk (
you can catch cable car down) a couple of hours
difficult walk This mountain is the first glimpse
of what for the early settlers was their new home. It
dominates the skyline and the views from the top are
incredible. If the sky is clear and there is no wind
cancel everything and do Table Mountain. This is good
advice and we have had many guests who have missed this
trip because... Hiking up the mountain is hard but
managable. Take map, water and protective clothing.
Weather changes rapidly and can be severe. Hike up and
catch cable car down.
Robben Island - Mr. Nelson Mandela's involuntary home
for many years. Only visit if you are interested in our
history or Mr. Mandela, very thought provocative. From
here you will see what we have achieved in a few short
years.
Waterfront - Shopping center on the harbor. Well worth
visiting just to take in the scenery, boat trips and
aquarium. Full of shops and restaurants for all tastes.
Take your credit card or better still leave it at your
accommodation.
Cape Point- very scenic and dramatic, it is located in a
nature reserve. Ocean on both sides.
Chapman's Peak Drive. Just do it.
Cape Town - Recommended
Kirstenbosch botanical gardens- these
magnificent gardens have views over Cape Town and are at the base of Table
Mountain. These gardens will steal a day of your time and you still won't see it
all. More like a farm with restaurants etc. For nature lovers you won't believe
you are in the middle of a city.
The Castle- Still used by our defense force
but hosts visitors and also has organized tours several times a day. Located in
the middle of Cape Town but used to be on the waters edge. This is where the
history of the settlers started. Recorded history.
Simonstown - our Naval home and a beautiful coastal drive through
seaside villages to get there. Full of restaurants and small interesting shops
on the waterfront.
Weather - summer average 24,3 degrees C winter average 18,5 degrees
C
Franschhoek
Cuisine capital of South Africa- full of
expensive restaurants serving excellent food
Surrounded by mountains and wine estates with beautiful scenery.
An ideal romantic break from Cape Town with lovely accommodation.
What a spot for a wedding.
Accommodation - most are great especially on the wine estates but in
town you need to ask if there are views etc..
Lovely first stop en route to Hermanus or Garden route. I
would stay just out of town on a wine estate with a restaurant. Town is not busy
but you go to Franschhoek for the wine, views and food.
Garden route trip itinerary
- A lovely trip from Cape Town to the Garden route would
be starting in Cape Town.
Cape Town stay for 3 nights to visit Robben Island,
Kirstenbosch gardens and Cape Point. The old Castle in
Cape Town is full of South African history and very
interesting place to visit.
Your next overnight stop would be the very beautiful
food and wine village of Franschhoek. A one night
stay would be enough to do the wine tasting at some
excellent wine estates and sample the fantastic
restaurants that this town is renowned for. The
Franschhoek valley is stunningly beautiful with the
dramatic mountains circling the village..
Hermanus is just over an hours trip from Franschhoek,
over Franschhoek mountain pass. It is best to stay 2 or
3 nights in Hermanus. Hermanus offers miles of beautiful
beaches, shark cage diving, whale watching, paragliding,
kayaking, cliff path walks, nature walks in the
Fernkloof Nature reserve and a healthy nightlife, sip
cocktails with breathtaking views over the Old Harbor,
and in the whale season you can sip your cocktails and
watch the whales in the bay as the sun sets. On your way
to your next stop over, you can go to the most
southern tip of Africa, cape L'Agulhas and then on to
Swellendam. You will only need to stay overnight,
unless your host recommends something and arranges it.
They do offer river rides on the Breede River and there
is the Bontebok nature reserve. Swellendam is also about
a 2 hour drive from Hermanus.
Oudtshoorn will the next destination, the route 62
is a beautiful drive to Oudtshoorn. The scenery is so
diverse and you drive through some stunning mountain
passes and get to the beautiful red mountains.
Oudtshoorn would also be a 1 night stop and the places
to visit are an Ostrich farm, as Oudtshoorn was known as
the Ostrich capital of the world and you can visit the
imposing sandstone feather palaces. The Cango caves are
a little way out of Oudtshoorn and well worth the visit.
On the way to Cango caves, you can also pop in and visit
the crocodile farm and the cheetah breeding farm. Going
over the Outiniqua mountain range, through George and
onto Knysna. If you enjoy your golf, you might want to
stay in George for and night or 2 to play a little golf
at Fancourt. Fancourt has 4 golf courses, the Outiniqua,
Montague, Bramble Hill and The Links. George is only 55
kms from Oudtshoorn. You will need to stay about 3
nights in Knysna to explore all this place and the
surrounding area has to offer. There is the Knysna
lagoon and you can take a ferry ride to the famous
Knysna Heads and past the oyster farms. The town is full
of art and crafts from very talented local people. Good
base to explore the area from.
George has a commercial airport with flights linking to
major centers in South Africa and is relatively easily
accessible from Knysna, Mossel Bay and Oudtshoorn.
George
It is the main business centre of the
Southern Cape and has excellent road and air links to all major centers.
It is a convenient base from which to explore the charms and
attractions of the garden route and Klein Karoo.
George boasts many of South Africa's top golf courses. For golfers
this is a very good base. Fancourt golf estate is in George with 3 world class
golf courses and is regarded as being in the top 5 golf estates in the world.
The George municipal course is also highly recommended. The Outeniqua choo-Jjoe
runs between George and Knysna on one of the country's most scenic and historic
lines.
Restaurants - good and a number to choose from. Ask your hosts.
Greyton
Today Greyton is a friendly, peaceful hamlet
surrounded by farmlands of wheat, barley, oats and
lucerne. Some ploughing is still done by oxen. It is
home to a number of skilled artists and craftsmen. Most
artists have an open-house policy, although it is best
to make appointments through the tourism bureau.
A craft market is held on the village square each
Saturday morning. Stalls sell produce, crafts and
refreshments. The Annual Rose Festival is held during
October/November and is an experience not to be missed.
Hermanus
This is a must.
It is used by many as an overnight break on the way to
the Garden Route. What a mistake. This town has it all,
beaches, character, good food, boat trips, extreme
sports, kayaking on the sea or lagoon, fishing, night
life, whale watching, shark cage diving, hikes on the
cliffs or beach or in the mountain, wine estates border
the town in a valley called "heaven and earth" go and
see why. The wine estates are small and intimate as
opposed to the commercial ones found in Stellenbosch
area.
Day trippers come and go. Overnighters arrive late and
leave early, people who stay 2 nights usually try and
stay a third or wish they could. People who stay 3
nights walk around with property magazines trying to
buy.
Restaurants are good and there are over 50. Always ask
your hosts for advise. Weddings are also popular in
Hermanus.
Choose your accommodation carefully. There are only a
few guest houses on the seafront and a lot have
sea views but are some distance from the sea. Ask
about the views from your room. The main road it is busy
and even busier in season (noisy). The center of town
can be noisy at night.
The cliff paths extend for about 10 km's along the
seafront on both sides of the town and are incredibly
scenic. From June to November they offer brilliant
whale watching
opportunities with whales basking as close as 5 meters
to the rocks. We have as many as 170 whales in the bay
over this period and you don't have to wait long to see
one jumping. The crash of 50-65 tons hitting the water
is clearly audible from a great distance and often can
be heard at night even when you can't see them.
The main beach is white sand and stretches for about 20
km's. There are other swimming beaches all good.
Surfing, body boarding etc all year with big waves in
our winter.
Shark cage diving
from nearby Gansbaai about 30 mins. drive. Shark cage
diving is possible throughout the year but in our Winter
the bigger females tend to be around while numbers can
be higher in Summer. The water is cold so be warned. It
is very safe but very exciting with sharks often biting
the cages. This is normally enough to get the adrenalin
going. You can view the sharks from the deck of the boat
or get in the cage. Nobody in the cage has been
bitten by a shark (yet). No diving
experience is necessary and you will be provided with a
wetsuit for the cold. Normally a video will be taken of
the entire experience. Crews are very professional and
know what they are doing. They do not go out if the
weather is bad and if no sharks are spotted they
normally offer you another trip free. For both the whale
watching and shark cage diving you can prebook and we
will happily assist. We don't advocate this and prefer
to assist guests when they arrive or closer to the trip.
This is mainly due to weather and visibility. I would
rather make sure you had a great trip with great weather
or at least were aware of the conditions.
Knysna
This town is built around a lagoon and
is extremely popular. The name, Knysna, originates from
the language of the Khoi people, locals often say its
"Nice Nee" (meaning isn't it nice!). An excellent
base to explore the Garden Route from. Easy day trips to
Plettenberg Bay and Oudtshoorn. It has the best tourist
information office and marketing in the country and is
geared for tourism. There are a lot of guest houses, bed
and breakfasts, etc . The choice would be to stay on the
lagoon waters edge or stay on the higher ground with
panoramic views of the lagoon. There is obviously other
accommodation of high standard . The main road is very
busy and noisy so avoid it. It runs through the center
of Knysna. For me the Featherbed nature reserve
across the lagoon is a must do tour. I would also stay
outside of town center. There are a lot of daytrips
using Knysna as a base e.g. elephant rides ,
Storms river mouth, bungee jumping etc.
Restaurants are good and there are lots. Always ask your
hosts they know. There are some of the countries
best golf courses, the beautiful Pezula golf course with
stunning views at the Heads and over the lagoon. Knysna.
Restaurants - a lot of good restaurants , ask your hosts
for advise.
Kruger National Park
- There are direct flights from Cape Town to the
border of the Kruger Park landing at Nelspruit. Another
flight via Johannesburg lands at Hoedspruit. The Kruger
has accommodation at various camps and has restaurants,
shops selling foodstuffs and curios etc, telephones,
electricity etc. The standard of accommodation will not
suit those requiring 5 star attention. It is however
more than adequate and suits the bush. Food at the camps
so far from towns and cities is very good and
exceptionally generous. Again you won't find French
cuisine, just good food. The Kruger is designed for self
drive and they also provide for night drives and walks
in the bush with armed rangers. You can elect to go on
organized tours with companies specializing in this.
These are normally open sided vehicles. Others prefer to
stay outside the park in more luxurious accommodation
and do daytrips in either in their own vehicles or with
organized tours.
Some photo's we took on our last trip
Kruger pics this should give you an idea of what to
expect.
Please note you should try and spend at least 3 nights
in the park. Don't say you weren't warned. If you
are not a nature lover and prefer shopping malls then
this is not for you. The Kruger is a nature lovers
dream. The further North you go in the park the less
numbers of animals and tourists. It is however our
favorite area as you can sit for hours at a waterhole on
your own.
Montagu
This is a beautiful town on the
R62 at the beginning of the Klein Karoo. It is
surrounded by mountains and vineyards and has quite a
few guest houses and bed and breakfasts. I love this
town as it still reminds me of the old South Africa with
older buildings and a quite relaxed lifestyle. This is
more like life would have been like instead of cities
and skyscrapers. It lies very close to Robertson but on
the other side of the mountains.
Mossel Bay
A beautiful sea side town with golf courses, casino,
harbor, beaches and lots to do. It is a very popular
holiday spot with the locals as the beaches are stunning
and safe. It is rich in South African history with
different museums depicting some of the first settlers
etc. It is a good base to travel to George and
Oudtshoorn but a little far to Knysna. Definitely worth
a stay.
Oudtshoorn.
Oudtshoorn is the ostrich capital of
the world. Every road into Oudtshoorn follows a dramatically picturesque pass.
Ostrich show farms offer daily tours.
For 9 days in April every year 250 000 people stream into Oudtshoorn
to enjoy a feast of South African cuisine, culture and music. The Klein Karoo
National Arts Festival or KKNK has craft markets and art galleries and the
best local and some international acts in more than 50 venues.
The Cango Caves are the most popular attraction. It is one of the
great natural wonders of the world. Three systems of spectacular limestone
caverns have been discovered. Cango 1 is about 760m long, Cango 2 is
about 260m and Cango 3 approx 1600m.
Oudtshoorn is centrally situated for visits to a number of
wilderness areas, including the 121000ha Swartberg Nature Reserve and the
adjoining 8000ha Gamkapoort Reserve. If you have never driven over the Swartberg
pass then you have missed out. It will be the highlight of your stay in
Oudtshoorn, be warned it takes a full day , is spectacular and should be done in
good weather. It takes a day because you will stop all over for photo's or just
marvel, take a picnic. The route we follow is over the Swartberg pass, pop in at
Prince Albert for lunch, back via Meiringspoort pass. This pass is just as
spectacular but is tar the whole way with lots of places to stop.
Restaurants - enough restaurants and obviously a specialty is fat
free ostrich steaks. It is a relatively big town and we recommend you stay out
of town on a farm or guest lodge. Town not that interesting but the area around
is fascinating. Check out the meercats if your hosts can arrange a tour.
Crocodile farms and cheetah petting on the way to the caves but we recommend
them they are too commercial for us.
Route 62 -
This extends from Montague to Oudtshoorn passing through
Barrydale, Ladismith and Calitzdorp. This is the more
scenic route and is accessible from several points on
the N2 i.e. Riversdale, Swellendam. The route passes
through the Little Karoo a semi desert arid region and
has spectacular scenery most of the way. There are
numerous mountain passes, all with their own unique
history and tale. I would and do travel from Hermanus to
Swellendam and there through to the R62 at Barrydale.
From there travel up to Oudtshoorn. For the adventurous
definitely go past the Cango caves, over the Swartberg
pass to Prince Albert and back through the Meiringspoort
pass and De Rust. You will not easily forget this trip.
The road over the Swartberg pass is not tarred and it is
the second highest pass in Southern Africa and is
likened to the most spectacular pass in Tibet. It can
easily be driven by a normal vehicle except after or
during rain and snow. Meiringspoort Poort the road criss
crosses the river over 20 times.
Stellenbosch
This is an old historic town with a large
university
Beautiful wine estates surround the town and offer meals and some
accommodation - recommended that you stay out of town if possible.
There are some great wine museums and a toy museum that you should
see.
Restaurants are good and there are a lot catering from students to
wealthy.
Stellenbosch is very busy and has grown rapidly.
There are wine estate hotels in Stellenbosch that cater for
weddings. This is growing in popularity as it is much cheaper than an overseas
wedding and everybody has a holiday.
Distances Table in travel time (approx) Tourist speed
and kilometers
Airport Cape Town International
(off N2) - 30 mins to Cape Town 20km | Hermanus 78
km | Franschhoek 59km
Cape Town to
Stellenbosch 49km | Franschhoek 79km |
Hermanus 1,5 hrs (127km)| Swellendam
224km
Mossel Bay 384km | Knysna 498km | Plettenberg Bay 530km
Stellenbosch to Franschhoek
30 mins | Hermanus 1,5 hrs (either through
Franschhoek or on the N2)
Hermanus to
Swellendam 2 hrs (120km)| Cape Agulhas
145 km | Mossel Bay 3,5-4 hrs |
Calitzdorp 248km 3,5hrs
George 20 km's past Mossel Bay 4-4,5 hrs|
Bredasdorp 98 | Greyton 88 km
|
Gansbaai 45 km 40mins | Knysna 355 km
4hrs| Franschhoek 59km 1 hour | Oudtshoorn 281km
4hrs
Swellendam to Mossel Bay
2hrs (165km)| George 2,5 hrs (218km)
George
to Oudtshoorn (1 hr)
60 km ( Cango caves 28 km's outside Oudtshoorn ) |
Knysna 61km
From the Garden Route to Hermanus
Distance:
563km Time: approx
Driving time approx 7 hours
N2 Knysna to George - 161 km 2
hours
N2 George to Mosselbay - 82 km 1
hour
N2 Mosselbay to Riversdale - 82 km
1 hour
N2 Riversdale to Swellendam - 80 km
1 hour
N2 Swellendam to Riviersonderend - 61 km
40 min
N2 Riviersonderend to Rietpoel (turn-off
onto R326) 10 km 10 min
R326 Rietpoel to Stanford - 54 km
40 min
R43 Stanford to HERMANUS - 33km 20 min
