S. Africa luxury honeymoon planning help needed!
 

Hi all:

We are getting married in May 2007 and hope to be able to honeymoon in S Africa - something we've been dying to do for years. Although we are normally big "do it yourselfers" when it comes to travel, there is no way we can plan our destination wedding (islands, not sure where yet) and a honeymoon at the same time, plus hold down our jobs! I've always gotten the best advice on these boards, so I'm hoping that you can come to the rescue once again. Here are my questions:

1. Is May going to be a terrible time to go? We want to start out in CT, do a little luxury safari,and head around to vineyards/beach at some point, if at all possible.

2. Can anyone recommend a good travel agent who specializies in SA? As mentioned above, I really need someone who I can trust to do the legwork for us this time around. We want everything to be as nice as possible without exceeding $10K pp (incl air).

So grateful for your help!

My husband and I just did SA. We spent $15,000 between air, hotel, and a private guide/driver. I believe it was 11-12 days. Even with that budget, we still could not go crazy. We went to Royal Malewane as our safari camp. They charge $2000 per night (we stayed for three). The flights for my DH and me were $3000 total. So just that is $9000. It is kind of unbelievable how much you could easily spend visiting south africa. We stayed at the Commodore in Cape Town (ok, but not luxurios) and Spier (I wanted to stay there for cheetah reasons; the hotel was gorgeous, the service was inadequate). But otherwise, I would recommend Royal Malewane and Commodore for the location.

Just to clarify....the hotel ROOM in Spier was gorgous.

Thanks! We were prepared for 20K but hoped to be able to do very top of the line accomodations for that. I also could not believe that DC-CT business class airfare was 6K pp - that's practically half our budget right there!

I believe that I can help you find the right fit for your honeymoon needs & I don't think that May is a bad time to hit SA, in fact it's great particularly with the budget you have in mind.

Since I know numerous travel people who can help you out and prefer not to advertise names, let me know how I can reach you and I will happily make some recommendations/

ABC,

If your budget includes international arifare, and you insist on business class, then yes, this will eat up a large amount of your budget.
Personally, I would rather fly economy and have as much of the budget as possible for the best game lodges (best being somewhat subjective as opinions vary depending your tastes), but that's just me. Assuming you don't get much sleep in economy class, you can easily spend another night in Cape Town at a nice hotel resting from the flight (if you are one of those people really affected by jetlag) for much less than the cost of upgrading your flight from economy to business.

If not for the cost of the business class flight, then your budget would be plenty for some very nice places in South Africa.

It will probably make more sense for help on this board to give the budget price not including international airfare, and the approx. number of nights.

We were in South Africa the first part of last June, and I loved the time of year, although we did have one rainy day in Cape Town. On safari, the mornings were cold, the days warm, and the evenings cool. But I don't think that May is really beach season in Cape Town, but should be fine for general sightseeing, although chance of rain. May is past rainy season at most of the places you will probably be going to on safari.
And I think most people on this board will agree that the upscale camps are some of the most romantic places in the world, so great for a honeymoon!

We kick started a 5 week tour of South Africa in May 2004 and loved it! Although we had occasional rain mostly we enjoyed sunny days with balmy weather and visitor numbers were quite low.

We got some great low-season prices but that said, we only got them because I invested a lot of time on research and contacting many, many guest houses to negotiate on rates.

My main tip would be to splurge on safari and save on accommodation costs elsewhere. Guest houses in Cape Town and the garden route are really something - much more stylish, comfortable and well equipped than I would ever have believed possible for the prices - many of the rooms we saw easily compared well to luxury hotels at several times the price.

Since you're quoting a budget in dollars I'm assuming you're based in North America in which case my UK agent recommendation won't be any good to you but I had very positive dealings with Bert at Fish Eagle Safaris in the US in the early stages of my trip planning.

One big question I have is how much time you actually have?

ABC,

Here are some travel agencies that some people on this board have used:

fisheaglesafaris.com (USA)
eyesonafrica.net (USA)
premiertours.com (USA)
destinyafrica.com (USA)

tagasafaris.co.za (South Africa)

I used fish eagle safaris and was very satisfied.

abcdc:
If you are prepared to pay for business class tickets, you might look into a program I have heard about from American Express. If you get a platinum card, AMEX has a buy one full fare business class and the companion flies free. I do not know all of the details but you might look at the AMEX website. Also, any chance of using FF miles? You would have to check into that quickly for a May 07 trip.

brandywine and kavey:
I did not realize that Capetown weather could be that good that time of year. I was ruling out South Africa for a second hal May, early June trip because I thought the weather would be bad in Capetown. Can you tell me actual dates you were in Capetown and more specifics about the temperature there (as opposed to on safari)? What about the wine country?

I'm from DC, too, and this is how we saved on business class seats. We're flying British Airways to London, spending the night in town, and then heading off to S. Africa the following evening. If you get the British Airways Visa, they give you 2 for 1 fares for business and first class. We're spending $10k for the two of us. It's not a huge savings, but two grand is two grand, right?

The AMEX Platinum offers the same perk. Just make sure you find out if the deal is valid for your travel dates (Both companies offer the programs for a set time. We were going to fly non-stop on South African Airways, but the offer ended a week before our departure date. That's when we booked the BA tickets. A month later, AMEX extended the time frame of the offer. While it would have been nice to fly non-stop, we're still looking forward to a quick visit to London).

Hello,

Congratulations on your wedding -- I'm sure you'll have a wonderful honeymoon in SA!

May is actually a lovely time to be in South Africa. It's autumn, so the vineyards in the winelands will be particularly picturesque. In the Cape, the weather should be sunny and clear during the day, and perhaps a bit crisp at night.

It's also a nice time to go into the bush - the vegetation is starting to thin out from the green season, making game-viewing a bit easier, and there is some nice autumn colour as well.

I'd recommend starting in Cape Town and the Winelands, and finishing up with your safari. For beach time, you could add on a few days in Mozambique -- there are flights direct from KMIA near the Sabi Sands.

Last time I looked, economy class flights to SA ran around $1000 or so. Assuming you were willing to take this route (less painful than you might think if you get an overnight flight, that would leave you with $9,000 per person.

I'd second Kavey's suggestion of saving some money in Cape Town and the Winelands by staying in smaller boutique hotels and guesthouses. They offer tremendous value for money compared to the big hotels. Not only are they much less expensive than the standard tourist hotels, but they have much more character and history and can be really luxurious for surprisingly little money. I've stayed at the following places and really enjoyed my time there:

Cape Heritage Hotel

http://www.capeheritage.co.za

An African Villa

http://www.capetowncity.co.za

If you'd prefer a hotel on the coast, take a look at Les Cascades:

http://www.lescascades.co.za/

You'll need a car if you stay at Les Cascades, whereas you could walk or take taxis from the other two places. In general, taxis in Cape Town are efficient and inexpensive.

Whilst you're in Cape Town, you should consider spending at least a day with Selwyn Davidowitz -- he is a native Capetonian and professional guide who often posts here, and he has introduced many Fodorites to his city. His website is www.ilovecapetown.com

In the Winelands, I'd definitely recommend staying in Franschhoek -- it's centrally located (between Stellenbosch and Paarl) and it has some of the best restaurants in SA (indeed, in the world). A meal at Le Quartier Francais is something to be remembered -- I've eaten at top restaurants around the world (French Laundry, etc) and the meal there was one of the best I've ever had. Just thinking about it makes me want to go back right now!

There are a number of lovely guesthouses in Franschhoek. If you enjoy your wine, I'd defiintely recommend somewhere in town so you don't have to drive very far after dinner.

For perfect privacy, how about your own guesthouse? My favourite is Gelatenheid.

http://www.aka.co.za/

For a splurge, take a look at the Auberge at Le Quartier Francais:

http://www.lequartier.co.za

For your safari, I'd recommend flying out to the Sabi Sands, where you'll have the best game-viewing in South Africa.

I've stayed at Londolozi several times, and had a wonderful experience:

http://www.londolozi.com

Other people on this board have enjoyed their stays at Mala Mala:

http://www.malamala.com

For the ultimate splurge, try a few nights at Singita:

http://www.singita.com

I'll be visiting both Mala Mala and Singita on my trip this year, and I'm really looking forward to it!

For your beach time, take a look at Mozambique - you can fly direct from an airport near the Sabi Sands to southern Mozambique, where there are a number of small lodges offering barefoot luxury, including:

http://www.marlinlodge.co.za

http://www.benguerra.co.za/

Cheers,
Julian

Also check out Virign Atlantic - we just returned from South Africa (May 2006) and they had the cheapest business class (upper class) fares of all the airlines we looked at it. It was still pricey $5K per ticket but included roundtrip limo transfers, day room in London and free meals and spa treatments in the lounges. You could also consider flying premium economy on Virgin - a little more than coach and a lot more room although no additional services. All these options require a flight through London, but we found it was not so bad because both flights were overnight we actually got quite a lot of sleep.

We are doing a "luxury honeymoon" to S. Africa next month. I too was amazed at the price of business class airfare from the US. A little trick is that you can buy very reasonable biz class tickets from London or Paris (around $2,400 pp) to JNB. You then have to either use frequent flier miles from DC to Europe, or perhaps consider flying MaxJet (all biz class seats, usually around $1,500 pp RT to London). Even if you pay all of that, you'll still be saving about $4,000 that could go a long way in terms of accomodations.

Just to give you a sense of what you can get for the money, we fiance and I are going for 19 nights, and staying in the very best accomodations in all places, and doing a night on the Blue Train for $15K total including biz class airfare. I think you should be just fine with your budget, and should not have to sacrifice a thing in terms of luxury and quality of experience. A couple of posters on this board, Julian Asher and Rocco Morelli are TA's that specialize in Africa and know the very best of the best to be had. I'm sure they could help you out.

Have fun and congratulations!

Elliott

Bat,
We were in Cape Town June 3rd, 4th ,5th, for only 3 nights (2-1/2 days), and then flew north to safari destinations. So our stay in this area was so short, I'm not sure if our weather is considered typical or not. Anyway, it was raining hard the first afternoon and all through the night. The next morning still raining, but we started our tour of the winelands anyway, ducking into a couple of wineries for tastings and doing a tour under the cover of umbrellas. The temperature was cool, but not cold, (I was wearing a sweater and a Gortex jacket). By about lunchtime, the rain had stopped enough for us to wander through Franschhoek for a while, then a late lunch, at which time the sun started to come out and was nice the rest of the day. It was cool that day after dark. It's wintertime, so it does get dark quite early, I think around 6:30 if I remember right.

The next day for our drive around the cape point, it was absolutely beautiful! Just cool in the morning (sweater or sweatshirt weather), then quite warm by afternoon. Sunny, blue skies all day and just a light breeze.

I wouldn't say it is beach weather, but that is of no importance to me, as I'm not interesting in traveling half way around the world to lay on a beach.
The weather was fine for sightseeing and shopping. I guess it might have been somewhat disappointing if it had rained every day, but I'm not sure that rain every day is common, Selwyn can probably better answer that.
Anyway, I would not hesitate to return to SA in June, and you can get better prices for lodging that time of year.

Bat, we started in Cape Town on the 6 May.

We had overcast weather only occasionally - usually it was lovely and sunny. I can't remember temperatures - not really hot but then I hate really hot. Pleasant and sunny to my mind most of the time.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34511049

Here's my report if it helps?

My goodness, you all are fantastic! This is so much great information to consider - I'm quite encouraged and will check it all out!

Sorry, meant to add on also that we will probably be able to get away for 2 weeks. Know that's a bit on the short side, but we will be taking a week off to get married before that, so it will be three weeks total out of our respective offices. If anyone has strong feelings about what to include/eliminate during that time, I'm all ears! Thanks so much, again.

Thanks kavey and brandywine.
Elliot--thanks for the flying tips.

Great very small, very nice hotel in CT

Kensington Place - only eight rooms, all stunning. Great location, close to table mountain.

Two weeks isn't long for South Africa, only because SA has SOOOO much diversity of attractions. But it's still a decent chunk of time and two weeks in South Africa is better than three weeks in many other places - in my somewhat biased opinion, anyways!

Time of year is not good for beaches - our 5 week trip starting 6 May took in the Cape and then we flew to Durban to explore Easter South Africa - whilst the weather there was warmer than the cape it wasn't beach bathing weather.

Depending on your preferences, you could spend 10 days in CT and the Garden Route (vineyards and further East too) and 4-5 days on safari.