Road trip in South Africa

Day 1: arrival in Cape Town

You are met at Cape Town International Airport or collected from a nearby address. In the evening, a home-cooked South African dinner at the hostel.

Day 2: free day

A day to spend as you please; the hostel reception can advise you and help book activities.

Day 3: the Cape Peninsula

With a local guide: free time in Hout Bay harbour, with its traders, informal markets and fish and chips, then the African penguins of Boulders Beach.

Day 4: the Winelands

Visits to three to five of the Western Cape’s 500-plus wineries, tasting whites, reds and house blends. Back in the late afternoon.

Day 5: off along the Garden Route

Pick-up from the hostel, usually very early. A stop at the Knysna Heads lookout, then Tsitsikamma National Park and a night in Jeffreys Bay.

Day 6: Jeffreys Bay to Addo

A morning on the beach in the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean and a wander round the surf-wear shopping village. Optional: surf hire (or lessons if time allows) or horse riding on the beach. In the afternoon, inland to malaria-free Addo Elephant National Park to see the wildlife. Overnight in a small citrus-farming community in the Sundays River Valley, below the Zuurberg Mountains.

Day 7: on to Oudtshoorn

Into the mountains through rugged plains and towering cliffs to Oudtshoorn, ostrich capital of the world, in the semi-desert Klein Karoo. Down into the limestone chambers of the Cango Caves, with their stalactites, stalagmites and traces of Khoikhoi paintings. Free evening.

Day 8: back along Route 62

The journey back follows Route 62, the longest wine route in the world, with a tasting stop about halfway. Arrival in Cape Town or Stellenbosch and goodbyes to the group.

Day 9: departure

Check-out and the end of the tour.