John

We've got our trip to South Africa all planned for January, 2003. Staying at Caesars in Jo'burg, Bakubang Lodge in Pilanesberg, Courtyard Hotel in Port Elizabeth, and ending up in a self-catering apartment for 6 days in Cape Town. All done after MUCH searching on the Internet, mind you.<BR><BR>The only part we DON'T have pinned down is the two-day stretch from PE to Cape Town along the Garden Route. Our nice hosts in Cape Town e-mailed us, stating that Knysna is the place to stay. Just wondering if you all concur.<BR><BR>We rather like mid-sized to large &quot;resort-y&quot; hotels, and feel &quot;neutral&quot; (at best) towards the intimate B&amp;B/guesthouse type establishments. Yet we'd get bored staying at a large hotel on the ocean without &quot;city&quot; (or at least &quot;town&quot life. Let's say a few pubs, bars, restaurants...stuff like that. <BR><BR>Does Knysna fill the bill, or should we stay in a town like George? Or would Wilderness eke out enough pub life to satisfy us for a couple of days (after a day on the beach)?<BR><BR>I feel we should make a choice soon, as I'm sure the Garden Route establishments are filling up. Thanks for your insights.

John

(If this is a double post, I apologize, the first submit came up &quot;error.&quot<BR><BR>Selwyn,<BR><BR>Thank s so much for your response. As much as I've peeked at this site, I know I should take you pretty seriously when you say to cut back on days spent in Cape Town!!! LOL!<BR><BR>So, if I'm understanding you correctly, Knysna is worth two days by itself, PLUS perhaps an extra day driving along the Garden Route to Cape Town? That sounds great to me--I just wanted to make sure that there was enough to keep us occupied while we were there.<BR><BR>Thanks for all your advice on prior posts also. I actually tailored our trip to arrive in Jo'burg/PE and depart Cape Town , instead of the opposite manner, as per your advice to another person. Made perfect sense to me!<BR><BR>One last request: Might you recommend a car rental company for the one-way trip from PE (with drop off in Cape Town or CPT airport), and any tips on &quot;safer&quot; cars to rent for two people? That is, less likely to get stolen?

Selwyn Davidowitz

Hello John<BR><BR>You wrote:<BR>___________<BR><BR>So, if I'm understanding you correctly, Knysna is worth two days by itself, PLUS perhaps an extra day driving along the Garden Route to Cape Town? That sounds great to me--I just wanted to make sure that there was enough to keep us occupied while we were there.<BR><BR>In response:<BR>----------------<BR>Absolutely correct. There is so much to do in Knysna and its surrounding area that when I tour the area with visitors 3 days just are not enough. Here are some of the many things you could do:<BR><BR>Visit the Heads (A must see event)<BR><BR>Take a boat ride over the lagoon and through the heads (Exciting)<BR><BR>Visit the Waterfront<BR><BR>Enjoy Oysters at the Oyster factory<BR><BR>Visit the residential area of Belvedere<BR><BR>Visit the very quaint Round Stone Church on Belvedere<BR><BR>Go for an early morning walk on Brenton on Sea Beach (7 Km of unobstructed wonderful coastline)<BR><BR>Picnic at the wonderful Jubilee Creek<BR><BR>Go walking on some of the many forest trails<BR><BR>Visit Scarab, the elephant dung paper factory in Sedgefield <BR><BR>Go view the Map of Africa in the Wilderness<BR><BR>See Dolphin Point in the Wilderness.<BR><BR>If you have the time go to Botlierskop game farm outside Mossel Bay.<BR><BR>Wow I could go on and on with ideas and space on this forum page wont allow this so if you need further advice simply write to me and I will tell you more. One thing is for sure Knysna acts as a prefect pivot to travel form so as to see the Garden Route at its best.<BR>Thanks for all your advice on prior posts also. I actually tailored our trip to arrive in Jo'burg/PE and depart Cape Town , instead of the opposite manner, as per your advice to another person. Made perfect sense to me!<BR><BR>You wrote:<BR><BR>One last request: Might you recommend a car rental company for the one-way trip from PE (with drop off in Cape Town or CPT airport), and any tips on &quot;safer&quot; cars to rent for two people? That is, less likely to get stolen?<BR><BR>In response:<BR>----------------<BR>Very important is DO NOT choose the smaller companies when it comes to car hire and travelling the GR. You should choose AVIS, Hertz etc. The reason for this is that if something goes wrong car wise on your 900km journey you can simply swop it along the way however with the smaller companies that might be slightly cheaper this would not be possible. Please take heed as the above is very important advice.<BR>In Cape Town itself swop your car hire by using Value Car Hire. http://www.valuecarhire.co.za/ This company definitely offers the best deal in town but be aware that you have to book VERY EARLY as they are very popular and sell out quickly. Last point is that in January I would recommend that you hire a car with aircon.<BR><BR>As far as what type of car hire to choose safety wise let me be candid and say &quot;how long is a piece of string&quot;. If its going to happen its going to happen whether you are in SA,the USA, the UK or wherever. Trying to dodge the event by choosing a non popular car means nothing so simply choose what suits your purposes well.<BR><BR>Hope this all helps and that you enjoy my country to the full.<BR><BR>Selwyn Davidowitz<BR> <BR>

Libby

We have just returned from South Africa and spent 4 great days in Knysna. It is a great town with some fantastic restarants at mega cheap prices !! you could spend 2 weeks there and still not get time to see and do everything in the town and surrounding areas.<BR><BR>We rented a car in Cape Town and dropped off in Port Elizabeth and used National, they were by far the cheapest but have no complaints they were great, we booked it via the internet before we went.

RnR

After trips to SA in '01 and '02, may I make this suggestion, if no one else has: rent a SA cellphone to take along in your car. Your car rental agency will deliver the phone to you. Get the telephone number before you leave for SA, and make sure the phone is working before the car guy departs. Have fun!