The Garden Route runs along the southern coast of the Western and Eastern Cape, roughly from Mossel Bay to Storms River, a distance of about 300 km. Between the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma mountains and the sea lies a strip that is greener and wetter than anywhere else on that latitude, with lagoons, indigenous forest and a string of small towns. Most people drive it in three to five days.
Mossel Bay and Wilderness
Mossel Bay is where Bartolomeu Dias landed in 1488, and a post office tree still marks the spot where sailors left letters in a boot. Further east, Wilderness sits between a long beach and a chain of lakes; the Kingfisher Trail through the Touw River gorge ends at a waterfall reached by a floating pontoon.
Knysna
The centre of the route is a lagoon that meets the sea through the Heads, two sandstone cliffs with a channel so difficult that it is one of the most dangerous harbour entrances in the world. Oysters are farmed in the lagoon and eaten everywhere. Devastating fires in 2017 destroyed large areas around the town; the regrowth is now visible from the viewpoints. Featherbed Nature Reserve on the western head is reached only by ferry.
Plettenberg Bay
Plett has the best beaches on the route and a headland, Robberg, with a five-kilometre circular walk past a fur seal colony and an archaeological cave. Whales pass close inshore between June and November, and dolphins are frequent year round.
Tsitsikamma
The eastern section of Garden Route National Park protects fifty kilometres of rocky coast and forest. The suspension bridge over the Storms River mouth is the signature image; the Otter Trail, five days along the coast, is the oldest hiking trail in South Africa and is booked a year ahead. Bloukrans Bridge nearby, 216 m, carries the highest commercial bungy jump in the world.
Inland: Oudtshoorn
Over the Outeniqua Pass lies the semi-desert Little Karoo. Oudtshoorn grew rich on ostrich feathers between 1880 and 1914, leaving feather palaces built by farmers, and still farms ostriches today. The Cango Caves nearby are a large limestone system with guided tours, including an adventure route through passages that people do get stuck in. The Swartberg Pass, a gravel road built by Thomas Bain in 1888, is one of the great mountain roads.
Practicalities
The N2 runs the whole length and is good tarred road. George has the main airport, and many visitors fly into Cape Town, drive east and fly home from Port Elizabeth. Whale season is June to November, but the route works all year; December and January are peak South African holidays and prices double.