Nuts and Bolts: Travel Tips for Driving the Garden Route in South Africa
- Rand Blimes
- May 23
- 7 min read
Nuts and Bolts posts give you the practical information you need, but without stripping away the humor, mishaps, and little victories that make real travel what it is. These aren’t just guides. They’re how we actually did it—mistakes, triumphs, and all.
This page has some travel tips for driving the Garden Route to aid in planning your own trip. I travel with my wife, and we travel mostly to eat. We spent about a week driving the Garden Route in June, 2017. If your trip to the Garden Route is significantly longer/shorter/with a different focus, you may have a very different experience.
Introducing the Garden Route
The Garden Route is South Africa’s answer to the Pacific Coast Highway—if the PCH had elephants, Afro-montane forests, a few more elephants, and roadside stands selling biltong. Stretching roughly 300 kilometers from Mossel Bay to Storms River, it’s a road trip stitched together by rugged coastlines, dreamy lagoons, sleepy surf towns, and more “perfect little guesthouses with morning birdsong” than you can shake a guidebook at.
It’s called the Garden Route because of its lush vegetation and dramatic scenery, though at times it feels more like driving through a greatest-hits album of geography: one minute you're in something that looks like Jurassic Park, the next you're in open scrubland dodging baboons in the parking lot (seriously, those buggers are scary and THEY KNOW HOW TO WORK A CAR DOOR HANDLE!!!).
For travelers with a decent map, a reliable rental car, and a loose grasp of left-side driving, it’s hard to go wrong here. Though, as we learned, it’s also entirely possible to take a wrong turn, get temporarily blocked by a herd of cattle, and reverse away from an agitated elephant. But that’s part of the charm.
Travel Tips for Driving the Garden Route: Weather
One of the perks of the Garden Route is that there’s no truly bad time to go—just different flavors of good. The region has a mild, Mediterranean-ish climate, which in practical terms means you’ll get a mix of sun, mist, and occasional drama in the skies no matter when you visit. Bring layers. And a sense of humor.
Summer (December to February) is peak tourist season. The sun is out, the beaches are buzzing, and traffic gets a bit thicker near the more popular towns like Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. You’ll get warm days perfect for swimming, kayaking, and smug Instagram posts. But you’ll also pay more for accommodation, and you’ll need to book ahead—especially if you’re traveling around Christmas or New Year’s.
Autumn (March to May) is a sweet spot. The crowds thin out, the weather stays warm but not sweltering, and the landscape starts to show some golden tones. It’s ideal for hiking and vineyard-hopping—two things that pair surprisingly well together.
Winter (June to August) is cooler, especially in the mornings and evenings, but it’s also when you’ve got the best chance of seeing southern right whales along the coast. Think misty forests, dramatic waves, and the occasional need to de-fog your windshield. Great if you like your road trips moody and cinematic.
This is when we visited. Things were chilly. We had grand plans of surfing, but couldn’t justify dragging our Hawaii-accustomed bodies into cold water, covered by cold air. Evening required a sweater or light jack at the very least. A few mornings we wished we had brough full on coats.
We were also thwarted in our attempts to swim with baby seals, or do anything that required us going anywhere on a small boat. The ocean conditions were simply too rough.
Spring (September to November) brings wildflowers, crisp mornings, and increasingly warm days. It’s another great in-between season—less crowded than summer, but with plenty of sunshine and nature in full show-off mode.
No matter when you go, be prepared for four seasons in a day, especially near the coast. The Garden Route may be a relatively short drive, but weather-wise, it likes to keep you on your toes.
Driving the Garden Route
Unless you plan to hitchhike with surfboards and a strong sense of adventure (cue theme from Endless Summer here), renting a car is the way to go. The Garden Route is best done with your own wheels—ideally something small enough to squeeze into tight parking spots but tall enough that baboons give you a bit of respect.
Car rental in Cape Town is straightforward, with all the usual suspects—Avis, Hertz, Budget, and some local outfits that look less reputable but may work just fine. We booked in advance and picked up our car straight from the airport (through Eurocar). A few things to know:
You drive on the left in South Africa. If you’re from a right-side-driving country, prepare for your brain to reboot every time you turn. The first few roundabouts are . . . character building.
Manual transmissions are common. Automatics are available, but usually at a higher price. If you haven’t driven a stick in a while (or ever), don’t pick South Africa as your learning ground—there are enough hills, potholes, and spontaneous wildlife crossings without also stalling in traffic.
Navigation is solid. We used Google Maps and didn’t have many issues—except for that one time it took us through 30 kilometers of washboard dirt roads. You live, you learn.
Watch your fuel. Gas stations are full-service (nice!), but they’re not everywhere. Fill up before entering long stretches of rural road. And always tip the attendant a few rand—it’s expected and appreciated.
Driving in South Africa comes with a few quirks. Expect the occasional cow in the road. Or troop of baboons. Or unmarked speed bump that will test your suspension and your soul. Slower vehicles should scootch over to the left and allow speedsters to pass on the right. Also, keep your doors locked in cities and don’t leave valuables in the car—just basic travel sense. But also, keep your doors locked in rural areas—seriously, we saw baboons working a line of stopped cars trying to open each door. You do not want to suddenly be sharing the cab of your car with an aggressive ape and its 2-inch fangs (seriously, that is longer than lions’ fangs!).
Stops Along the Garden Route
Driving the Garden Route is less a straight shot and more a choose-your-own-adventure, with nature throwing in the occasional plot twist. Here’s where we stopped—and what happened when the weather, wildlife, or oceanic vengeance had other plans.
Knysna
Knysna is coastal calm with a dash of salt. The town curls around a gorgeous lagoon, and eating oysters here isn’t just a suggestion—it’s a civic duty. We’d hoped to visit the Featherbed Nature Reserve by ferry, but the sea said no. (Apparently it was having a bad day.) We settled instead for a trip to Knysna Elephant Park, where rescued elephants roam in safety. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel small—in a good way.
This was one of our favorite stops: a narrow peninsula wrapped in cliffs, coves, and hiking trails. From one rocky point, we watched a little cove below where sea lions were full-on frolicking—the real kind of frolicking, not the metaphorical kind. They twisted and zoomed through the water like they at an undersea rave, and it was pure joy to witness. We had booked boat trip to swim with baby seals, but it was—say it with me now—cancelled due to rough seas. I may have cried. (OK, I did cry.)
Storms River Mouth (Tsitsikamma National Park)
This spot is for adventurers: cliff-jumping, bungee jumping, kayaking into gorges. We did none of that. Hiking? Yes. Getting wet? No thank you. Way too cold for us. The coast here is rugged and beautiful, with waves slamming into jagged rocks and suspension bridges that make your legs feel heroic.
Cape St. Francis
If you’ve ever seen Endless Summer, this is that wave. Or, well, it was. We came here on a surfer pilgrimage but found only a short, steep drop and a two-second ride. The wave had apparently retired. The cold water didn’t tempt us to paddle out. Still, it's worth the visit just for surf history and salty air.
Wilderness (as in, the town called “Wilderness”)
The name alone earns it a stop. It's green, peaceful, and slightly magical—like a town that ran away from a fairy tale and settled by a lagoon. Great for birdwatching, lazy mornings, and wondering why every town can’t be named this well.
Cape Agulhas
The southernmost point of Africa—where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, and where you’ll find a lonely lighthouse staring out over brutal seas. There’s something poetic about standing there, wind-whipped and insignificant, next to a sign that marks “the end.” Also: ostriches. Just wandering around like confused tourists in feathered tuxedos.
Gansbaai
This is where people come to dive with great white sharks. We had booked the classic cage dive. But when we arrived, every single dive had been canceled. The culprit? An orca. One had recently killed a great white in the bay, releasing a chemical that says to the other sharks: “Get out now.” And they did. Not one great white remained. Fortunately, this is where our plan B kicked in… and turned into the single most incredible animal encounter of my life. But that’s a story for another post.
The Garden Route wasn’t exactly the trip we planned—but it turned out to be exactly the kind we love. The seals didn’t swim with us, the sharks ghosted us, and the ferry stayed stubbornly dry-docked. But there is something special about sitting in a car, watching the scenery slide past. Pulling over here and there to touch nature, gobble down some meat at a streetside braai, and watch two oceans locked in an endless war for supremacy. Throw in some frolicking sea lions, and a lonely lighthouse, and you have yourself a great week. All because travel.
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