South Africa’s Eastern Cape – one week itinerary

South Africa’s Eastern Cape is ideal for a tailored road trip. We had one week, which was perfect for driving from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth at a relaxed pace whilst taking in all the main sights on the way. In Port Elizabeth, we hopped on a domestic plane to continue our holiday in Swaziland. If you have a few extra days, you can also drive onward to Durham (which also has a domestic airport).

We made the trip in September, which meant the days were nice and mild. However, temperature dropped steeply at night (even down to 2 degrees at one point), so pack enough clothes if you’re going to the Eastern Cape in the shoulder season. We hired a car via Sunny Cars. This is really the best way for getting around the Eastern Cape as many of the interesting places are remote and not served by public transport. We opted for a high-clearance vehicle so we could easily negotiate some unpaved passes.

DAY 1 – 2: CAPE TOWN

We flew into Cape Town and started our trip with 2 days in the main city on South Africa’s Eastern Cape. We took in the historic centre, Table Mountain National Park, the Cape Peninsula and Robben Island. This sounds like an extremely packed 48 hours, but Cape Town is pretty small, and all the sights of interest are within easy reach from town. Read my post about 48 hours in Cape Town for all the details.

DAY 2 – 4: THE WINELANDS

If you don’t have a full week to spare on the Eastern Cape and you must pick just one thing to do from your base in Cape Town, go to the Winelands. My husband and I are not huge wine freaks, but we loved the natural beauty of the area and exploring the Cape Winelands with their 350 years of history dating back to the Dutch East India Company.  

Our first stop after leaving Cape Town was Stellenbosch. It’s one of the larger towns in the winelands and makes an easy day trip from Cape Town if you don’t have a lot of time. The historic centre is pretty and worth a walk around, but we didn’t spend a lot of time there – we were both keen to leave city life behind us and explore the less crowded places.

Our destination was Franschhoek. We had planned to spend two nights in this small, pretty village with a winery on every corner of the street.  Our accommodation was a self-catering cottage at Paradise Stables farm just outside the village, a cute refurbished labourers house where you feel like time stood still. Rather than cooking in the cottage, we decided to take it easy and go for dinner in “De Leeu”(Afrikaans for “the lion”) House in Franschhoek. This winery has a small restaurant and the food was simply succulent. If you are looking for a top end place to stay, you can book accommodation here as well.

WINE TASTING ON HORSEBACK

The cottage where we stayed was part of a family farm with stables and this was precisely the reason I had chosen it. Indeed, our first activity the next morning was to make a tour on horseback around the winelands. The tour lasted about 5 hours and every minute was worth it. Horseback is the perfect way to explore the fields and take in the gorgeous scenery. we stopped at three different wineries, where we got a short tour and tasting. The only name I remember is Rickety Bridge, because I later saw their wines in a shop back home!  

If you are not keen on horses, do not worry. A little wine tram will take you around the main wineries of Franschhoek, so you can enjoy tasting without having to worry about your blood alcohol level and the drive back to your accommodation.

AROUND FRANSCHHOEK

After lunch and a break in our cottage, we were ready to hit the road again and visit more wineries a bit further away from Franschhoek. Even though I skipped tastings (designated driver, right), the domains are still very much worth seeing. My favourite one was Boschendal. We spent a couple of hours exploring the large estate and farm. Since I couldn’t drink, we bought a couple of bottles to take home and they were really tasty.

Upon our return to Franschhoek, we again decided to take it easy for dinner. Winery Roca had been recommended by the lady at Paradise Stables because of the priceless views from the terrace down the valley. She did not exaggerate. Just be aware the despite the warm days, temperature really drops in the evening. Extra clothes are a necessity!

DAY 5 – 6: KLEIN KAROO

DRIVING THROUGH THE KAROO

Our next day was mostly spent in the car as we explored Klein Karoo. This is an arid, desert-like landscape packed with cliffs and rocks. I was surprised to learn that it is actually a very fertile part of the country. We saw multiple plantations, wineries and ostrich farms en route. The most exciting things however was to drive along unpaved roads through some of the famous “poorten”. These are narrow passes lined by cliffs, occasionally passing through stretches of open land. We followed the pretty Seweweeksepoort (R323). This loosely translates as Seven Weeks Pass, because, allegedly, that was the time one needed to walk from one end of the pass to the other end.

Our accommodation for the coming two nights was Altes Landhaus (“Old Countryhouse”) in Schoemanshoek. This remote, Cape Dutch style homestead has been styled true to its historic character and is a top-notch place. Excellent food is served on site, so there is absolutely no reason to make the 15km trek to nearby Oudtshoorn for dinner.  

PASSES AND CAVES

We wanted to explore more of the passes and cover some distance in Klein Karoo. That meant another day with a lot of driving awaited. Swartbergpass (R328) was the most impressive, but also the trickiest to navigate. In case of rain or after dusk, people are discouraged from taking this road.

Prince Albert is the small town at the end of the pass where we spent a couple of hours looking at the old houses (many of which now house cute shops) and stocking up on groceries. We drove back to Oudtshoorn in a loop via another pass, Meiringspoort (N12). Meanwhile it had started to rain, but Meiringspoort has a good paved road which means the drive was ok. It was also significantly busier than the other passes we had taken. We stopped for a short hike to Meiringspoort Waterfall (more or less in the middle of the pass and well signposted).

However we did not linger too long as we were keen to visit the famous Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn.  These limestone caves lived up to our expectations, with large halls and spectacular rock formation. Visits are only possible with a group and a guide. You have the choice between an “easy” tour and an “adventure” tour. Although I like climbing rocks, I’m not so keen on narrow, enclosed spaces, so after looking at photos of people squeezing themselves through holes on the Adventure tour, we decided to opt for the Easy one.

DAY 7: DOWN TO THE EASTERN CAPE

BARTOLOMEU DIAS MUSEUM

We left Oudtshoorn the next morning headed for Mossel Bay on South Africa’s Eastern Cape. As we descended towards the coast, the weather worsened. Luckily, we had planned to visit the (mostly indoors) Bartolomeu Dias museum in Mossel Bay. The museum is huge. Bear that in mind for planning. The most impressive artefact is without doubt the (replica) caravel ship of the 15^th century explorer.

TSITSIKAMMA NATIONAL PARK

After another few hours on the road, we reached Tsitsikamma in the Garden Route National Park at dusk. The weather has also turned, and we actually arrived in the middle of a storm, which was creepy. Tsitsikamma is located at the seaside and we could see the waves swell by the light of the moon. We were super pleased when we got the key to our cabin and could settle in for the evening. Since it was only two degrees outside, we turned the heating right up. We booked the cabin online via the National Park website and it is by far the best accommodation option since Tsitsikamma is nowhere near a village or other alternative.

A HIKING DAY IN TSITSIKAMMA

Waking up was a beautiful surprise. When arriving in the darkness the night before, we had not appreciated that our bedroom had a huge window overlooking the ocean. Even though the weather had somewhat settled, the breaking waves were still impressive to watch from our window. Needless to say, we had a lay-in that morning.

Afterwards, we wanted to spend the day hiking. There are many trails to choose from in Tsitsikamma. We started with the short (2km), but steep Mouth Trail, to see the mouth of the Storms River and climb to a good viewpoint over the bay. Next we tackled the Waterfall trail (6km), which mostly follows the cost line. Despite the short length, this trail is strenuous as it involves climbing over boulders and negotiating uneven terrain.

After another night in Tsitsikamma, we drove onwards to Port Elizabeth, where we hopped on a domestic flight to Nelspruit in the North of the country. We actually made a detour to Addo Elephant National Park where we joined a game drive. However, unless don’t have other opportunities for game viewing during your trip, don’t bother going to Addo Elephant and spend your time elsewhere on South Africa’s Eastern Cape. Being close to Port Elizabeth, the park is busy. Also, you can see the lights of the city and highways around you all the time, so it doesn’t feel like an authentic, remote safari experience. Wildlife spotting was much better later in our trip in Swaziland.