We have two weeks booked for a first visit Cape Town in October.

So far we have booked a house rental in Hout Bay for the second week.

My wife proposes that for the first week we drive along the Garden Route as far as Plettenburg Bay over five days and the drive straight back to Cape Town in one day. We have ten year old son.

We love wildlife and she wants to stay in one of the Safari lodges.

This sounds fine but I really can't see that I can be bothered to drive 600 miles when there is clearly stunning scenery in Cape Town.

My other issue is that I really don't like the look of the Western Cape Game reserves. They're all quite expensive at £500 plus a night and appear to be glorified five star hotels with animals within stock fences. They appear to be a false environment which I just couldn't stomach.

Question is :

Should we stay in Cape Town for two weeks or take the Garden Route side trip?

Thanks.

Hi Dickie,

when our kids were a little older than yours, we did a 12 night trip to SA, with 4 nights in Cape Town, then a drive down the garden route, ending with a three nights in a Safari lodge in the Western Cape [Shamwari]. We only ended up there because with it we got 3 free nights at the Radisson in Cape town which was such a good deal we couldn't resist!

They are quite artificial these places, but if you want to see animals really in the wild, you probably need to go to Kruger.

going back to Cape Two and how much time to spend there, at the time we went we found a book called "14 days in Cape Town" which had load of ideas of things to do there - more than enough for a month or more. OTOH we did like the garden route too - we stayed at a place called Hog Hollow near Knysna which was lovely - but your 10 year old might enjoy the zip line and forest walkway at Tsitsikamma:

https://www.stormsriver.com/canopy_t...den_route.html

you can also do day trips to Stellenbosch etc. from Cape Town, which would give you more things to do.

We did go to Addo Elephant park which was fun for a day, and we stayed at a lodge nearby which was very cheap, with huts to sleep in which had no electricity - the kids loved it. I can't find it on the internet now, but there are lots of reasonably priced places in that area [round Paterson] according to booking.com

Not sure if that helps - really, it's hard to go wrong!

We just got back from SA a few hours ago.

Of all the areas we visited, the Garden Route was the one with which I "connected" the least.

We're older travelers. so we weren't interested in zip-lining, bungee jumping and commercial tourist attractions such as Monkeyland and Birds of Eden.

Young families might love all that, of course. It's a very personal thing.

The scenery was fairly attractive -- but everywhere in the W. Cape is attractive. The towns of Plett, Knysna etc were nothing special: well maintained and well equipped for tourists but of little intrinsic interest.

The Robberg Peninsula outside Plett was the high point of our time there. You can hike around this nature reserve in 4 hours of hard slogging or take shorter and less strenuous routes. You're rewarded with exceptional views and a stunning, highly varied landscape.

As you may have gathered, we are primarily interested in scenery and sedate activities, such as visiting historic settlements. Our most amazing experiences were 1. in the vicinity of Cape Town; 2. in the winelands; and 3. on the far side of the coastal mountains, north of where you're planning to be. I loved the empty, arid semi-desert of the Klein Karoo, especially the dramatic mountain passes such as Seveweekspoort and the Tradouw Pass.

One-way flights from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth are around ZAR760, or around US$55 or GBP37, and take around an hour.

Fly to PLZ and collect a car, visit Addo NP, then drive back to Plettenberg Bay and finally Cape Town over a couple of days (or more.) Stop in Jeffreys Bay (surfing mecca) en route.

Addo is terrific and VERY accessible; if you're planning on the Garden Route it would be a shame to miss it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zwZblA5UwA
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Yup, I was going to suggest same as Gardyloo. Addo is a wonderful park, lots to do and see. The flight is easy and inexpensive. One way car rentals are not prohibitively expensive like in the U.S. Three-four nights in Addo and three nights to Cape Town. Sounds pretty perfect to me.

Addo has some private concessions or you can stay in the surprisingly nice park accommodations. We get a bungalow (book on ne that accommodates at least three) with ensuite bathroom and a kitchen so we can shop in the rest camp shops and cook for ourselves if we don't want to eat in the restaurants. We take a picnic for breakfast and lunch on the road. It's lots of fun.

See www.SanParks.org. Click on Addo Elephant Park and check out the options. In private concessions, they are full service with game drives and meals included. In the rest camps, it is self catering. Don't miss wildlife in S Africa - where else can you see them in their home.

Some of the smaller reserves are a little like what you describe, but not that drastic. The vision in your head is not accurate for the vast majority of parks and reserves. Most of the private reserves are very good. Just avoid human/animal interactions. Those animals are treated terribly. Addo, a national park, is vast and their historic home. Wonderful.

Thanks all.

The idea of flying to PE was really good, I hadn't realised that it could be so cheap.

However, we are flying from Manchester via Dubai and so an extra flight on day 3 would have resulted in airportitus.

In the end we have decided to limit the side trip and have booked 2 nights at Gondawana near Mossel Bay and then a drive down to De Hoop Nature reserve and stay there for two nights before going to CT.

We like the look of De Hoop, it looks very much off the beaten track, quite wild and with good prospects of seeing Whales from the beach.

It might be worth noting, for anyone planning a trip, that availability at the game reserves was really tight. Even at £600 a night and six months prior to departure, it has been difficult to find a room.

In CT we have 7 days.

We would like to visit The Cape itself and Nordhooek beach, Robben Island and a day in the city centre.

That takes up three days and we want two days lazing around and cycling around Hout Bay.

Any suggestion for the other two days?

Thanks

What are your interests? You can hike Table Mountain and / or Lions Head. Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens is gorgeous. Go to Boulders Beach for the penguins. We had five nights in Cape Town and would have loved one or two more. And as other suggest, definitely make time for a safari destinations; we're at Sabi Sand right now on our first safari trip and have fallen in love.

Hi there BritishCaicos!

Table Mountain and a trip to see the penguins/Cape of Good Hope are 2 great ideas. The Kirstenbosch Gardens are lovely and the Centenary Tree Canopy Walk which is architecturally designed to match a "boomslang" or snake is quite pretty, especially at sunset.

The Winelands are particularly beautiful with its vistas of the mountains, vineyards and Dutch Cape architecture. A couple of the lesser known places there include Vergenoegd Wine Estate to see the duck parade, have a picnic under the trees and perhaps do a olive oil blending is quite fun!

Also, a visit to Babylonstoren to discover a massive organic garden with bee hives, chickens, stunning fruits and vegetables and an amazing restaurant if you can get in. There's also a beautiful glass house in the back of the organic gardens where you can get a casual lunch. This place is spectacular and has been recognized as one of the best gardens in Africa.

Just a couple tips for you. Enjoy!

Best
Dianne
Africa Direct USA

Thanks Tripplanner.

We'll build Boulders beach into a trip to the Cape. Looks great fun, my ten year son can't stop laughing at penguins.

We love gardening and landscape design, from our research to date South African residential design seems impressive. There's many examples which would be regarded as cutting edge in Europe. Kirstenbosch looks like a definite visit. Thanks.

Boulders Beach is convenient for you if you're staying at Hout Bay. But frankly I found it a pretty minor event. There are as many penguins in a far less touristy, more natural setting at Betty's Bay, in the Overberg.

If you do make it to the Overberg, you'll enjoy the coastal drive from Gordon's Bay toward Hermanus. It's easily the equal of the more famous Chapman's Peak drive.

Kirstenbosch is a must. As well as being beautiful, it has a strong didactic element - you'll learn a lot about the unique flora of the Cape region.

The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point were a highlight of our recent trip. Once inside the Park, don't race straight to Cape Point. There are great gravel side roads all along the peninsula, with dramatic cliffs, secluded beaches and wonderful vegetation.

If you head toward the Winelands, I recommend Vergelegen as one of the most historic and beautifully restored Cape colonial manor houses and wine estates.

Much closer to CT is Groot Constantia, the most famous of the wine estates and a good spot for lovers of historic architecture (and furniture).