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In February my wife and I are spending a couple of weeks in Southern Africa. The first week is sorted (Sabi Sands and Victoria Falls), but we currently have 7 nights we need to work out how to split between Cape Town and the Garden Route - we are arriving in Cape Town mid-afternoon on the Sunday and then need to fly out from Port Elizabeth the following Sunday mid-morning. Kind of unsure where to stay along the Garden Route and how long for - since we have only a few days I read that flying to George will save us time. We like landscapes, nature, the outdoors, etc. so places like the Wilderness national park, Knysna forests, and then Nature's Valley and Storm's River have caught my eye. We'll have spent a number of days on safari prior to this so don't need to go to a game reserve, though any animals you don't typically spot on safari would be good to see. Not so bothered about spending time sitting on the beach. Thinking of the following itineray: Sunday - arrive mid-afternoon, V&A waterfront or around Monday - Table mountin and botanical gardens Tuesday - Cape penninsula Wednesday - Fly to George early morning, pick up rental car, see Wilderness national park, spend night in Wilderness Thursday - drive to Knysna and forests, night in Knysna Friday - use Knysna as a base, maybe drive to near Plet and to the Robberg Point walk, and other stuff in Knysna, night in Knysna Saturday - drive to Nature's Valley/Storm's River (undecided yet), one night there Sunday - drive to PE airport, fly out How does that look? Not sure if we have enough time in each place - from what I can read online it's only a couple of hours drive at most between those places on the Garden Route, which should give enough time for stopping on the way, spending a good few hours in the parks/forests/etc. However, this is just an intitial plan - if it's too packed and it's better to pick a couple of places and spend 2 nights in each, I am happy to cut things down. I feel like I am trying to cram too much in.
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Oct 5, 2018 12:16
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 00:05 |
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Thanks both. My wife doesn’t drink and I’m not massively bothered by visiting wineries so don’t mind missing that - plus I’d be driving so couldn’t really drink. There seems to be a lot to do around Plet; some friends recommended national parks for walking and wildlife within a short drive so we’ll likely stay round there for a few days.
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Oct 29, 2018 21:18
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An update if anyone is interested. We decided to not go to Victoria Falls and are just staying in South Africa. After 4 days at Sabi Sands we have 4 days in Cape Town, so we might go to the winelands if we have time. Then we're going to take our time driving to Brenton-on-Sea (thinking via R62) - any ideas for stops on the way would be good (we're going to do it on one day, leaving early in the morning). We've got a couple of nights there so will go to the forests and the heads, then 4 days in Plett as a base to explore Tsitsikamma. So overall a more relaxed trip than we had previously planned, which I think will be better. Also we booked De Grendel in Cape Town on a Friday night for sunset; thanks for the tip!
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Jan 19, 2019 13:08
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Residency Evil posted:Does anyone have a good guide to setting up a 10-14 day trip to South Africa? My wife and I want to do something this fall (as a delayed honeymoon). We have friends who went through andBeyond travel and had an awesome experience, but I've typically done things on my own. Before we do something similar, is it feasible to do this on my own (and have an equally good time)? Is 10-14 days enough time to spend a few days in/around Cape Town and do a safari in Kruger while traveling from the east coast? Yes you can definitely do it on your own, it just depends on how much effort you want to spend working out how long to spend in each place and where about to stay, etc. My wife and I had two weeks in SA and we just booked our own hotels and flights (we landed in JNB, flew to Greater Kruger for a few days and from there flew to Cape Town). Hired a car in Cape Town. It took a bit of organisation but I like doing that myself. SA is a modern developed country for the most part so it’s easy enough to book things. If you have 10 days I would perhaps limit yourself to safari and Cape Town area. In 2 weeks my wife and I also did a few days on the garden route and felt a little rushed, so if you’re travelling from east coast and only have 10 days don’t overdo it. If you want a more upmarket safari experience try Sabi Sands rather than a Kruger self drive - we spent 4 nights in a lodge and it was honestly one of the best things we’ve ever done. The Elephant Plains lodge was really great despite being one of the cheaper ones in the area, I’d highly recommend them. Literally 2 hours from arriving we saw a leopard drag a kill into a tree just a few feet in front of us. I follow them on Instagram now and a bunch of leopards have cubs, plus there are male lions moving into the local pride, which is quite exciting. Most people we met at the lodge did 2 or 3 nights, though I would suggest 3 at a minimum so as to give yourself plenty of time to see different animals.
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May 17, 2019 08:18
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Residency Evil posted:I'm looking at &Beyond to put together a 10 day package for Cape Town/Kruger, but is this something I could do myself easily as well? It seems like booking a hotel in Cape Town is fairly straightforward, but how about getting from Cape Town - Kruger lodges/places in Kruger? Budget is somewhat flexible (say, 10k for the two of us), but I don't want to spend money for no reason. e: just realised it was you I replied to earlier in the thread too. Looks like I gave similar advice to both questions - It’s easy enough to book your own tickets and fly. There are a few airports in Kruger - we went from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit (as we were staying in Sabi Sands) and from there to Cape Town. You’d save so much money doing it for yourself - with 10k you could book your own nice hotel in Cape Town and a lodge in greater Kruger. For example we spent ~$3000 (2 people) on 4 nights in a lodge including accommodation, game drives, food, alcohol, tips, transfers to/from airport (lodge organised these). Cape Town was so much cheaper in terms of accommodation and food though. It just depends on how much organisation you want to do; SA is however very developed in terms of tourist infrastructure where you want to go, and everyone speaks English, so it’s easy enough to do yourself. The only time sensitive part will be finding a lodge if you go that way instead of doing a self drive - they can book up very far in advance. For Cape Town, another thing to consider is that those tours will likely be full of older people and you’ll just be shepherded round in a coach; we saw a bunch of large groups like that at table mountain and other main sites. Part of what’s nice about Cape Town is doing your own thing at your own pace. Ubers are super cheap and common so you don’t even need to worry about getting around.
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Jun 10, 2019 21:28
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Good point about the lodges being booked up. Ours did charge a hefty non-refundable deposit , and the entire place was quite small (30 guests max) so it was a mix of people staying for overlapping periods rather than one big group. If you want to do a wine tour in Cape Town you can just get your hotel to organise one for you.
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Jun 11, 2019 12:40
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Residency Evil posted:Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. We're thinking mainly of doing Cape Town, some Vineyards, and the park. I'm open to doing the lodging in Cape Town/Vineyards on my own, but do you guys have any suggestions for lodges in Kruger/Sabi Sands? Seems like many of them are booked through tour operators/etc, as you guys are saying. We stayed at Elephant Plains - one of the cheaper lodges but still fantastic. I just emailed them myself to enquire about bookings. Tripadvisor or booking.com reviews of Sabi Sands lodges will be useful too. Another thing you can do is look for travel blogs - I seem to recall reading about Elephant Plains and a place called Idube, and Cheetah Plains, on someone’s website. Those blogs have photos and more in depth descriptions of things which can help in choosing.
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Jun 12, 2019 08:43
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Residency Evil posted:Ok guys, looks like we'll use the tour company for the lodge booking (andbeyond Ngala lodge) and then book hotels in Cape Town/Stellenbosch ourselves. We've travelled plenty in Europe/South American, but this will be the first time in Africa for either of us. Cape Town is safe, right? I know nothing about safety in south africa other than hearing about J-burg being the car jacking capital of the world a few years ago and people using cars with flame throwers to defend themselves. Is Cape Town just another big city? Would it make sense to rent a car to get from Cape Town to Stellenbosch? Cool! The lodge looks really nice. In terms of safety, my wife and I had zero problems in Cape Town. But, this was because we were sensible and stayed in a nice area. For example, we took Ubers everywhere at night except when walking round V&A, and stayed in Camps Bay. One of our Uber drivers said that in Cape Town crime is bad (murders etc) but limited to certain areas (eg the Cape Flats), so rich areas like Camps Bay are alright. In Johannesburg he said it is everywhere, so being in a rich area means nothing. That’s just one opinion but it was an interesting perspective. I’d recommend getting a car if you’re in Cape Town for a few days. To get from hotel to attractions around town take an Uber, but if you go to Cape Point (and you should!) it’s really great having your own car. You can get Ubers to Stellenbosch - we didn’t go there as my wife doesn’t drink but don’t imagine you’d want to drive on a day visiting wineries. Your hotel can probably organise a trip too, or look up wine tours online in advance if you don’t want to wing it while out there.
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Jun 27, 2019 19:03
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I’d recommend Kirstenbosch gardens. Someone earlier in the thread recommend this restaurant: https://degrendel.co.za/pages/restaurant We went for sunset and it really was great, had a five course meal with paired wines and it was ridiculously cheap by U.K. standards. About a 40 minute Uber outside of Cape Town.
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Oct 4, 2019 06:44
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Residency Evil posted:Thanks for this. Any chance you guys did any wine tours? We'll be in Franschhoek for 2 days. Afraid not, my wife was pregnant at the time so we didn’t do any wine tours. I imagine your hotel in Franschoek will be able to organise something, the entire town seems catered to wine.
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Oct 22, 2019 17:28
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I can’t recommend anywhere specific but Cape Town had great restaurants and bars, and it was all so cheap (coming from London). If you check Google Maps for ‘craft beer’ there looks to be a ton of tap rooms and breweries. Just make sure you get Ubers between places rather than walk.
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Feb 5, 2020 16:35
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 00:05 |
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I don’t think I had a bad glass of wine the entire time I was in South Africa. I was never a big white wine fan before I went but had the most amazing Sauvignon Blanc with some sushi.
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Feb 11, 2020 09:19
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