For more information and to book please visit www.mrandmrssmith.com or let us arrange your whole trip, by calling +44 (0)20 8987 4312 or from the USA dial 1 866 610 3867.
It’s a feast of beauty, with rolling vineyards for starters and milky lagoons for dessert. The Garden Route offers a breathtaking journey from Cape Town past Stellenbosch and the Winelands down to the coast, where it passes through Wilderness and Plettenberg Bay to Stormsriver. As you meander east, the landscape changes from positively Mediterranean to wild, wet and mountainous, with dense forests, bushland and dramatic cliffs. Beyond the N2 motorway and the sleepy seaside towns, you’ll find the land (and sea) that time forgot, patrolled by elephants, rhinos and whales. Whether your holiday preference is beach barbecues or bravura bungee-jumping, one thing's for sure: you won't be short of things to do.
Tsitsikamma National Park (www.sanparks.org) is Africa’s oldest and largest marine reserve, with 50 miles of coastline, dense indigenous forests of mighty trees, miniature antelope, honey badgers and leopards, cross-crossed by tumbling rivers. It sums up what makes the Garden Route so spectacular: diversity on a massive scale. Where else can you drive for miles with lush wilderness to your left and dazzling blue ocean to your right; watch monkeys in the morning and dolphins at midday; have oysters for lunch and ostrich for dinner; or watch great white sharks on a sunset beach ride?
… doing a day safari. At the Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve (+27 (0)44 535 0000; www.rhinobasecamp.co.za), you can do a few hours’ game drive to gawp at rhinos and giraffe in open-sided jeeps or on horseback. Botlierskop Private Game Reserve (+27 (0)44 696 6055) near George and Mossel Bay offers 4x4 game drives, bush walks and helicopter tours – you can even picnic with elephants.
Our round-up of the hippest hideaways and romantic boutique hotels in Garden Route & Winelands
Kurland is a fairytale family home on a vast and beautiful private estate; this luxury boutique hotel has buckets of old-world charm, a never-be-bored menu of things to do and staff who know the true meaning of the word ‘hospitality’.
Ichibi Lakeside Lodge is a boutique bed and breakfast retreat on South Africa’s green and gorgeous Garden Route, offering all the colonial glamour of a luxury safari lodge, with added Oriental enchantment.
This most boho of beachy boltholes is the natural downtime home of the Ibiza regular or Soho House devotee – The Grand Café & Rooms in Plett is all about super-stylish shabby chic, tasty bistro food and gorgeous sea views…
This luxury safari lodge merges Victorian colonial style with modern creature comforts; with opulence at every turn, and nature around every corner, Gorah Elephant Camp is the most pampering campsite in South Africa.
Unique boutique stay Tsala Treetop Lodge gives you a bird's eye view of the indigenous forest from your luxurious stilted hut. Think Tarzan, but with private infinity pools and flatscreen TVs. Jungle living doesn't come much more glamorous…
This guesthouse stay, just 30 minutes outside Cape Town, affords you a nostalgic glimpse into South Africa’s vintage winelands world: lingering breakfasts, vineyard walks, sundowners on the stoop and feelgood dinners in Hawksmoor House's 18th-century dining room.
Presiding over Franschhoek’s valley of vines, La Residence is a mini, modern Versailles with a contemporary shell and a romantic colonial interior: everywhere the eye comes to rest there’s a Persian rug, exotic antique or fine art work.
Among the neat trees and quiet streets of historic Swellendam, you'll find the pretty facade of boutique B&B Schoone Oordt, framed by wrought-iron filigree and surrounded by fountains and roses. It's the perfect escape for weekending Capetonians (or Garden Route explorers).
Planes, trains, automobiles, or maybe even helicopter – we tell you the best way to go.
December–April Plettenberg Bay’s polo season, with the most intense games coinciding with Christmas and Easter. Held on the beautiful private polo estate of Kurland in the Crags, the Kurland International Polo Test is the highlight of the season. July Knysna Oyster Festival in the first half of the month celebrates the unctuous bivalve with a variety of seemingly unrelated running, cycling and driving events, as well as tastings and live music (www.oysterfestival.co.za). July–December Whale-watching season all along the coast. Hermanus and Robberg Bay are among the best places to see them.
CAPE WINELANDS Quirky-cool little café on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. Great for a snacky South African lunch of sardines on toast – or BYO from one of the vineyards and slosh it into tumblers for a super-casual dinner of venison pie with sweet potato stew, beetroot and goat’s cheese salad. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
42 Rustenburg Street (corner of Protea), Ida’s Valley, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Within the Old Nick Village, this licensed café and bakery has a Portuguese influence and great pastries.
Old Nick Village, National Route N2, Plettenberg Bay 6600, Garden Route
Pop in for a relaxed Italian lunch – this is where Wilderness villagers come for their does of pasta, pizza and coffee.
George Road, Wilderness, South Africa
Squirreled away inside the Meade House Emporium, which sells a bewildering array of books and gifts (fancy clocks, floral mugs and olde-word repro pieces a speciality), this courtyard café whips up spot-on coffees and unctuous cheesecake; a bistro-style menu lists upper-crust soups, sandwiches, and heartier fare. Brilliant for Sunday brunch or afternoon tea - try jugged kippers, Moroccan lamb pie or smoked Franschhoek trout.
Meade House Emporium, 91 Meade Street, George, South Africa
Locals will tell you this little deli-style bakery and café is the best place for lunch in the Southern Cape, and they’re certainly onto something: daily specials, great coffee, a fun atmosphere and heavenly, heavenly fresh-baked bread, brioche, croissants and other creations in dough.
The Boatshed, Thesen Islands, Knysna, South Africa
This lodge overlooking the wetlands is wonderfully atmospheric. It’s worth coming just to have a few of the excellent cocktails on the Sundowner Deck, but there’s also Emily’s restaurant, sparkling, buzzing, relaxed and intimate, with Afro-Arab decor, good food and amazing views of the wetlands.
Plettenberg Bay 6600, Western Cape, South Africa
Location, location, location – right in front of the crashing waves, perfect for drinks at sunset followed by a simple but tasty Italian meal.
291 Main Street, Keurboomstrand, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
Popular Italian eatery, handy for Robberg Beach, and a great lunch spot: go for a relaxed plate of pasta, pizza, salad or steak. Get a table on the verandah if you can – sea views are a big part of the attraction.
Perestrello Street, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
On the pioneering Bramon Wine Estate in the Crags overlooking the Tsitsikamma mountains, this family-run restaurant is a great place for a locally sourced lunch of home-made pâté, dolmades wrapped in vine leaves from the estate, Plett oysters and fresh salads. Worth booking.
Bramon Wine Estate, the Crags, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
Between Hermanus and Wilderness, good places to eat are non-existent, but this local restaurant is an exception. Fresh local ingredients and South African specialities are incorporated into a set table d’hôte menu of five courses for about R220. Enthusiastic owners Lizelle and Rudolph Stolze kick things off with an aperitif overlooking the garden while they talk you through the menu, recommending wines as they go (www.serendipitywilderness.com).
Freesia Avenue, Wilderness, South Africa
CAPE WINELANDS Excellent menu of French, African and Malay-tinged dishes and romantic views – what more could you ask for? (www.lapetiteferme.co.za)
Franschhoek Pass Road, Franschhoek 7690, South Africa
CAPE WINELANDS In the Kleine Zalze wine estate, this intimate restaurant draws on the Provençal tradition of making the most of where your food comes from, so everything is fresh, local, seasonal and perfectly matched to the Stellenbosch wines. Get a table under the oak trees for a leisurely, sensual lunch. Reservations essential (www.kleinezalze.com).
Strand Road, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
CAPE WINELANDS Cool, calm and contemporary restaurant on the Helshoogte pass between Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, well worth booking for lunch or dinner. Try quail with saffron sauce and salmon sashimi or grilled springbok with lobster sauce and mint oil. Closed Sundays and Mondays (www.tokararestaurant.co.za).
Uniedal 7612, Cape Winelands, South Africa
Unique harbourside bar and restaurant – endearingly OTT, with oversized red and white floor tiles, dangling lights galore, studded leather walls and a cocktail menu bursting with trendy fruit combos. Good fun and great fusion food with plenty of fresh fish.
Thesen Harbour Town, Thesen Islands, Knysna, South Africa
Set on the Bitou river, this is a calm, peaceful spot for a few sundowners, despite the offputting signage, which makes it look like a roadside café. There's a large alfresco terrace, but if you can, book one of the five private salas, romantically lit by candles. It's also a restaurant.
N2 Bitou, Plettenburg Bay, South Africa
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