Summary
Short description
City greats, world-beating drives, award-winning wines and the ultimate safari
Highlights
- Sample Cape Town’s rich heritage, beaches and pretty scenery
- End with an all-inclusive safari in the ultimate Big Five destination
- Taste your way through the Winelands’ rolling vineyards
- Drive the ultra-scenic Garden Route
- Stay in luxuriously boutique properties throughout
In Brief
- 3 Nights Cape Town
- 1 Night Franschhoek
- 1 Night Oudtshoorn
- 2 Nights The Garden Route
- 3 Nights Greater Kruger National Park
In pictures
About
Recommended for:
Food & wine | Honeymoon | May holidays | National Parks | Natural world | Safari | Self-drive | Wildlife
This is your chance to wrap up all of South Africa’s highlights in one trip. You’ll begin with Cape Town’s spectacular natural beauty and infectious energy before an epic road trip through the Garden Route’s undulating greenery links the country’s finest vineyards with a series of luxury stays. Then, after an included flight hop, you’ll arrive at the world’s ultimate safari destination – Greater Kruger National Park. Here, you’ll be treated to twice-daily game drives and full-board gourmet dining.
Day by day itinerary
Day
1
Depart UK
Begin your holiday with complimentary airport lounge access before your overnight flight.
Days
2-4
Cape Town
Arriving into Cape Town, you’ll pick up your hire car at the airport and drive to the private gardens and balconies of your boutique accommodation. Set right on the slopes of Table Mountain, it’s perfectly positioned for exploring the city’s storied icon on impossibly scenic hikes and cable car rides. While there are the sunsets and cocktails of the city’s beaches, the seafood restaurants of the V&A Waterfront and the penal past of Nelson Mandela’s Robben Island, you might also want to make use of your hire car to drive the pretty coastal route down to the Cape Peninsula’s penguins and to admire spectacular views from the cliffs at Cape Point.
Stay: Four Rosmead Boutique Guest House, Cape Town (Superior)
Meals: B
Day
5
Franschhoek
Drive up, via rolling hills to mist-shrouded mountain passes of Franschhoek and your Victorian Cape-Dutch getaway, all exposed timber ceilings and pretty verandahs. As it’s such a short drive from Cape Town, you’ll have plenty of time to taste your way through what are South Africa’s premier vineyards, representing everything from bold reds to crisp whites.
Stay: Avondrood Guest House (Superior)
Meals: B
Day
6
Oudtshoorn
Today's drive will see Franschhoek’s peaks melt into endlessly rolling greenery before you hop, over the forested slopes of the Outeniqua Mountains, to the desert sweeps of the Little Karoo. It’s the spectacular setting for your Victorian homestead accommodation, filled with old-world charm. Set on a working ostrich farm, it’s a hangover from Oudtshoorn’s 19th-century heyday when the region’s feather barons lived in great mansions, still standing to this day.
Stay: La Plume Guest House, Oudtshoorn (Superior)
Meals: B
Days
7-8
The Garden Route
Today is all about the drive along the Garden Route. And, you'll have the chance to stop at Wilderness's hidden waterfalls, the wild coastline of Storms River and the lakeside idyll of Nature's Valley before you arrive at Hog Hollow Lodge, its whitewashed cottages wrapped in carpeted mountain valleys. As such, you’ll have all of the Garden Route’s delights on your doorstep. Next-door Plettenberg Bay beckons with white-sand beaches and whale-watching opportunities while the region's national parks, including nearby Tsitsikamma, delight with everything from hikes to canoeing. Or, simply indulge with the pool terrace, gourmet restaurant and outdoor boma fire of your luxury accommodation.
Stay: Hog Hollow Country Lodge, Plettenberg Bay, Garden Route (Superior)
Meals: B
Day
9
Greater Kruger National Park
Continue, along the coast, to Port Elizabeth where you’ll drop off your car at the airport and board your flight to Kruger. You’ll be met on arrival and brought to your luxury safari lodge on the Thornybush Nature Reserve by private transfer. Here, you’ll settle in to your suite where outdoor showers and private decks offer sweeping views, across the lodge's river, to the active waterhole and surrounding savannah beyond. Expect lion roars to soundtrack your stay. And, after relaxing with the lodge’s spa, pool and boma fire, you’ll be treated to the first of your gourmet meals, with seasonal ingredients showcased across indulgent menus.
Stay: Thornybush Game Lodge (Deluxe)
Meals: D
Days
10-11
Greater Kruger National Park
Bordering Kruger National Park, this private, open-fenced reserve combines exclusivity with the ultimate in Southern African game viewing. You’ll explore on twice-daily game drives, departing in the early morning and late afternoon when the heat drops and the animals are at their most active. The Big Five – rhinos, lions, buffalo, elephant and leopard – are strongly represented, with the reserve’s lion cubs a particular highlight. Get closer with optional bushveld walks or perhaps cap off your days with sundowner safari drinks.
Stay: Thornybush Game Lodge (Deluxe)
Meals: B L D
Day
12
Depart for UK
After a last delicious breakfast overlooking the Monwana River, a private transfer will bring you to Hoedspruit Airport for your flight back to the UK.
Meals: B
Day
13
Arrive UK
Following your overnight flight, continue your onward journey home.
Map
Pricing
Any element of this itinerary can be adjusted to suit your needs. Just contact us to find out more.
Accommodation rating:
13-day tailor-made self-drive & safari
from £5,440 pp incl. flights
Superior
Low Season
from £5,440 pp. incl. flights
High Season
from £5,745 pp. incl. flights
Includes:
- Complimentary UK airport lounge access
- Return flights between the UK and Johannesburg
- Domestic flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town and from Port Elizabeth to Kruger (Hoedspruit)
- Private return transfers between airport and game lodge
- 7 days car hire (Compact car with sat-nav)
- 8 nights in typically 4* (Superior) hotels on a B&B basis
- 3 nights in a 4* (Superior) game lodge on a full-board basis
- Twice-daily shared game drives while on safari
Terms & Conditions
Prices are per person based on two people sharing a twin/double room; prices are subject to availability and possible change; normal booking conditions apply.
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