Cape Town, Winelands and the Garden Route
No holiday to South Africa is complete without a visit to Cape Town and a leisurely drive along the beautiful Garden Route. Most visitors to the region start their journey in Cape Town as there are several direct flights from Europe as well as an extensive airline network across southern Africa. Cosmopolitan Cape Town is South Africa’s oldest city and justly famous for its dramatic scenery and world class hospitality. Just one hour from Cape Town are the vineyards of Paarl, Stellenbosch and Franschoek which make up the winelands. You can easily visit from Cape Town as a day trip or, we would recommend a stay of one or two nights.
The Garden Route is renowned for its dramatically rugged coastline, green meadows and lush forests. Of the quaint villages, which nestle along the rugged coastline of Cape Overberg, Hermanus, a traditional fishing port, has some of the best land based whale watching in the world between June and November.
The area known as the Great Karoo, with its vast open spaces and one of South Africa's scenic wonders, the Valley of Desolation, is dotted with quaint historic towns and villages and there are many places where you can see the ancient Bushman paintings.
The Eastern Cape is full of natural contrasts from mountainous terrain for walking to the malaria-free wildlife reserves of Addo, Shamwari and Amakhala. There are few parts of Southern Africa where you can find so many natural contrasts as in the Eastern Cape. The diverse terrain and the sheer size of this mountainous territory are ideal for walking tours.
Further north lie the Cedarberg Mountains, an area of wind sculptured rock and Bushman paintings. However, it is the beauty of Citrusdaal, with its fruit trees blossoming in spring, and Namaqualand, with its carpets of dazzling flowers in August, that are particularly memorable.