Originally Posted by
WombatCA
@
skywardhunter Thank you! I didn't realize we could do the Garden Route that quickly. That would help leave some time for some other places.
The Garden Route is a generic term for the "South Coast" or basically the stretch from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, primarily along the N2 highway. While a beautiful drive the PE to CPT drive can be done in 9hrs (I've done this several times) and ultimately it is a high way. ConcenieCo airports are George (GRJ) and PE, though I believe PE has more flights so better fares and options time-wise.
Knysna is nice, and yes there are several elephant parks along the way, including the Addo elephant park in PE. If you like bungee jumping and that kind of extreme sport there's a bridge 2hrs west of PE on the N2, the bloukrans bridge, which for many years was the highest permanent bungy in the world (216m) and is in an absoliabso stunning setting in a gorge with the Indian Ocean visible in the distance.
Another option is to route to CPT more in-land via the Karoo by going via Oudtshoorn and the R62 (from George via a beautiful mountain pass), Oudtshoorn is famous for ostriches and the R62 has many iconic spots along the way. One could also cut back to the N2 from Berrydale to go towards Hermanus if you enjoy longer drives. The Karoo is beautiful but more desert and rock than green, if you start in PE, spend the night in Knysna and spend the day driving this way to Hermanus you'd get a nice combination of both.
I prefer this route also because it has less traffic and is not a highway, road is still in good condition and speed limit is mostly 120km/h (same as the N2)