Guided journey

Route 62 and the Garden Route.

The great Western Cape road journey. Out through the Winelands and along Route 62, the quiet inland road through the Klein Karoo, to the caves and passes of Oudtshoorn. Then over the mountains to the lagoon at Knysna and the cliffs at Plettenberg Bay, and a free roaming Big Five reserve to finish.

Ask about this journey or write to enquiries@vdoafrica.com

The Knysna Heads, two sandstone cliffs at the mouth of the lagoon on the Garden Route

days: 10
nights: 9
stops: 5

As set out in VDO’s own journey outline of 6 October 2026.

At a glance.

Style: Guided, with a private English speaking guide on touring days
Where: Cape Town, Cape Winelands, Klein Karoo and Garden Route
When to go: October to April for the weather. Whales are off Plettenberg Bay from June to November. January and February are hot in the Klein Karoo.
Suits: Travellers who like the road as much as the destination, second visits to the Cape, and families who want wildlife without malaria tablets.

What it is remembered for

Route 62 through the Klein Karoo, with a port style tasting in Calitzdorp.
The Knysna lagoon by boat, out to the Heads.
A Big Five dawn drive on the Garden Route before the flight home.

The route.

5 stops, in order.

Cape TownCity. 3 nights.
Cape WinelandsWinelands. 1 night.
OudtshoornKaroo. 2 nights.
KnysnaCoast. 2 nights.
Garden Route Big Five reserveSafari. 1 night.

Day by day.

Breakfast is daily from the first morning. Other meals are included only where a day shows them. Travel times are approximate.

Day1 Arrive Cape TownCape Town.
Travel: private transfer from the airport, about 25 minutes.

Morning. Your driver is waiting at arrivals with your name. No queues, no shuttle. Table Mountain fills the windscreen for most of the way in.

Afternoon. Check in and settle. If the flight was long, do nothing. The pool is there for exactly this.

Evening. A welcome dinner with your guide, who talks you through the days ahead and asks what you care about most, so the plan can bend to it.
Included
Private airport transfer.
Welcome dinner.
Worth knowing
An early night. Tomorrow starts on the mountain.
Stay
A boutique hotel in Cape Town: a garden villa with a spa in the leafy southern suburbs, or a hotel on or beside the Sea Point promenade.
Meals
Dinner.
Day2 Table Mountain and the cityCape Town.
Travel: short drives in the city with your private guide.

Morning. Up the mountain by cableway while the air is still. From the top you see the whole peninsula you will drive tomorrow. If cloud or wind closes the summit, your guide swaps the day around: the mountain goes when the mountain is clear.

Afternoon. Down into the city. The painted houses and cobbled lanes of the Bo-Kaap, the Company’s Garden, and the stories that tie them together. Then free time at the V&A Waterfront.

Evening. At leisure. Your guide books a table if you want one.
Included
Table Mountain cableway ticket.
Private guide and vehicle for the day.
Worth knowing
Kirstenbosch gardens if you would rather have trees than streets.
The cableway closes for about two weeks of maintenance each winter, usually from late July. On those dates the view comes from Signal Hill instead.
Stay
As day 1.
Meals
Breakfast.
Day3 The Cape PeninsulaCape Town.
Travel: a full day loop of about 150 kilometres, with many stops.

Morning. Along the Atlantic coast and over Chapman’s Peak, one of the great coastal roads anywhere. On to the Cape of Good Hope reserve and the lighthouse at Cape Point, where the cliffs drop into open ocean.

Afternoon. Lunch in a working harbour town, then the African penguins at Boulders, a few steps from the sand. Home by the False Bay coast.

Evening. At leisure.
Included
Private guide and vehicle.
Entrance fees for the Cape of Good Hope reserve and the penguin colony.
Optional
Lunch in the harbour (your guide knows where the fish is freshest).
Worth knowing
Bring a jacket. The Point is windy on the calmest day.
Stay
As day 1.
Meals
Breakfast.
Day4 Durbanville and into the WinelandsCape Town to the Winelands.
Travel: about 30 minutes to the Durbanville hills, then about 35 minutes on to Stellenbosch.

Morning. Leave the city by the Durbanville wine valley, the cool hills the locals keep for themselves.

Afternoon. Lunch among the vines, looking back at Table Mountain across the bay. Then over to the Winelands proper, with a cellar tasting on arrival.

Evening. Settle into the estate. Stellenbosch and its oak lined streets are a short drive away, and your guide takes you in for dinner if you would like to go. Tomorrow is a road day, so keep it early.
Included
Private guide and vehicle.
Lunch on a wine estate in the Durbanville hills.
One cellar tasting.
Worth knowing
A walk through the vineyards before sunset.
Stay
A lodge on a working wine estate outside Stellenbosch.
Meals
Breakfast, lunch.
Day5 Route 62 through the Klein KarooThe Winelands to Oudtshoorn.
Travel: about five hours on the road, in four legs, with a stop between each.

Morning. Through the mountains by the Huguenot Tunnel and down into the Breede River valley. A stop among the vineyards of Robertson, then through the rock gateway of Cogmanskloof into Montagu, where Route 62 begins in earnest.

Afternoon. The long empty road east. Lunch in Barrydale, where the farm stalls and roadside kitchens are an institution. Then Ladismith under its split mountain peak, and Calitzdorp, the country’s home of port style wines, for a tasting. You reach Oudtshoorn in the late light.

Evening. Dinner at the lodge. Karoo lamb is the thing to order.
Included
Private guide and vehicle.
A tasting of port style wines in Calitzdorp.
Dinner at the lodge.
Worth knowing
This is the longest drive of the journey, and the reason for two nights at the end of it.
Stay
A lodge in the Klein Karoo outside Oudtshoorn.
Meals
Breakfast, dinner.
Day6 Caves, a mountain pass and the Klein KarooOudtshoorn.
Travel: about two and a half to three hours of driving in short legs, part of it on gravel. It is a full day.

Morning. The Cango Caves, half an hour north of town: an hour underground with a guide, through halls of dripstone that were old before anyone found them.

Afternoon. Up the Swartberg Pass, a gravel road built by hand in the 1880s and never tarred. It is a national monument, and from the top, at more than 1,500 metres, the Great Karoo runs north to the horizon. Down again for an hour on a working ostrich farm, the trade that made this town rich a century ago. You watch and you ask questions: nobody rides a bird or stands on an egg.

Evening. At leisure in Oudtshoorn. Your guide books a table.
Included
Cango Caves guided tour.
Private guide and vehicle to the top of the Swartberg Pass.
Ostrich farm visit: a working farm, with no riding and no standing on eggs.
Worth knowing
The pass can close after heavy rain or snow. If it does, the afternoon goes to the Meiringspoort gorge instead.
Stay
As day 5.
Meals
Breakfast.
Day7 Over the mountains to the seaOudtshoorn to Knysna.
Travel: about two hours, over the Outeniqua Pass.

Morning. The Karoo ends at the top of the Outeniqua Pass. On the other side everything is green, and the Indian Ocean is in front of you. A stop above the long beach at Wilderness, then on past the lakes to Knysna.

Afternoon. A cruise on the Knysna lagoon out to the Heads, the two sandstone cliffs where the lagoon meets the sea.

Evening. At leisure on the waterfront. Oysters are the thing here.
Included
Private guide and vehicle.
Lagoon cruise.
Stay
A hotel beside the Knysna waterfront.
Meals
Breakfast.
Day8 Forest, cliffs and the bayKnysna and Plettenberg Bay.
Travel: about one and a half hours of driving in the day.

Morning. Plettenberg Bay and the Robberg peninsula: a guided walk along the cliffs above a colony of Cape fur seals. Dolphins are often in the bay at any time of year. From June to November southern right whales visit too, and a boat can take you out to look for them.

Afternoon. Lunch in Plettenberg Bay, then a choice: the beach, or the old forest behind Knysna, where the yellowwoods are hundreds of years old.

Evening. At leisure.
Included
Private guide and vehicle.
Guided walk on Robberg.
Reserve entrance fees.
Worth knowing
Wear proper shoes. The Robberg path is rocky and the best views are at the far end.
Stay
As day 7.
Meals
Breakfast.
Day9 The free roaming Big Five, on the Garden RouteKnysna to a Big Five reserve.
Travel: about two hours.

Morning. A slow start, then west along the coast past George and inland behind Mossel Bay, into hills covered in fynbos. This is malaria free country, so there are no tablets to think about.

Afternoon. Out with your ranger in an open vehicle as the day cools. Nothing here is kept apart: lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo roam the same 11,000 hectares of hills, and so do leopard, which nobody anywhere can promise you.

Evening. Dinner at the lodge, around the fire when the weather allows.
Included
Private transfer.
Afternoon game drive.
Dinner at the lodge.
Worth knowing
Give the drive your patience. On a free roaming reserve the animals are found, not shown, and that is the point.
Stay
A lodge on a free roaming Big Five reserve inland from Mossel Bay, a step up from the other stays.
Meals
Breakfast, dinner.
Day10 A dawn drive, and departThe reserve to George airport.
Travel: private transfer, about one hour.

Morning. Coffee in the dark and one last drive at dawn, when the animals are moving. Then breakfast and the road to George for your flight.

Afternoon. George has direct flights to Cape Town, about one hour, and to Johannesburg, about two hours.
Included
Dawn game drive.
Private transfer to the airport.
Worth knowing
Book a flight that leaves after one in the afternoon.
Not included
The flight from George.
Meals
Breakfast.

Take it whole, or in parts.

This journey is built in parts that follow one another. Take the whole journey, or a run of parts that suits your client.

Cape Town and the PeninsulaTable Mountain, the city and the full loop of the Cape Peninsula with a private guide. Days 1 to 3.
A night in the WinelandsLunch in the Durbanville hills and a cellar tasting on the estate where you sleep. Day 4.
Route 62 and the Klein KarooThe long quiet road through the Klein Karoo, then the Cango Caves and the Swartberg Pass. Days 5 to 6.
Knysna and the Garden Route coastOver the Outeniqua Pass to the lagoon, the Heads, and the cliffs of Robberg. Days 7 to 8.
The free roaming Big Five reserveAn afternoon and a dawn game drive where lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and leopard roam free. Days 9 to 10.

Take the whole journey, or any parts that follow one another, starting where you may join and ending where you may leave. If you start in the middle, be at the starting place by the hour we give you. A night before can be added.

What is included.

Included

Private airport transfers and a private vehicle throughout.
A private English speaking guide on touring days.
Hotels and lodges, with breakfast daily and the lunches and dinners named in the plan.
Entrance and park fees for everything marked included.

Not included

International and domestic flights, unless a day says otherwise.
Travel insurance, visas and tips.
Drinks, and meals not named in the plan.
Anything marked optional.
On self drive tours: fuel, tolls and entrance fees paid on the day.

Good to know.

A free roaming Big Five reserve in the fynbos hills behind Mossel Bay, malaria free: lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and leopard all live wild across it, and a leopard sighting is never promised anywhere.
Stays are described by style and place.
One stay is on a free roaming Big Five reserve on the Garden Route.
Travel times are approximate driving or flying times without stops, rounded up.
Flights are not included unless a day says so. Scheduled flights change by season: the days and times are checked for each journey.
The Kruger and northern Botswana are malaria areas, and Etosha carries a seasonal risk. Speak to your doctor before travel. The Cape, the Karoo and the Garden Route are free of malaria, and in Windhoek, the Namib and on the Namibian coast the risk is very low.
Wildlife is wild. Each tour says plainly what its reserve holds, and no sighting is ever promised.

What happens next.

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