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Garden Route explorer from Cape Town |
This unhurried tour gives you plenty of time to enjoy the scenic delights of the Garden Route. You begin with the scenic Route 62 to the dramatic little Karoo with its ostrich farms, mountain passes and limestone caves. Then you travel over the Outeniqua pass to the verdant Garden Route with little back roads to explore through the indigenous rainforest. You will enjoy the forests, coastline and lakes, which make this area so magnificent, before returning along the Southern Coast and through the Winelands to Cape Town. Code CT
Specialist guides
Guaranteed departures
Minimum Pax Two
Meals Full Board with mix of picnic and normal lunches
Departure/Return Every Tuesday Collect 8.30am in Cape Town. Return Cape Town at approx. 5.30pm
Accommodation Country Guest Lodges and Hotels
Transport Luxury VW microbus
Best time to go October through to May
Health Requirements None
Day 1 - Swellendam and Little Karoo
Travel through the Overberg to the historic town of Swellendam and the interesting Drostdy Museum. Continue over the lovely Tradouw Pass into the semi-desert Little Karoo. Enjoy some port wine tasting at Calitzdorp with an introduction to the distinctive port wines of the Little Karoo.
In the afternoon you tour an Ostrich Farm. In the Victorian era, when ostrich feathers were the height of fashion in Europe, the ostrich boom centred on Oudtshoorn creating “feather barons’ who built grandiose mansions. Overnight at La Plume Guest Farm.
Day 2 - Cango Caves and Wilderness
Your first visit is into the bowels of the earth! Explore the spectacular limestone formations in the Cango Caves. Then travel over the Outeniqua Pass to the lake district of Wilderness. Stroll along Wilderness beach or around the lakeshore on the boardwalk. Continue via the Seven Passes road through the indigenous forest to Plettenberg Bay. Two nights at Mallard River Lodge.
Day 4 - Mossel Bay and Bontebok Park
After breakfast you travel along the Southern Coast, via Mossel Bay and Swellendam to Arniston on the coast for an overnight stay.
En route you visit Mossel Bay( voted Sa nicest village for 03 to see the historically interesting Post Office Tree and the Bartholomew Dias Museum complex. You continue via a short game-viewing visit to the lovely Bontebok National Park to Arniston, a small fishing village set right on a truly azure sea, amid wild wind-swept dunes. Arniston Hotel is a charming beachfront hotel.
NOTE: You can be transferred to Port Elizabeth on Day 4 for a 4 day/3 night tour from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth.
Day 3 - Tsitsikamma Forest and Plettenberg
In the morning you visit the Tsitsikamma region. This superb area of primeval forest and wild coastline is incredibly beautiful. It comprises a wild, unspoilt and rugged belt of land, much of it blanketed in dense indigenous forest, and fragmented by winding river valleys. Continue to Plettenberg Bay, a resort town with a stunning location overlooking the beautiful Walker Bay. You may like to enjoy a short walk either on Robberg Nature Reserve or in the indigenous forest at the Garden of Eden.
In the mid afternoon you return to Knysna. The sea approach to Knysna through the Heads was so hazardous in the 19th century that Knysna never developed as a major port for the region and it was only in the 20th century that it has grown as a resort town. Here you have some time at leisure to browse for arts and crafts amongst the many shops, or to visit some of the fascinating little museums.
Day 5 - Arniston, Hermanus and Vergelegen
Today you visit the most southern tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas. You return to Cape Town via the picturesque town of Hermanus. Hermanus is a former fishing village, which boasts some of the finest land-based whale watching in the world from August to November. Last you visit the Vergelegen wine estate with its beautiful homestead, the lovely garden, as well as wine-tasting and cellar tours of the state of the art winery.
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