Garden Route and Route 62 Loop

Western and Eastern Cape · South Africa

Easy7 daysAfrica~£800 est.

Save ✓ I did this

Overview

South Africa's classic week: out along the N2 coast from Mossel Bay through Wilderness, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay to Storms River, then home through the Klein Karoo on Route 62, the longest wine road in the world. Two utterly different landscapes for one modest loop from Cape Town's doorstep. The moment is the suspension bridge at Storms River Mouth in Tsitsikamma, where the dark river meets the Indian Ocean's swells beneath forested cliffs. Walk the Robberg Peninsula circuit with Cape fur seals hauling out below, watch the sun drop through the Knysna Heads, and — between June and November — spot southern right whales off Plettenberg Bay without leaving the roadside. The return leg swaps ocean for ostriches: the Outeniqua Pass down to Oudtshoorn, the Cango Caves' dripstone halls, and Route 62's farm stalls and port-style tastings through Calitzdorp. The variables: this is easy driving on good tarmac, but December–January school holidays book out a year deep, and the Heads' viewpoints reward a wind-free day. Seven days from George or Cape Town runs about £800 per person in guesthouses.