South Africa
Embark on an unforgettable journey through South Africa, from the captivating Kruger National Park's wild landscapes to the scenic Garden Route leading to Cape Town. Witness the iconic Big Five in their natural habitat as you safari through Kruger. Drive along the enchanting Garden Route, stopping at Tsitsikamma National Park for coastal trails and adrenaline-pumping activities. Explore charming towns like Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, encountering everything from oyster farms to whale-watching opportunities. Reach Cape Town to marvel at Table Mountain's grandeur and immerse yourself in the diverse cultural experiences this incredible country has to offer.
South Africa Travel Video
Check out a short travel edit of traveling through South Africa to gain inspiration for your trip.
DAY 3: Kruger Safari - Guided
DAY 5: Transfer to the Garden Route
DAY 7: Cape Town and Table Mountain
7 Day Itinerary
Before hitting the road, we wanted to quickly see the historic buildings in Pretoria. The Union Buildings are right near the City Center and are perched on a hill looking over a large green area. It’s a great place to walk around and admire the architecture of the buildings. From there, you can also go to the City Center where you’ll see locals selling their goods in markets and storefronts.
The quickest route from Johannesburg/Pretoria to Kruger is about 4.5 - 5.0 hours depending where you plan to stay while visiting Kruger. There’s a fun place to stop and get gas about an hour and half into the drive at the Alzu along the N4 before you go through the town of Wonderfontein. It has an animal pen at the back of the property which lots of restaurants looking at a watering hole with your first taste of some local African wildlife.
If you have extra time, there’s a good route that takes you a longer way through the mountains but is much more scenic than staying on the main highway the whole way there. Take the R36 highway north to R533 and you’ll be on a winding mountain road in the back country. This adds about an hour to the trip time but is worth it to see more of the countryside.
We stayed at the Sabie River Bush Lodge which sits along the bank of the Sabie River looking into Kruger National Park. The main entrance, The Kruger Gate, is about 20 minutes away so you have easy access for safaris, and can even see hippos and other wildlife safely from your accommodations.
We had another full day to explore Kruger, and this day we drove it on our own. What’s great about doing a guided tour the first day, is you get to experience sitting in the open air, elevated surface on the safari vehicle, and can find out about places that you need to go when you’re on your own. The guide told us a lot of other places where animals had been active, so we took his advice and found some routes that looked interesting. At each camp in the park, there are Sighting Boards that people can put stickers where they have seen big game, so you can focus on driving to areas that people are seeing animals.
We drove more north this day, and stopped for lunch at the Tshokwane Trading Post & Picnic Site. It’s much smaller than Skukuza, but has a good restaurant and shop with little gifts you can buy. The spot is overlooking a ravine with crocodiles lining the river below.
After another full day of safari, we headed back to our hotel and laid by the pool with the remaining sunlight and had another amazing dinner as the full moon rose over the park.
Having experienced two full days of safari in Kruger, take a plane ride down to the southern coast to begin driving the Garden Route, a famous coastal highway route. Since Kruger is pretty far north within the country, it makes the most sense to take a quick plane ride. The Kruger Mpuumalanga International Airport is about a 90 minute drive from the Kruger Gate, and is the best option to fly in and out of the park. We dropped our rental car at the airport, and caught a flight to Port Elizabeth.
Port Elizabeth is a larger coastal town which lies at the eastern end of the Garden Route. The plan was to drive along the coast from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, so we immediately hit the road upon landing to make it to Plettenberg Bay, our home for the night. The drive is about two and a half hours, but the scenery is incredible. There are plenty of beaches to stop at and go swimming in the Indian Ocean. The mountains also rise quickly up from the ocean and are lined with dense forests. There are some deep ravines you pass over, which are famous for bungee jumping. If time permits, stop at Tsitsikamma National Park which has some great views and hikes along the coast.
Plettenberg Bay (Plett as the locals call it) is a picturesque town on a bluff overlooking the ocean. It has some great beaches to lay out at or watch the sunset as you eat dinner overlooking the Indian Ocean.
The drive from Plettenberg Bay to Cape Town is just over six hours, so ideally you could have another day to break it up. But if you’re short on time, it can be done in one day with no issues. There’s plenty of things to see along the way to break up the drive, so start early to ensure you have time to enjoy.
The Robberg Nature Reserve on the west side of Plettenberg Bay is a rocky peninsula that extends out to the ocean. There are some great quick hiking trails you can walk out on, and could be a great way to start the day. Park in the car park and take one of the trails as far out as you feel like going.
The next town you drive through is Knysa. There’s a really nice viewpoint called The Heads, which are impressive sandstone cliffs guarding the entrance to the Knysna Lagoon. Knysna offers a great waterfront with shopping, dining, and boat tours on the lagoon.
Google maps will give you a few options for which roads to take into Cape Town after Knysa, and we elected to go more inland which is an entirely different feel from the coast. Once you arrive in the town of George, head up the N12 through the mountain pass. Be sure to look behind you and stop at a pull off as the views back to the coast are beautiful. As you come over the mountains, the landscape turns more rugged and into a desert.
When you get to the town of Oudtshoorn, head west on the R62. The landscape continues to be incredibly dramatic the entire way and you’ll be treated to some amazing desert views. A famous stop along this route is Ronnie’s Sex Shop. It started as a roadside farm stall in the 1970s by a man named Ronnie, and the word "sex" was added to the sign as a prank by Ronnie's friends. It’s a great place to stop for lunch (the burgers are really good).
The rest of the way the landscape becomes more agricultural and there are many wineries closer to Cape Town. The mountains also get even more dramatic closer to the city. For dinner, head into downtown Cape Town and walk down Long Street, the main night life area in the city.
Cape Town is sandwiched between the ocean and the dramatic Table Mountain, making it one of the more unique and breathtaking cities. It is also located at the confluence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The city has everything from a rich culture, multiple historical sites, and endless outdoor activities.
The most famous and iconic thing in Cape Town is Table Mountain, which stands at over 3,500 feet over the city. The mountain is flat topped giving it its name, and the cliffs are almost vertical making for an impressive site considering the rest of the city is essentially at sea level. You can elect to hike it, or take the gondola to the top to access more hiking trails and views of the city.
Table Mountain gets busy as it’s the main tourist attraction, so get there early to beat a lot of the lines that can back up to get a ticket on the gondola. Once on top of the mountain, there’s a restaurant and gift shop, but you should plan to hike away from this main tourist area and get away from people. Even though you’re in the middle of the city, you feel like you’ve stepped into a whole new environment on top of the mountain.
After working up an appetite hiking all morning, head to the Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront. This is a busy shopping area with lots of restaurants and markets to buy local foods and goods. For the afternoon, head down the coast through the Sea Point and Camps Bay neighborhoods. There are lots of beaches and beachside bar/s restaurants to stop at and the views of the coastline in each direction are amazing. This is also a good area for sunset since it faces west across the Atlantic.
Cape Town is also known as one of the best places in the world for Great White Shark diving. If you’re up to this sort of thing, there are many tour operators that will take you cage diving in False Bay which lies on the eastern side of the city on the other side of Table Mountain. The tour takes you out at sunrise (just the ride alone and views of the sun coming up over the bay are worth the trip enough in my opinion) and let you see the sharks breaching as they hunt for seals. You also can get in a cage that floats at the top of the water and look out through goggles as they circle the boat.
After the tour, have lunch at Simon’s Bay which is on the edge of False Bay. From there you can head south along the coast towards the Cape of Good Hope. Along the way, stop at Boulder Beach, which is home to an established penguin colony. You can hike along the beach and come up close to the penguins. As you continue south, you’ll reach the entrance to the National Park which requires you to pay to get in (minimal fee). The most famous hike, is to continue all the way south and hike up the cliff above the Cape which is the most southern tip of the African continent. It’s really cool to stand on the edge of the cliff and look out at the meeting point of two major oceans.
As you head back north towards Cape Town, take the western road to spend time exploring the coastline and beaches. Drive up through Hout Bay and back into the city as the sun sets for the final night in Cape Town and South Africa.
The following itinerary was designed for a trip spanning just over a week, with the aim of experiencing the best of South Africa. By prioritizing top attractions and destinations, this itinerary involves a fair amount of driving, yet it offers the opportunity to discover the country's rich diversity and make the most of your time at the southern tip of the African continent.
DAY 1: Arrival in Johannesburg and Pretoria
DAY 2: Drive to Kruger National Park
DAY 4: Kruger Safari - Self Guided
DAY 6: Drive to Cape Town
DAY 8: False Bay and Cape of Good Hope
There are multiple flight routes to South Africa, with the two main international airports being Johannesburg (JNB) and Cape Town (CPT). I chose the nonstop from Atlanta, which while being long (about 17 or 18 hours), is much easier than having to break up the trip in Europe.
Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa. It was founded in 1886 during the gold rush and rapidly evolved into a major global city and an economic hub of Africa. Pretoria is the capital of South Africa and lies to the north of Johannesburg. It is smaller but holds a lot of historical significance for the country.
We elected to stay in Pretoria, because it allowed us to be slightly closer to Kruger National Park, which we planned to drive to in the morning. Also, it is smaller so we figured it would be easier to get a feel for the larger cities on our only night there.
Our hotel was right near the University of Pretoria, so there was plenty of restaurants as well as university bars that we spent the night at, getting acclimated to the time change. One of the great things about South Africa is how inexpesive things are compared to the US. The first bar tab we got (a bucket of beers) was cheaper than one beer back home.
The Sabie River Bush Lodge has its own guided safaris and safari vehicles, so we booked a trip with them. The early morning tour starts you before sunrise, so it’s an early wake up call. By the time you get to the park itself, the sun is just coming up, so you get to see the animals as they are waking up for the day and beginning to move about.
The guides try to get you to successfully see all of the Big Five (Lion, Leopard, Black Rhino, Elephant, and Buffalo). They’ll take you around the most active spots and are in contact with other tour operators so if there’s a big animal sighting, they are the first to know.
We booked an all day tour, so after the morning tour, the guides take you to the Skukuza Camp which is a populated area inside the park. There’s a number of restaurants in camp to choose from and the food is very good.
We were fortunate and ended up seeing all of the Big Five, plus countless other amazing animals. At the end of the day, you’ll be taken back to the hotel where you can relax in the pool overlooking the river before eating at the onsite restaurant which is up in a remodeled treehouse, with a different course each night.