Scenic roads and amazing places on the way between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth
The Garden Route is the scenic stretch between the Western and Eastern Cape of South Africa. It´s definitely something not to be missed in a trip to the country. The mixture of green sceneries with the semi-arid ones, with white sand beaches, lagoons, mysterious caves, winelands, national parks and even ostrich farms is something unique, that you can´t find anywhere else but there.
The official Garden Route connects Mossel Bay to Storms River Village, but there plenty of beautiful cities and villages around, that you may as well visit when going there.
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– Arts & Bikes, a different way of visiting Cape Town
HOW TO VISIT IT
You can visit the Garden Route in different ways – if you rent a car, you can easily drive around and decide your own route. If you´re traveling in your own, though, this shouldn´t be the best option, as you´ll have to drive a lot and won´t be meeting many people this way.
BLOGGERS TIP: to compare the prices of different car rentals, check this link. And if you book it through this link, you help to maintain this blog online, and you don´t have to pay anything for that.
Also, you can buy the Baz Bus (hop-on hop-off bus) ticket, and go stopping on the way, they have stops at the main cities of the route. It´s an interesting option, but be aware that the bus doesn´t run daily in the same direction, so you have to organize your schedule in advance.
Finally, many companies organize a Garden Route tour, which in my opinion is a great option. I chose the Adventure Garden Route and Addo Tour offered by Earthstompers, and I had a blast!
HOW IS THE TOUR
Not only we visited the main spots of the route, but also we had lots of adventure activities, such as canoeing, visiting a cave, bungee jumping, tree-top canopy tour, shark cage diving, whale watching, sky diving and also a game drive at Addo Elephant Park!
The tour that Earthstompers offers lasts 6 days – it departs every Monday from Cape Town, going all the way to Port Elizabeth, and comes back on Saturday (again to Cape Town).
The cool thing about this tour is that it´s focused on adventure (you experience a lot!), and also it´s a great option for backpackers – they offer you accommodation in very good hostels, with a perfect backpackers atmosphere.
It includes most meals you have during the 6 days, the accommodation at great hostels, a local wine tasting, a cool guide (which was an amazing person, Cindy!), the transportation and good part of the activities (the canoeing, the Cango Cave Adventure Tour and the game drive at Addo Park are included in the price).
The prices are from 6050 rands (2016), depending on the type of accommodation you choose (backpacker or guesthouse). To book the tour or to read more details about it, check the site of Earthstompers here.
Bloggers tip: if you´re planning to travel from Cape Town to Johannesburg, you can do the Garden Route until Port Elizabeth (5 days), and keep traveling from there on to the Eastern Cape. That´s exactly what I did, instead of going all the way back to Cape Town.
WHICH PLACES YOU VISIT
You get to visit many beautiful places during the Garden Route tour, and also to do lots of adventure, it´s a really cool experience! Check out this overview of the tour:
Are you going to the Garden Route? Here you can check all the accommodation options, from hostels to hotels and resorts. 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.
– Day 1: the tour already starts with tons of adrenalin! On the first morning you have two optional activities to choose: either doing the impressive Shark Cage Diving or the Whale Watching in Hermanus (when it´s the whale season, from July to November). In the afternoon you go to Cape Agulhas, the most Southern tip of Africa, where you spend the night at the amazing Agulhas Backpackers hostel.
– Day 2: on the second day you travel through the scenic Route 62 (South Africa’s longest wine route), crossing the semi-arid area know as Little Karoo and visiting Outdshoorn, the ostrich capital of the world. You have a delicious wine tasting and cheese pairing, and visit the cool Cango Caves (where in some parts you have to crawl or stretch to go through it)!
– Day 3: the third day is mostly outside the car – you go to the Wilderness Park, where you do some canoeing in the beautiful river and do a hike to a waterfall, where you have a picnic. You visit pretty Knysna with its popular Waterfront and spectacular viewpoint, and spend the night at Sedgefield beach, at the super cool Afrovibe Backpackers hostel.
– Day 4: the forth is the most exciting day of the tour: it´s when you can jump from Bloukrans Bridge, doing the highest commercial bungee jump of the world, 216 meters high! Also, you can do a cool Tree-Top Canopy Tour at Tsitsikamma National Park. This night you spend close to Addo, at a gorgeous and even fancy farm called Avoca River Cabins.
– Day 5: the fifth day starts very early for those who want to do the extra Game Drive in Addo Park. After the optional activity, you do another safari, crossing the park from North to South, where you get to see many elephants, buffalos, zebras, antelopes, pumbas (warthogs) – and, if you´re lucky, even a lion. At this day you also visit Port Elizabeth, and from there on you already start heading back to the Western part, sleeping at Wilderness.
– Day 6: on the last day there´s also lot of adventure – you go to Mossel Bay, where you can do a tandem Sky Diving or sand boarding at the dunes as optional activites. After there, you finally go back to Cape Town, arriving in the early evening.
And that´s it! Lots of adventure, new cool friend, amazing places visited and an unforgetable experience! I just loved it! I totally recommend this tour with Earthstompers (especially with the funny and energetic guide Cindy)!
How about you? Have you already been to the Garden Route and have some cool tips about it? 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
– Car Rental: compare different prices of car rentals here
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The blogger did the Garden Route by invitation of Earthstompers. I’d like to thank again for the opportunity, and also make it clear that all the opinions present here are independent and personal.
