Africa · South Africa
Eight days between Cape Town and the Garden Route: the Cape Peninsula, a safari in a private reserve, the Cango Caves, the Tsitsikamma bridges and a wine tasting at Groot Constantia.
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Indicative price from
€1,999
per person
This itinerary is a starting point: we'll adapt it with you in your tailor-made proposal.
Request informationCape Town and South Africa's most beautiful coastline in a week, with a private driver-guide. It begins with the Cape Peninsula: Chapman's Peak, a boat trip to the seal island, Cape Point and the penguins of Boulders Beach.
Then the Garden Route. A night in a private reserve with two game drives, at sunset and dawn, the Cango Caves and the ostrich farms of Oudtshoorn, the Tsitsikamma forest with the suspension bridge over the Storms River and the Bloukrans Bridge, one of the highest bungee jumps in the world.
On the way back, a tasting at the historic Groot Constantia estate, and to finish, the city itself with the cable car up Table Mountain. All visits are included; your guide speaks English, Italian on request.
8 days in the programme
Arrival in Cape Town, transfer and check-in at the hotel. The rest of the day is free. One idea: a first stroll around the V&A Waterfront, the Victorian harbour, still working, now full of shops and restaurants on the water, with Table Mountain behind it. Ferries leave from here for Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, now a UNESCO site (optional trip, booked separately). The time is the same as in Italy in summer, one hour ahead in winter.
A day on the Cape Peninsula with your private English-speaking driver-guide. From Hout Bay, a boat trip to the seal island, home to thousands of Cape fur seals. Then Chapman's Peak Drive, about 9 kilometres of bends cut into the cliff above the Atlantic, and on to the Cape Point reserve: the funicular climbs to the old lighthouse, then on to the Cape of Good Hope. In the afternoon, the African penguins of Boulders Beach, seen from the wooden boardwalks, and the colourful beach huts of Muizenberg.
Departure eastwards: about three and a half hours' drive through the Overberg, among wheat fields and hills, to the Garden Route Game Lodge, near Albertinia. It is a private reserve with the Big Five, that is lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and leopard, as well as giraffes, cheetahs and antelopes. Check-in at the lodge and, in the late afternoon, a guided game drive until sunset. Sightings are not guaranteed. Dinner included at the lodge.
A dawn game drive in the reserve, at the time of day when the animals are most active. Then on to Oudtshoorn, in the Little Karoo, for a guided visit to the Cango Caves, about 30 kilometres from town: passages almost four kilometres long, part of which can be visited, with great halls of stalactites and stalagmites. Then an ostrich farm: Oudtshoorn has been the ostrich capital since the late 19th century, when feathers were in fashion in Europe. Arrival in Mossel Bay, on the coast, and check-in at the hotel.
A day in the Tsitsikamma area, about three hours from Mossel Bay, along the coast road through George, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. In the park, a trail through the forest and over the rocks leads to the suspension bridge across the mouth of the Storms River, above the ocean. Then the Bloukrans Bridge, the 216-metre-high concrete arch over the Bloukrans River gorge. Guided visits included. Bungee jumping from the bridge, kayaking, diving and skydiving in Mossel Bay are optional and booked separately. Return to Mossel Bay.
You leave the Garden Route and head back west, through the Overberg and over Sir Lowry's Pass, with its view of False Bay: about five hours' drive in all. Before entering the city, a stop at Groot Constantia, South Africa's oldest wine estate, founded in 1685, for the included tasting. Here the white Cape Dutch manor house looks out over the vineyards. In the 18th century the sweet wine of Constantia reached the tables of European courts. Arrival at the hotel in Cape Town.
A day in the city with your driver-guide: the historic centre, with the Company's Gardens, the vegetable garden laid out in the 17th century by the Dutch East India Company to supply its ships, and the Bo-Kaap district, with its brightly coloured houses on the slopes of Signal Hill. Then up Table Mountain by cable car, in cabins that rotate as they climb: in a few minutes you are over 1,000 metres up, with views of the city, Robben Island and the peninsula. In strong wind the cable car closes and the ascent moves to another day.
Breakfast and free time until the transfer to the airport for the flight home. If the flight leaves in the evening, one idea for the last hours: the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, or a last stroll around the Waterfront.
