One can drive the length of this route in a matter of hours. However, the Garden Route takes from 4 to 14 days to explore as each area offers different experiences. We help you to plan your trip by breaking it into 3 itineraries:
Eastern Garden Route – from Storms River, through the Tsitsikamma Forest, The Crags to Natures Valley.
Central Garden Route – from Harkerville through Plettenberg Bay, Knysna to Sedgefield.
Western Garden Route – from Wilderness and up to George and Outshoorn, to Mossel Bay.
This lovely route is one of the world’s great road trips. We suggest you self -drive as the roads are good and well marked. What makes it so special? The views, the combination of world-class beaches, “iridescent lagoons and indigenous forests interspersed with welcoming towns”, and the photo shoot Indian Ocean-hugging highway with mountains behind. It is scenically, stunning!
It covers 300kms from Storms River in the Eastern Cape, through the ancient Tsitsikamma Forest and beautiful coastline, dubbed, the Garden of Eden, into the Western Cape with built up holiday towns such as café culture Plettenberg with plentiful shops and Knysna, famous for its lagoon and oysters, slow town Sedgefield, through to a loved camping, kayaking and birding area, Wilderness. Head inland to Outshoorn to meet an ostrich and meerkat or two via George, now famous for golf, then back to pretty Victoria Bay and then Mossel Bay with South Africa’s first post box site and an important area showing early man’s presence. You can travel from West to East or the other way around, starting with the most unspoiled eastern area first.
There are many, many things to do and our options in the 3 sections of the Garden Route will give you a rich and varied experience. The walks and hikes are legendary, as is the marine life and there is a thriving art and craft culture along the way.
We are still building options for you in this area, so keep an eye open for updates.
Click on the routes above to get more information.
