An Easy Garden Route Itinerary
A Garden Route road trip is a necessary part of any visit to South Africa. If you’re only visiting South Africa once and Cape Town is your destination, then this is the best itinerary for you as it adds in a visit to the only game reserve near the city. I did this exact itinerary for my annual sibling road trip with my brother and sister. It was a hit.
Garden Route Map
How long should my Garden Route road trip be and where should I stay?
That totally depends on how much time you have. As my siblings are only ever (likely) going to visit South Africa once, we wanted to make sure that we made all the best stops in the shortest amount of time, so that they could also explore Cape Town. I wouldn’t change a thing about our trip and so…
The easy answer is 9 nights (including 2 at a safari).
There are so many cute towns along the Garden Route! We ended up staying in Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, and Storms River and made stops at other towns along the way.
You can easily spend one night in a new town for the length of your stay, but this sounded tiring to us. Many of the towns are within ‘day trip’ distance and so we choose to spend 2 nights at Plettenberg Bay instead of one night there and another in Nature’s Valley. We also decided to spend 2 nights at Storms River because we wanted to do a big hike at Tsitsikamma National Park.
The Garden Route stretches between Mossel Bay and Storms River, but many people add on additional towns to visit before Mossel Bay (like Hermanus) or after Storms River (like Gqeberha).
Alright, here comes the Easy Garden Route Itinerary! Swap out any activities you’re not into and baam! You’ll have a plan all set up without the stress of planning. My sister and I planned out this itinerary over 2 months if you can believe it… (We are serial planners and lived by an itinerary that we set up on google docs. My brother just comes along the for the ride, hah.)
For more tips and to check out all the posts, read the Garden Route Guide.
Garden Route Itinerary
Day 1-3: Gondwana Game Reserve
Don’t feel like going on a safari or do you plan to do one later? All good! Head out straight to Mossel Bay.
Drive— 4.5 hours from Cape Town to Gondwana Game Reserve
Stay—Gondwana Game Reserve (Luxury, R13000/pp for 2 nights)
Day Plans— Morning and evening safari game drives in a luxury environment, what else do you need? The food is amazing and you’ll feel totally spoiled after arriving in South Africa. 24 hours after my siblings landed from the US, they were looking at a lion and having sundowners with elephants in the distance. Check out the full review.
Day 3-4: Knysna with a stop at Mossel Bay
Drive— 30 minutes from Gondwana to Mossel Bay. 1h20 minutes from Mossel Bay to Knysna
Stay—Knysna Inn (simple accommodation, R350+)
Day Plans —
Day 3: Head to Mossel Bay for 2 hours max to visit the coast and the St. Blaize Lighthouse. You should hike up to see the views after staring into the water to see the sea urchins.
Next, make a stop at Holy Trinity Belvidere Church before you enter Knysna. Check-in at Knysna Inn and then head to Sirocco for dinner and walk around Thesen Island.
Day 4: The next day, have breakfast at Oaks on Main. Drive to Knysna Heads Viewpoint then spend some time at Coney Glen Beach. Head back to Thesen Island for a 2h10min scenic boat cruise. Finally, have lunch and then drive to Plettenberg Bay.
Day 4-6: Plettenberg Bay
Drive— 30 minutes from Knysna to Plettenberg Bay.
Stay— Airbnb near Robberg Nature Reserve for good wifi and a laundry machine. (Mid-range, R2000/pp)
Day Plans—
Day 4: Chill out at your lodging in Plettenberg. If you arrive by early afternoon, do the 5.5km hike at Robberg Nature Reserve. In the evening, pick up food, head out for dinner, or make something at your Airbnb. We made pasta!
Day 5: Visit the Elephant Sanctuary and spend some time at the beach. Visit Robberg Nature Reserve if you haven’t already.
Day 6: Finally, get some groceries before heading to Storms River because this is your last big city!
Day 6-8: Storms River with a stop at Nature’s Valley
Drive— 30 minutes from Plettenberg Bay to Nature’s Valley. 30 minutes from Nature’s Valley to Storms River.
Stay—The Boutique Forest Cabin (mid-range, R1500/pp for 2 nights)
Day Plan—
Day 6: As you leave Plettenberg Bay, make a stop at Nature’s Valley before ending at Storms River. Spend 2 hours max checking out the beaches and doing the Nature’s Valley lookout hike by the beach. Continue on to Storms River. To end your day, make dinner in the cute cabin or eat out at any of the quirky places in the village.
Day 7: The next day, go on the Waterfall hike and the Suspension Bridge walk at Tsitsikamma National Park.
Day 8: This is the longest drive of your road trip! Start the day by visiting the Big Tree, right outside of Stroms River. Then, drive to Hermanus (5h40min). If you’d like, make a stop for lunch along the way. We stopped in Mossel Bay and had lunch at Starz.
Other options—Drive straight to Cape Town (6.5 hours) or spend the night somewhere other than Hermanus. A stop at Cape Agulhas (for the southernmost tip of Africa), George, or even a night in wine country could be other great stopover options.
Day 8- 9: Hermanus and Cape Town
Drive—5h40min from Storms River to Hermanus. 1.5 hours from Hermanus to Cape Town.
Stay—Walker Bay Manor (simple accommodation, R750/pp) in Hermanus
Day Plans—
Day 8: You’ll probably arrive in the evening so plan to walk the Cliff Path to get a nice sunset view and then grab dinner. We had a late lunch, so we didn’t eat dinner this night.
Day 9: Spend a day wandering Hermanus. Check out the Grotto Beach, walk along the Cliff Path, or go surfing! There are some art galleries in town that are nice. Head to this spot and wander around. Next, have lunch at Burgundy; it’s totally worth the hype!
Finally, drive to Cape Town before sunset.
Woohoo! You made it and have completed the Garden Route Itinerary!