shanglan

How far in advance do we need to make reservations for accomodations along the Garden Route for late August? Can we call the day of and play the trip by ear? Should we reserve now? Are there certain highly recommended places we should book in advance? We plan to start at Port Elizabeth, do Addo, make our way along the Garden Route, visit the Winelands, and on into Cape Town. Thanks!

Kavey

I'd like to recommend the Plumwood Inn in Franschhoek - you'll find my posting on it here in this forum if you do a search on "plumwood".

If you're going to stop in Swellendam enroute I'd also recommend Aan de Oever guesthouse.

Both have friendly and very welcoming hosts, seem well priced, offer beautiful rooms, a breakfast above the norm (and the norm is good) and lovely settings too.

Selwyn_Davidowitz

Shanglan,

A lot will depends on how long you intend taking to do the trip that you are proposing. If you have spare days in your pocket then you could always move on from one town to another in case you dont find accommodation and
thereafter return to the town where you missed out. Overall I feel that at
the end of August you should have very little problems finding accommodation
on the day however you might well find that the best accommodation or should
I say value for money will be taken up if you dont book the venues in advance.

If you could give me an idea as to what your time frame is and more or less
what you have planned already then I might be able to guide you with a lot
more definitive information.

Hope to see a response from you on this board.

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa

shanglan

We have ten days for Port Elizabeth to and including Cape Town. So, we need at least three of those ten days for Cape Town. We will have been in Madikwe prior to flying to PE. We have no specific plans yet. Thanks!

Selwyn_Davidowitz

Shanglan,

If you have 10 days at your disposal I would suggest the following:

Day 1
-----
Port Elizabeth - Arrive.

Try and stay at Lemon Tree Lane - Great little guesthouse. http://www.lemontreelane.co.za/
I suggest that you have dinner at Whickerwoods or Old Austria.

Day 2.
------
Travel to Addo. You might as well enjoy the evening game drives at Schotia (www.schotia.com) seeing that you will have travelled to Addo already.

Day 3
-----
Travel to Knysna while stopping in at the Stormsriver Adventure village so as to do the Treetop safari
I suggest that you look for Knysna accommodation at

Overmeer Guesthouse
http://www.knysna.com/overmeer/

or at

Elephant Hide http://www.elephanthide.co.za/

Day 4
-----
Stay in Knysna and explore region.

Eat at La Loerie and Firefly. Two very local places serving great food.

Day 5
-----
Travel to Oudtshoorn.

Explore the twon and have dinner at Jemimas.

Try and stay at

Montana
http://www.montanaguestfarm.co.za/accom/index.htm

Mooiplaas
http://www.mooiplaasguesthouse.co.za/

or

Le Plume
http://www.laplume.co.za/

Day 6
-----
Drive over the Swartberge and enjoy the town of Prince Albert as well as the return journey though Meiringspoort.

Day 7
-----
Travel from Oudtshoorn to the Cape Winelands.

I suggest that you look at staying at Cathbert Country House in between Paarl and Franschhoek. Bliss!
http://www.cathbert.co.za
Dine at Cathbert.

Day 8.
------

Stay at Cathbert and travel through the Winelands of leave Cathbert, travel through the Winelands and make your way to Cape Town for your last 2 days.

As far as Cape Town is concerned I have already made suggestions to you in another thread with regard to accommodation.

In terms of activity there is much to do in Caoe Town so dont worry about this factor at all.

Hope that this helps you in your Garden Route planning.

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa

shanglan

Dear Selwyn - Thank you so very much for the great itinerary!!! Very much appreciated. Shanglan