Itineraries
This private tailor-made holiday tours the highlights of South Africa’s Cape. You explore Cape Town, the Winelands, and discover the Garden Route – and go on safari in the Eastern Cape. The accommodation has been selected to provide genuine hospitality, comfort and extremely good value.
Depart from London Heathrow on a direct overnight flight to Cape Town.
Arrive in Cape Town in the early morning and collect your hire car. It’s an easy 20-minute drive to Trevoyan Guesthouse. This relaxed guesthouse is set in a bohemian part of Cape Town, within walking distance of a fine collection of restaurants and small shops. By midday, you could be looking at Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain!
Cape Town, the Waterfront
We recommend a minimum of three nights to enjoy Cape Town. You can tour the Cape Peninsula, visit the city, Table Mountain, the penguin colony, Robben Island and the townships. Tours can be either self-drive or escorted.
The beautiful landscape of the Winelands is a short and easy drive from Cape Town. Savour the tranquillity at Cathbert Country Inn, which nestles among the vineyards outside Franschhoek. Franschhoek is a picturesque village set in a mountain valley and surrounded by vineyards. The vines were first planted by French Huguenots who fled here in the 17th century.
Vineyards outside Franschhoek
Have lunch at one of the many wine estates and take advantage of the many opportunities to sample the fine wines of the area.
A touring day, travelling the R42 inland route to Oudtshoorn, a small and well-preserved Edwardian town on the edge of the Karoo and the former ostrich capital of Africa. This is one of the world’s great drives, with awesome mountainous landscapes and tiny towns that time forgot. After a longish drive (4 - 5 hours), relax at La Plume, and enjoy ostrich stew (or a more conventionally delicious dish).
Little Karoo
A short and spectacular drive takes you to the Garden Route proper - you meet the sea at Wilderness. Pass through Knysna, with its famous lagoon, and Plettenberg Bay, which has some of the best beaches in Africa, to the Tsitsikamma Forest, where you stay three nights at Tarn Country House in the Whiskey Creek Nature Reserve. Giant yellowwood and stinkwood trees run down to a coastline of cliffs and coves harbouring glorious beaches.
Tsitsikamma Forest
This is a place for walking in the forests, exploring beaches or visiting the local wood-carvers and the many other craft shops in the area. One highlight is the aerial runway which passes through the forest canopy.
Travel on to Addo Elephant Park where you can see a variety of wildlife including, of course, the famous Addo elephants. The park was established in 1931 to save the 11 surviving Eastern Cape elephants from extinction - today there are over 230! Overnight at The Elephant House, an elegant colonial-style guest house that offers fine hospitality and game drives in open 4WDs.
Addo Elephant Park
After a morning game viewing in Addo Elephant Park, make the short drive to Woodbury Lodge on Amakhala Game Reserve, a 7000-hectare reserve of great natural beauty. Game is plentiful and includes lion, rhino, elephant, cheetah, buffalo, giraffe, black wildebeest, zebra, tortoise and over 16 antelope species, including large herds of hartebeest, eland and blesbuck.
Woodbury Lodge is a genuine bush lodge, set in a wooded ravine deep inside the reserve. All meals and two activities per day are included: choose from dawn and dusk game drives, game walks, a river cruise or canoeing on the Bushman’s River, which runs through the reserve.
Woodbury Lodge
Drive to Port Elizabeth, where you return your car, catch a plane up to Johannesburg and connect with your overnight flight back to the UK.
This itinerary would cost from £1995 per person based upon two sharing from January to April; £1765 from May and September.
This price includes international flights from London, domestic flight, air taxes, car hire with full insurance cover, accommodation on a shared basis, breakfasts and all meals at Woodbury Lodge. Final price depends on flight availability at time of booking.
Ring 020 7226 1004 or email us if you would like to speak with one of our friendly and knowledgeable consultants.