Cape Town area
 

My husband and I ( U.S. residents/ are planning to go to the Cape Town area in mid October for a nephews wedding; the wedding is in Somerset West. I have a Time Out guide but it does not cover the possibility of accommendations in that area. Does anyone have a recommendation for a budget to moderate priced accommodation? And we do wonder about renting a car so that we could do some sightseeing. We have traveled in Queensland Australia and have some experience in driving on the other side of the road. Thanks for your help. J12bry

If you're interested in a self-catering cottage, I recommend Sun Cottage (www.suncottage.co.za/), where we stayed for a few days in 2008. It's in the town of Somerset West, so you'd be close to the wedding, and also close enough for easy drives to Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Paarl, and Franschoek. When searching for this place, we found lots of others at www.capestay.co.za and www.roomsforafrica.com

Car rental is easy too; we've rented from Avis, Sixt, Tempest, and Dollar/Thrifty on our past trips to South Africa. You can make the reservation on-line. Driving is SA is a joy -- good roads, great scenery.

Have a wonderful time!

Celia

i was there last october and the weather was great...moderate...

we drove the entire time and it was a snap.....easy to get around....CPT is quite small really... driving yourself will save a lot of money and allow you to see lots...

the garden route is lovely if you have a few extra days....
the whales will be around in oct. and that is fabulous....hermanus is a fabulous place to see them and that is not far....we stayed right in town....

car rates vary a lot, i found the best on www.carrentals.com

Many thanks to Celia and to rhkkmk for the information. I now have a starting point. I hope in the future I can assist others. j12bry

http://www.portfoliocollection.com/

you can chose from a broad collection of approved country places, B+B's etc.

Happy travels!

((@))

Driving will make your trip more complete. We drove to spot whales and had the experience of the whales coming to within 100 yards of shore. Driving also let's you meander in the wine country, along the garden route and the cape. We even liked it to drive to the nearby malls and expanded our dining options. Just be sure to get a gps which can be easily rented separate from your vehicle. You get used to driving on the opposite side surprisingly quickly.

For sure renting a car and driving in the Cape Town area is fairly easy. Try also autoeurope.com. October is a good month for whale-watching and Hermanus, only an hour or so from Cape Town, is a great place for excellent land-based watching. You could do a day trip or stay over, in which case I could recommend the Auberge Burgundy, priced- and located-right.