•If you arrived prior to this tour, your rental car will be delivered to your Port Elizabeth hotel after breakfast.
•If you arrive at the airport today, collect your rental car at the airport.
•If you are continuing form Module 2 (Durban to Port Elizabeth) you already have your rental car and will be coming from Addo Elephant Park close by Port Elizabeth.
It is not far to your first lodge on the edge of the Garden Route. As you will probably not be able to check into the lodge in the morning, you can continue to the Tsitsikamma National Park, where you can go on a short hike from the restaurant down to the suspension bridge across the Storms River mouth. On the way back to your lodge you could stop at the Big Tree – an 800 year old forest giant – and at the impressive Paul Sauer bridge across the Storms River gorge.
Distance today: approx. 190 km
Accommodation, Meals as indicated. Car Hire Group C with unlimited kms and inclusive insurance.
Flights, visas, personal spending money, gratuities, meals not listed in itinerary, travel insurance, entrance and park fees, one way rental fee.
Continue along the Garden Route with its forests, deep ravines and idyllic, secluded beaches, to Knysna with its lovely location on the large Knysna Lagoon. Drive over scenic forested mountain passes such as Nature’s Valley and enjoy the ocean and lagoon vistas of Plettenberg Bay. On your second day here partake in the many possible excursions, such as the Featherbed Tour, Monkeyland, Birds of Eden and the Snake Park – or simply visit the numerous markets.
Distance today: approx. 100km.
Spend the day exploring Knysna and the surrounding areas.
Today you travel through the beautiful Wilderness Lake District and over the Outeniqua Pass to Oudtshoorn – once known as the ostrich feather capital of the world. Here you have the opportunity to make an optional visit to an ostrich farm and the Cango Caves, with some of the best stalactite and stalagmite formations in the world.
DIstance today: approx. 120 km
You continue through the scenically varied landscape of the Little Karoo to Barrydale and then over the Tradouw Pass, via Swellendam to Hermanus, one of the best locations in the world for land-based whale watching in the world (July till November).
Distance today: approx 360 km
From Hermanus your journey takes you along a magnificent coastal route between Kleinmond and Gordon’s Bay. Continue over the Helshoogte Pass to Franschhoek, a quaint little town with a noticeable French character. You should make a point of tasting some wines on one of the many wine estates in the area before driving to Stellenbosch, which is the main centre of the Winelands and South Africa’s second oldest town. Take a stroll along Dorp Street with its beautifully restored old Cape Dutch houses before driving to your overnight stop.
Distance today: approx. 190 km
Before travelling to Cape Town you could still visit the Afrikaans Language Monument on Paarl Mountain above the town of Paarl, another important centre of the Winelands. Then you continue to Cape Town with its beautiful location at the foot of the 1 085m high Table Mountain. Make use of the first possible opportunity you get to go on an optional cableway trip to the top of Table Mountain .
Distance today: approx 60 km
Today you should definitely go on a day tour around the Cape Peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope. Along the way you could stop a Boulder’s Beach in Simonstown, with its colony of African penguins. We also recommend a visit to Groot Constantia wine estate, the oldest in the country as well as at the magnificent Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens. In the evening you could try out one of the restaurants at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.
After a leisurely breakfast, some last minute shopping, perhaps even a boat trip to Robben Island Tour if you’re flying in the evening (the boats for the half day tour leave several times daily from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront), drop off your rental car at the airport and leave on your homeward journey.
