Queenie

Hi All -
My husband and I are thinking of cashing in the FF miles and doing 7 to 10 days in Jburg and Cape Town in early September.

How would the weather be that time of year? We want to do quick visits of these cities and spend the bulk of our time on the Garden route / winelands. We do not have interest in a safari or game viewing.

Afraid that if we wait till later in the year, our FF points on Swiss Intl. will disappear due to their financial difficulties...

Any input welcome!

jenviolin

I was in SA last early September. Temps were a very comfortable high 60's - low 70's F. A bit too cold to go swimming, but cool enough to never work up a sweat except in J'berg in the middle of the day, and always warm enough to sit outside, sometimes with a sweater or blazer in the evening. In Addo Elephant Park it was cold at night, nearly freezing, but pleasantly warm by 9 am. There were flowers and trees blooming all over (proteas in Kirstenbosch gardens!) and we felt like we had come at the most beautiful time of year.

Selwyn_Davidowitz

Queenie,

jenviolin's decription of the weather in SA in September is spot on. I want to add that you might have light rains in Cape Town and on the Garden Route during this period. My one problem with what you are trying to do in your available time is what you want to attempt to do during this period.

It is my opinion that for you to cover, Johannesburg, Cape Topwn and the Garden Route in 7-10 days is pushing it somewhat. I feel that you should fly into Johannesburg and straight on to George airport. Hire a car at George airport and travel to Knysna (65 Km away) for 4 sleeps using this town as a pivot to explore the Garden Route. After Knysna you will need a day to travel down to the Cape Winelands. Spend two sleeps on the Cape Winelands exploring the area. You will then have used 6 days of your time available. Then I would move onto Cape Town and stay in the city for lets say 4 nights resulting in you having a good quality tour of a very important part of SA.

If you need any further advice such as where to stay and what to do etc etc then please feel free to write to me or to the Fodors board as I will try and help you as best possible.

Hope this helps.

Selwyn Davidowitz
[email protected]

Waverley

Once again, Selwyn's advice is spot on.His intinerary is perfect. Do not spend less than 4 days in Cape Town. And even if it is not swimming weather, you have to spend a few hours on Clifton or Camps Bay Beach just taking in the surroundings.
September is a lovely time and you will have no crowds on your travels.

melissaom

Queenie,

You might want to check with Swiss on availability- we booked our tickets (one with miles, one with cash) a month ago and the plane was rather full (we are flying in October). (How this is possible I have no idea, but oh well. We are senator members but still all they could find was 2 seats at the back of the plane together.

I sure hope they are still flying in October!

Queenie

Thank you all so much! Looks like this trip is a real possibility.

Didn't want to research further and get my hopes up if Sept. was a poor time to visit.

Melissa - I just checked the SWISS site again - and its wide open for Sept.from Zurich. Where are you flying from?

melissaom

Queenie,

We are flying from Munich - taking the late flight so we can take the overnight flight to J'burg. We could have taken the trip whenever, but we thought the weather would be best in mid-late Oct. (We are doing 3 weeks - safari in Waterberg area, then flying to garden route and doing wine route and cape town). You can get some great deals in Sept - check out mtbeds.co.za and africam.com Oct is the beginning of high season, but we really wanted to be sure of good weather, so we bit the bullet.

Good luck!

Roccco

Other good sites for bargains are:

www.africam.com (not to mention being able to witness live game drives and game viewing from cameras setup in the bush)

www.tagasafaris.com

www.attractiveafrica.com

Good luck.