A practical and comfortable way to travel around South Africa
Travelling around South Africa could be extremely difficult and expensive especially when you want to see as much as possible. There’s plenty of ways to get around but if you are a budget traveller, flying from one city to another is definitely not an option, even when you do find flights with reasonable prices between Cape Town and Johannesburg you might miss lot of small wonderful places which aren’t close to any airports.
There are many other ways you can get around. Renting a car can be an option but it´s a lot of stress, especially if you’re not used to drive on the left side of the road.
Then a cheaper option would be to take the bus and that’s the one I choose. You can check the main liner buses, such as Greyhound and Intercape but there’s another bus to travel around the whole country, much more practical and comfortable: the Hop-on Hop-off bus, Baz Bus.
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– Paragliding Flight in Cape Town
– Once in Cape Town, a great option of hostel
WHAT IS BAZ BUS?
It’s a Hop-On Hop-Off bus specifically created for backpackers travelling South Africa. They pick you up at the door of your hostel and drop you off at your next hostel. There’s no need to worry about how to get from the bus station to the hostel, or to spend extra money on getting there. They have over a 180 hostels on their list and over 40 Cities, Towns and Villages to choose from.
Are you going to South Africa? Here you can check all the accommodation options. And if you book it through this link, you help to mantain this blog online, and you don´t have to pay anything for that.
WHY THE HOP-ON HOP-OFF BUS IS A GOOD OPTION
There are many advantages in using the Baz Bus to travel in South Africa:
– Door to door: As previously mentioned they conveniently pick you up from the door step of your hostel and drop you off at the next. This means you don’t get dropped off at bus terminals at crazy times of the day and you don’t have to spend extra cash on getting to where you would love to be.
– The Extraordinary South African Coastline: the Baz Bus drives through most of the South African coastline from Cape Town to Johannesburg with plenty of options of stops, for example the popular Garden Route and the incredible Wild Coast.
– You can depend on them: Even though bus schedules can be affected by the road traffic, they are usually on time and are able to keep their schedule, if they are running a bit earlier or later than usual they inform the hostel reception and you have the convenience of hanging around the hostel a bit longer !
– One ticket, as many stops as you want: you just have to buy one ticket, choosing the initial point and the final destination, and you can hop-on and hop-off as many times as you want and for as long as you want. There is no time limit so if you have time you can just enjoy a city as long as you like and hop-on for the next one as soon as you want new adventure!
– New friends: a good thing about Baz Bus is that you meet many people during the trip, and usually some of them are going to the same destination as you. You arrive at the place already having new friends and even when they’re not stopping at the same place as you, you always manage to catch them on a later stage in the bus.
– Stories about the places: It depend the driver, but most of them share really interesting stories about the places and point of interest that you’re going to see on the way. For example when driving through the Eastern Cape the driver would show you the home of the late Nelson Mandela and the place he was laid to rest. Sometime they’ll even allow a short photo stop opportunity.
BLOGGERS TIP: You can compare the prices of different travel insurances acessing this link, it´s very practical to choose a good one. Also, you can have a 15% discount on your insurance using this link.
– Easy to book: Whenever you want to depart for a new City or Town you have to book your bus seat, but it’s extremely easy and there are many options to choose from for example SMS, Phone Call, Skype and Email. (To avoid disappointment they advise to book at least 72 hours in advance)
– Extra possibilities: They also offer a full day tour of the Cape Peninsula at the cheapest price. It’s definitely worth checking it out as it ticks many things to do in Cape Town in only one day (Chapman’s Peak, Hout Bay and the seal, Boulder’s beach and the penguins, Cycling in the Nature Reserve, Hiking to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope…). They also have Safari and Adventure packages which includes all the highlights like Kruger National Park, Chobe National Park and Victoria Falls.
You have different ticket options to buy so you can choose from which city to which city you want to go with a Hop on Hop off ticket and travel with no limit of time until you reach your destination. They also have Travel Passes which is so convenient when you are travelling on a time limit. The coolest thing about the travel pass is that you can go whichever direction and anywhere you’d like within the time limit, and it’s also a cheaper option.
When you buy a ticket whether it’s via telephone, website or email, they will provide you with a ticket number and every time you want to travel, you just have to get in touch (by Email, SMS, phone or Skype) in advance, providing this number, and the info about your trip (the pick-up place, and the hostel where you’ll be staying). You got to be ready 15 minutes before the first time scheduled for the pick-up and that’s it! Very easy and practical!
An important observation is that you have to check their bus schedule – they usually run every other day in the same direction, so make sure there’s a bus available in the date you want to travel as you may have to adapt your trip plans to the Baz Bus schedule.
For checking the ticket prices and more info about it, check the Baz Bus site here.
How about you? Have you already been to South Africa and have some cool tips about the city? Share your ideas leaving a comment here!
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Planning your trip:
– Accommodation: you can book your accommodation here – hotels/hostels comparing and free booking cancel
– Travel Insurance: you have a 15% discount in your travel insurance if you book it using this link, or here you can compare different prices of travel insurances
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The blogger traveled by Baz Bus by invitation of the company. I’d like to thank again for the opportunity, and also make it clear that all the opinions present here are independent and personal.
