Posts by Axe85

Hi, Thanks again for your itinerary idea—I actually used a lot of it for inspiration! 😊 I’m reaching out because I’d love to get your thoughts on the first part of our trip. After some consideration, we’ve decided not to cover the whole country—financially, it was starting to get a bit too steep. This first part alone is already 48 days out of the 85 we planned. Proposed itinerary:

December 21–29: Cape Town and the entire peninsula.

December 29–January 3: Staying in Gordon's Bay to explore the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek wine regions, the coast, and Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. We settled on Gordon's Bay because there wasn’t much left in our budget around Stellenbosch. 😅

January 3–6: Heading to Saldanha for 3 days to enjoy West Coast National Park.

January 6–10: Cederberg, near Clanwilliam, including the Sevilla Rock Art Trail.

January 10–13: A 2-night break between Clanwilliam and Citrusdal.

January 13–14: One night in Tulbagh.

January 14–16: Staying in McGregor to enjoy the peace and quiet and Vrolijkheid Nature Reserve.

January 16–18: Montagu.

January 18–19: A transitional night in Ladismith, then driving to Calitzdorp before taking the Swartberg Pass to Oudtshoorn.

January 19–22: 3 nights in Oudtshoorn.

January 22–26: Garden Route with 4 nights in Wilderness.

January 26–February 1: Plettenberg Bay or Knysna (we’re still deciding, likely based on accommodation prices 😅). We’ve intentionally planned a longer stop to take our time and wander.

February 1–3: 2 nights in Storms River to explore Tsitsikamma Park (though we might have already visited from Knysna).

February 3–6: 3 nights in Colchester or Addo to discover Addo Elephant National Park.

For accommodations, we’re pretty happy—we’ve found quite a few rooms or entire places for around 35 to 40 € per night max, with a few nights camping here and there. As for the car, I’ve spotted some good rates with Around About Cars (their name comes up a lot, including in the Michelin Guide). Given our itinerary, I was thinking of going with a small city car. At first glance, I don’t see much point in getting something bigger, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. For the rest of the trip (about 38 days), I’m thinking of taking a flight from Port Elizabeth to Durban. The idea is to then do a loop: Drakensberg → St. Lucia area → Hluhluwe, then drive back to Durban. What do you think? We’d considered reaching the Drakensberg via Lesotho (or northern Lesotho), but between the small car, the roads not always being suitable, and the number of kilometers to cover, it seemed less appealing. In the end, flying seems more logical and probably more budget-friendly. At this stage, we’ve used about 60% of our budget for 60% of the trip, so we’re roughly on track. That said, I’m a little worried the second part might end up costing more than expected. Since we’ve still got a good month left to do all this, I’m trying to plan ahead as much as possible. I can already hear you asking: "What about Kruger, then?" 😅 Don’t worry, we know we’re missing out on some classics. But we’d much rather take our time and enjoy the regions we’re visiting instead of rushing through kilometers. It’ll also leave us with some amazing things to discover on our next trip to South Africa! 😊 Thanks in advance for your feedback! 👍

Wow, thanks so much for all your replies!

To answer your questions: yes, we’re definitely very interested in safaris and wildlife. More broadly, our main interests revolve around wide-open spaces, nature, landscapes, and animals. We’re not at all drawn to big cities, except for Cape Town since we’ll be arriving there. That said, I’ve heard that spending 15 days in Cape Town might be a bit too long.

* Regarding the accommodation prices you mentioned: should we book well in advance, or is it feasible to travel day by day without too much stress about not finding anything or running into excessive prices?

* About the semi-desert regions question, I think Namibia definitely fits the bill for that part of the trip.

* From a cost perspective, would a domestic flight—like between Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg—help us save money (time, gas, etc.)?

* Finally, based on your experience, what overall budget should we plan for a 2- to 2.5-month trip? This would help us assess whether the project is feasible. We’re aiming to travel on a budget, though we’re not necessarily planning to camp the whole time either.

Thanks again for all your feedback! I’ll probably be back with more questions as we go along!

Hi, We’re a young couple planning to travel to South Africa after spending about three weeks in Namibia. We’ll arrive in Cape Town around mid-December, with no fixed travel duration (though our budget will eventually set a limit). After browsing through the forum, we’ve realized the country is packed with incredible spots, which makes choosing an itinerary tough. We’re looking for stunning landscapes, hikes, and so on. So, we’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. When we arrive in Cape Town, we’d like to settle in and take it easy until New Year’s, exploring at a relaxed pace. We know this period coincides with South African holidays—does that make finding accommodations (availability/prices) more difficult? Do you think it’s possible to stay in a nice place for about 15 days without aiming for the most upscale neighborhoods? Maybe somewhere a bit outside Cape Town, like Fish Hoek, and just visit the city occasionally. After that, we’ll have plenty of time (about 2 to 2.5 months) to explore the country. We’d like to take our time. In your opinion, is it better to focus on the Cape Town region, or is it reasonable to consider more distant areas like the Drakensberg or Blyde River Canyon? Can everything be done by car if we take our time, or are domestic flights sometimes more practical? Budget-wise, how much do car rentals cost? For accommodations, we usually look at Airbnb—are they affordable in South Africa? What’s the average nightly rate outside the biggest cities? Are there other platforms you’d recommend for saving on lodging? Finally, regarding safety, are there any regions to avoid besides Johannesburg? We know this is a lot of questions, but we’re still in the early planning stages! Thanks in advance for your advice!