4-Day Garden Route Tour – Cape Town to Cape Town (Code: SCCH)

This 4-day garden route tour departs daily from Cape Town to the scenic Garden Route.  The tour continues through  must-see areas in the Garden Route such as Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, the Tsitsikamma National Park and Storms River Mouth! We also traverse through the adjacent semi-desert Little Karoo visiting the famous Cango Caves and an ostrich farm, then on to Cape Town via Route 62.  Our small group tours create an exclusive feel in luxurious comfort. 

 Day 1.  Cape Town – Mossel Bay – George – Knysna (Garden Route)

Your tour departs from Cape Town to the Garden Route and drive eastwards via Sir Lowry’s Pass. Travel through the famous apple country of Grabouw to Swellendam and Mossel Bay. Here you visit arguably the oldest post office in Africa, the Post Office Tree. This is the site where the Portuguese explorer, Bartholomeu Dias, made first landfall in 1488. From here you truly enter the Garden Route and travel past George via the Wilderness Lakelands to Knysna. Overnight at Parkes Manor or similar.

Day 2.  Knysna – Plettenberg Bay – Tsitsikamma National Park (Garden Route)

We travel further to Plettenberg Bay after breakfast for a short visit. Traverse through magnificent scenic river valley passes – truly nature’s gardens – and arrive at the Tsitsikamma National Park (Khoisan for ‘The place of much water). You can do an hour’s roundtrip walk to the suspension bridge stretching over the mouth of the Storms River. Afterwards, we continue to The Bloukrans Bridge, 216 metres (709 feet) above the Bloukrans River. The Bloukrans Bungee is the world’s highest commercial bungee bridge and is the highest commercial natural bungee jump in the world!

After this exciting experience, we visit the Birds of Eden aviary. This unique two-hectare dome (the world’s largest) spans over a gorge of indigenous forest. It is currently home to over 3,500 birds from over 220 species, focusing on African birds. Travelling past Plettenberg Bay to Knysna on the edge of the Knysna Lagoon with its entrance to the sea guarded by two promontories known as the ‘Heads’. The area also is part of a National Park to conserve the extraordinary natural beauty of the Lakelands and adjacent indigenous forests.  Overnight at at Parkes Manor or similar.

Day 3.  Knysna – George – Oudtshoorn (Karoo)

After breakfast, we offer an optional short cruise on the Knysna Lagoon. Depart from Knysna and travel to George. From here you drive over the scenic Outeniqua Pass to Oudtshoorn. The town is known as the ‘Feather Capital’ of the world as we find the largest concentration of ostrich farms in the world here. We visit the Cango Caves, regarded as one of South Africa’s foremost natural wonders. The fascinating calcite caves comprise an underground wonderland of stalactites and stalagmites.  Overnight at La Plume Guest Lodge.

Day 4.  Oudtshoorn – Montagu – Worcester – Cape Town (Route 62)

After an early start, you visit an ostrich show farm for some unique experiences. Then the tour takes us via the famous Route 62 past Montague for a quick wine tasting at one of the wine estates. Our final section of the tour takes us past Worcester through the Huguenot Tunnel. On the other side of the mountains, on a clear day, you can see Table Mountain in the distance. Arrive in Cape Town where the tour ends.