invisible

Hello everybody,

In February/March I and my wife will have our first trip in Africa (I mean - whole continent) - we've been invited to our friends' wedding which will be held at Kruger.

The wedding is planned at the weekend of first week of March. I and my wife decided that we most likely won't have any such opportunity, so added one more week to see/enjoy SA as well.

What we have set in stone so far is the arrival/departure dates - we arrive morning on Feb 22nd and we need to be on Mar 1st (or Feb 28th) in Johannesburg to drive to Kruger. We are back to Johannesburg on 5th of March and fling out on 6th.

So we have at least 6 nights/days to see at/around Cape Town. While I will read available guides, and listen to suggestions my thoughts are to stay two nights at CT and then drive on Garden Route to Port Elizabeth (and back).

So question to audience - does above plan makes sense? Where would you recommend to stay and what to see, considering that we admire nature and scenery and are budget oriented travellers?

If you have any alternative routes, please share.

Thanks,

2RETIREDTRAVELERS

With your limited time on the Cape I would skip the garden route and just enjoy Cape Town and the surrounds. You will have plenty to see and do. Trust me- you will return to S Africa!

invisible

So what to do and how should I fill 6 days/nights in Cape Town? Is not it too much?

Well, only if someone else is paying for air tickets - round trip from Singapore in Economy starts from $1800.

Ditto

It is definitely not too much, there is a lot to see in Cape Town and the surroundings, you shouldn't restrict yourself to the city itself.
But driving all the way to Port Elizabeth and back will take you at least 1 very long day of driving in each direction and doesn't make much sense if you only have 6 days.

In terms of scenery, some places to visit are Table Mountain, Cape of good hope & Stellenbosch.
You can also rent a car and drive along the coastal road towards Port Elizabeth, you don't need to go all the way to enjoy the scenery

If you really want to do the garden route, do it only in one direction, you can fly from Port Elizabeth back to JNB, and I would recommend on staying a night in one of many guest houses in Knysna

I see the cheapest tickets are with QR, for S$837

invisible

[QUOTE=Ditto;27506224]It is definitely not too much, there is a lot to see in Cape Town and the surroundings, you shouldn't restrict yourself to the city itself.
Well, as I said, most interests are with scenery and nature. Plus we like road tips.

Actually my original idea was to have two nights and 2.5 days at Cape town and then start driving on Garden Route while spending three nights alongside the route with last night at George or Port Elizabeth.

How much extra fees would be for car rental on one way trip? I also was told that we don't need to drive all the way to Port Elizabeth, but fly our from George, would it be a good alternative?

Affirmative. We actually need to get at Kruger/Hoedspruit, so I was thinking to take one way flight from Cape Town or George/Port Elizabeth.

With connection. Adds 12 more hours one way.

SanDiego1K

We drove the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. I thought much of the drive was boring.

I thought that Hermanus for whale watching and the nearby penguin colony were well worth a visit and overnight stay. Drive one direction via the Cape of Good Hope.

2RETIREDTRAVELERS

Seriously- if you are sure you will not return to Africa cut 2 days from Cape Town and go see Victoria falls. You only need a day to see them. If I was going to only spend one night I would stay in one of the better hotels, eat somewhere elegant and take the helicopter ride above the falls and fly to Joburg in the morning to meet your people.^

2RETIREDTRAVELERS

BUT Cape Town is one of my favorite places on this Earth.

look at
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/afric...-capetown.html

Ditto

Yes you can also fly from George airport, although flights from there seems to be about double than from PLZ to JNB.
You can also connect in JNB to HDS and save yourself the long drive from JNB.
Check out the prices for flights and see what fits in your budget

Fuel in SA is cheap, I think it was around R12 per litre when I was there last month so shouldn't be a big factor in the decision.

I don't know how much extra will the one way fee be, but I wouldn't waste a day going back to CPT just to avoid it, you're probably looking at few hundred rands.

Can't have it all

T8191

We have our very first Africa in 2 weeks from today! Plan is 5 days Cape Town, 3 in Stellenbosh and 4 in Franschhoek. City/Town/Country, so to speak!! We're a bit old to consider Safari stuff, and will probably see enough scenery from the taxi between locations!

No idea if that helps the OP, but it's one perspective to consider

Who knows if we will return? Depends on how it goes, obviously, and whether we can get bargain fares again! We were able to grab redemption seats in BA Club World when they first released the LGW-CPT route, so it's £420 each plus the Amex 2-4-1 Companion Voucher and a bucket of Avios.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...-2016-a-2.html

invisible

How much time did you spend on driving?
Anything else in addition to these two?

We are going to New Zealand in one month and I hope to have enough penguin sightings there. Surely won't drive that route just for them.

invisible

I have two constraints - I am not alone - will be there with my wife and she is not the person to be rushed from place to place and from country to country. It is vacation for her.

Second constraint, as already mentioned, is budget. If round trip flight for Cape Town to Victoria falls and two nights would run $900/person - it is off the table. If it would cost 1/3 of that - I would consider it as an option.

I was at Iguazu Falls last month. I can survive without seen Victoria.

It is good that you can afford helicopter flights. To me price/performance is not there.

invisible

Any recommendations for car rental companies at either places? What to look for, what to avoid?

T8191

We are planning on just using Rikki's Taxis to get from A-B ... seems a very convincing website.

Please tell me that's a good company!!

PS: Please excuse me for sharing the Thread!

Ditto

I usually use Avis and had no issues with them whatsoever.
If you do go for them, make sure to register as a "preferred" member, even if you will never use them again, it will easily save you 10-15 minutes of queuing