South Africa Cape Town - Wine Region - Safari Opinions?

[Boringvolvodriver]

hmg said:

Thanks again everyone. Lots to ponder.

Looks like we are going to do CT 3 nights /Wine Region 2 or 3 nights drive along the Garden Route and stop to break up the journey a couple of times along the way maybe 1 night and 2 nights ( yet to be decided where? then East Cape Safari 3 nights..

So around 12/13 nights in total.

Could be reversed if that’s more relaxing ?

Generally it would be nice once based somewhere to be able to stroll out to bars/restaurants as you would in Europe or is it normal to have to drive out to destination restaurants ?

Is a car in Cape Town a help or a hindrance or would you just get one at the airport at the start ?

Would you fly into CT then fly back from Port Elisabeth after the Safari to CT fly home ?

Looks very similar to what we did to be fair although if you can squeeze a few more nights then it would be worth it IMO - especially if you reverse it. Flying from LHR direct to CT means you arrive in the morning so have the afternoon free whilst not sure how long it would take to transfer in JBurg To PE.

Personally I would do CT first and end up with the Safari and would recommend Shamwari (250 square kms) although heard good things about Kariega as well.

I would say get a car for CT as well - means you can do Cape Point, Boulders Beach and Chapman Drive. Stay near the V and A where there are plenty of restaurants- can’t remember if we had to pay for parking at the hotel (if we did it wasn’t a lot as most things cheaper than here).

We used a Travel Counsellor and would be happy to let you have his details if you wanted to PM me.

[Bill]

I wouldn't bother with a car in CT, we used Uber. Then hired a car to go east staying near Knysna and then Amakhala for a safari, then came back via Oyster Bay for 5 days near Stellenbosch. We went to Boulders beach from Stellenbosch.

[The G Kid]

We found Ubers really easy in CT too. I wouldn't have fancied driving there due to the risk of taking a wrong turn. Although would have loved to do the drive from Camps Bay to Hout Bay in something fast!

[djc206]

I wouldn’t do Cape Town without a car now tbh. There’s too much to see and do that requires one around the city. Uber is great in Cape Town itself but very limited outside the city. But if you’re only venturing as far as Camps Bay which is fair enough for a short stay then maybe don’t bother and save it for your inevitable return visit.

If you want to properly explore the peninsula then a car is fairly essential. Rental cars are dirt cheap in CT and contrary to the advice above having rented downtown before I would be happy to recommend using a downtown site to rent a car for a short period, just don’t try and pickup just after a cruise ship has just deposited its cargo into town.

Cape Town itself is very easy to drive around and it’s not that easy to drive into a dodgy area without knowing because CT’s dodgy areas you’d either have no reason to be near or you’d be passing through on one of the main roads such as the N2. Don’t just blindly follow Satnav if it tries to reroute you to avoid traffic. Common sense stuff really.

When it comes to Uber don’t use UberGo, it’ll be something like a Suzuki spresso (google it), UberX is normally a small Asia/Africa spec Suzuki or Polo that’s been through the wars often without working aircon. UberBlack is worthwhile if available and normally bags you a slightly leggy 3 series or similar, it’ll still be outrageously cheap. Took me a few trips to realise the error of my ways.

Edited by djc206 on Friday 12th April 09:15

[torqueofthedevil]

If you had a 4 days in stellenbosch and Franshoek area from Cape Town, would you hire a car or just get a taxi there and around that area??

[djc206]

torqueofthedevil said:

If you had a 4 days in stellenbosch and Franshoek area from Cape Town, would you hire a car or just get a taxi there and around that area??

Personally I’d take a car but it’s not strictly necessary, part of that for us is being able to drive up into the mountains to go hiking.

If I didn’t take a car I wouldn’t use a taxi though I’d find a company that would do proper private transfers in a private vehicle. The nice vineyards are quite spread out so it would be desirable on the first and last days to have someone drive you via somewhere for lunch and then on to your hotel and on the last day back into the city via somewhere nice like Babylonstoren for a spa treatment and a meal for example. I’ve not used such a company but I’m aware of there being many who offer such a service. In theory you can Uber out to Franschhoek or Stellenbosch and back but I wouldn’t want to chance the return journey from Franschhoek, I’m not sure why but it’s not particularly well served by Uber.

Just a word of warning taxi means something else in South Africa. Taxis in SA are the white minibuses used by the locals to get around, they’re invariably very badly driven and very poorly maintained, often run by gangs in the cities. Some people will read this and think Z buses in Barbados, nope, don’t even go there.

[torqueofthedevil]

djc206 said:

Personally I’d take a car but it’s not strictly necessary, part of that for us is being able to drive up into the mountains to go hiking.

If I didn’t take a car I wouldn’t use a taxi though I’d find a company that would do proper private transfers in a private vehicle. The nice vineyards are quite spread out so it would be desirable on the first and last days to have someone drive you via somewhere for lunch and then on to your hotel and on the last day back into the city via somewhere nice like Babylonstoren for a spa treatment and a meal for example. I’ve not used such a company but I’m aware of there being many who offer such a service. In theory you can Uber out to Franschhoek or Stellenbosch and back but I wouldn’t want to chance the return journey from Franschhoek, I’m not sure why but it’s not particularly well served by Uber.

Just a word of warning taxi means something else in South Africa. Taxis in SA are the white minibuses used by the locals to get around, they’re invariably very badly driven and very poorly maintained, often run by gangs in the cities. Some people will read this and think Z buses in Barbados, nope, don’t even go there.

Ok thanks - so to avoid that, what do we ask for / look for please?

We might rent a car then, it was just that we’ll be drinking lots so didn’t know how useful it would be but maybe even just for getting there and back and between the two towns? Thanks

[brickwall]

For a day in the wineries, book in advance a car and a driver for the day.

For ad-hoc trips around town (including out to Constantia), use Uber.

[a311]

Not read all the replies.

We did this for our honeymoon. Landed in Cape Town, then Franschhoek, drove the garden route then flew from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg then onto Nelspruit spending time in Hazyview before going on Safari at Elephant plains. Such a brilliant holiday.

I don't think things have improved in the decade since we went with load shedding etc but sell drive and booked it all ourselves.

Loved Franschhooek. Stayed with a retired English couple who had a garden house, far smaller and laid back than it's bigger neighbour Stellenbosch, loads of really good restaurants which were very reasonable given the weakness of the Rand. We did a wine tour which ended up just being me and my wife-it was May though so quieter.

Would like to go back one day when the kids are a bit older. I really liked Cape Town, Camps Bay is an alterative more chilled out location with easy access to Cape Town if that appeals.

[djc206]

torqueofthedevil said:

Ok thanks - so to avoid that, what do we ask for / look for please?

We might rent a car then, it was just that we’ll be drinking lots so didn’t know how useful it would be but maybe even just for getting there and back and between the two towns? Thanks

Rent something cheapish like a polo or similar and the cost will be so trivial it won’t really matter if you don’t make much use of the car. It’s useful for getting between the two towns and it really is worth driving up Franschhoek Pass on a sunny day for the view back down over the valley. It’s really up to you and there are non driving options out there just pick a nice private one! Tripadvisor will undoubtedly have some suggestions.

It’s definitely worth having a car to do your own tour of the Cape rather than being bound by a tour buses timetable so maybe time your rental to do that within the same period if it’s on the cards? It really is a staggeringly beautiful part of the world and the roads are great, plenty of little spots to stop so shame to speed past in the back of a minibus. Outside of this it’s perfectly easy to get around the city as Brickwall says via Uber, they’re ubiquitous.

A311 has just mentioned loadshedding. Would you believe there hasn’t been any for nearly 3 weeks and things are looking good for the next few days at least... Without wishing to tempt providence it appears things are gradually improving on that front, about bloody time.

[Boxster5]

djc206 said:

torqueofthedevil said:

Ok thanks - so to avoid that, what do we ask for / look for please?

We might rent a car then, it was just that we’ll be drinking lots so didn’t know how useful it would be but maybe even just for getting there and back and between the two towns? Thanks

A311 has just mentioned loadshedding. Would you believe there hasn’t been any for nearly 3 weeks and things are looking good for the next few days at least... Without wishing to tempt providence it appears things are gradually improving on that front, about bloody time.

We generally always book accommodation via Airbnb rather than hotels and worth looking for is accommodation that has their own inverter. That saves the hassle of loadshedding - some provide full power including sockets whilst others may only cover lights & internet for example.
Our accommodation in Hermanus had full power so didn’t even need to think about loadshedding whilst Franschhoek was restricted to lights & internet.
Whene we were there in February, Franschhoek was on the verge of going up to stage 4.

[djc206]

Boxster5 said:

We generally always book accommodation via Airbnb rather than hotels and worth looking for is accommodation that has their own inverter. That saves the hassle of loadshedding - some provide full power including sockets whilst others may only cover lights & internet for example.
Our accommodation in Hermanus had full power so didn’t even need to think about loadshedding whilst Franschhoek was restricted to lights & internet.
Whene we were there in February, Franschhoek was on the verge of going up to stage 4.

Sound advice. If all else fails you can seek refuge in a bar.

If memory serves the highest we’ve encountered was stage 6 with threats of 8 that mercifully didn’t materialise.

What does the ‘e’ in South Africa stand for?








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