South Africa travel guide: Everything you need to know before you go

With its supermodel-like coastlines, amazing match reserves and lengthy warm summers that commence just as the United kingdom is plunged into darkness, it’s no shock South Africa is regularly voted a single of the major places for British holidaymakers. Arrive for ridiculously photogenic sights, scrumptious (and very very affordable) wine, lengthy lazy lunches under the oak trees and the likelihood to location the Major 5 from your bed room window.

Latest journey limits and entry specifications

Travellers arriving in South Africa want to current one particular of the pursuing: proof of vaccination a restoration certification or a negative PCR test (taken inside 72 hours of departure) or a unfavorable lab-performed Fast Antigen exam (taken inside 24 hours of departure). Masks are no for a longer period a necessity in community locations.

Ideal time to go

Cape City and the Yard Route have a Mediterranean climate with scorching, dry summers (December to March) and great, wet winters (June to September), though the relaxation of the region is relatively heat year round. February to April is unbeatable and built for lazy days on the seaside: the Indian Ocean is wallow-ready soon after a summer of solar and Cape Town is gloriously wind-free of charge. Up in the Kruger Park, you’ll strike rutting period – massive cats in individual are thrillingly effortless to spot when they’re playing the mating activity.

Top regions and metropolitan areas

Cape Town

Get your bearings by heading up Table Mountain early in the morning when the ubiquitous summer wind is minimum very likely to blow you off your ft. If you are emotion sporty, climb Platteklip Gorge, the oldest and swiftest route, which will take you straight up in about three several hours. Later on, bypass the crowded shorelines of Camps Bay for pint-sized Bakhoeven, and 50 {6932ee47e64f4ce8eedbbd5224581f6531cba18a35225771c06e4f1b3f0d9667}-pint-sized Beta, which boast wonderful views of Lion’s Head.

If you’ve at any time been given a postcard from Cape Town, probabilities are it will have been emblazoned with the jewel-colored houses of Bo-Kaap – head there for lunch in 1 of the Cape Malay dining places. Get up early just one morning and wend your way along Chapmans Peak Travel to penguin-packed Boulders Seashore, and never overlook a wander down the Treetops Walkway in Kirstenbosch, which – with 10-foot plants reaching above the rails and baboons chattering in the distance – feels nearer to the Rwandan rainforests than your typical botanical garden.

The winelands

Knock back again more wine, this time in the shade of a historic Cape Dutch Household. The extremely very, allure-weighty city of Franschhoek is established appropriate in the heart of the winelands, an hour from Cape City. Just one of its most impressive wine farms is Boschendal – continue to be in their enchanting Orchard Cottages and have a boozy picnic in the shady, flower-crammed grounds. Examine the famously attractive, cactus and herb-stuffed gardens at Babylonstoren and lurch from just one wine-drenched food to the future.

Plettenberg Bay

Cape Town’s beach locations are attractive, but dip 1 toe in the icy h2o and you may possibly cry. If you fantasise about floating in the Indian Ocean, then hightail it down the Garden Route – five several hours by automobile, or fly to George in 40 minutes. Set amid lagoons and sea is Plettenberg Bay, the place the water is a tasty 24C and days are used snoozing on buttermilk-yellow sand. Gulp down oysters at a single of the a lot of beachfront dining places and opt for from a assortment of fairly hotels to spend the evening in.

The Kruger Park

The sight and odor of 1000’s of wild animals is remarkable, but expenditures can skyrocket, so blend it up with self-generate times and swanky stays. Examine into Decrease Sabie, a snug state-operate lodge established on a crocodile-crammed river that prices beneath £80 a evening, and discover the bushveld with your very own auto – you’ll be safe if you steer clear of bull elephants or moms with their calves. If you’re locating the game rather elusive on your own, splash out on 1 of the a lot of dreamy non-public camps in possibly Kruger or the neighbouring Sabi Sands – most boast their very own concessions as nicely as splendidly intimate bedrooms, shady swimming pools and pro guides to track down the Major 5.

Greatest less than-the-radar locations

The Hemel en Aarde Valley

In the folds of the blue mountains behind the Cape seafront village of Hermanus, you will find the Hemel en Aarde Valley (it fittingly signifies heaven and earth in Afrikaans). This extremely fairly component of the planet has also develop into a little something of an oenophile’s paradise, with a selection of South Africa’s most acclaimed wine farms now clustered along 1 filth street on the fynbos-enriched soil.

The Wilderness

Drag yourself out of the highly effective undertow of the Wilderness sea and you’ll face a under no circumstances-ending stretch of treacle-coloured beach front to the east and an impenetrable forest to the west. Continue to be for a night or two in this Back garden Route village, and if you’re exhausted of battling the tempestuous sea, retreat to the nearby forests, where by there are placid lagoons and even a shady waterfall to swim beneath. The moment you are beached out, just take an hour-prolonged travel inland to the hushed, neat beauty of the Cango Caves and admire the amazing limestone formations and prehistoric cave paintings, and to Oudtshoorn, which is household to Africa’s largest colony of farmed ostrich.

The Swartland

Though Franschhoek could be dwelling to the most wonderful Cape Dutch wine farms, it is in the Swartland and along the West Coast exactly where groundbreaking wine-makers are manufacturing some of the most enjoyable new vintages in the state. If you check out in September, you’re in for an extra particular handle due to the fact the overall location is briefly carpeted with thousands and thousands of ice-cream colored spring bouquets. If you are seeking for someplace to stay, test the nearby coastal city of Paternoster: a cluster of minor white residences perched driving a extensive deserted seashore.

Matjiesfontein

The Karoo is a scorching, arid, and hauntingly lovely section of South Africa that feels a earth absent from the nearby coast. Outdoors of midsummer, when temperatures can be debilitating, it’s very well value a stop by – stay in the coronary heart of Matjiesfontein at the Lord Milner Resort, a prettily decorated, ordinarily South African location with a deep, great pool established underneath shady pepper trees and two great eating places that specialise in Karoo lamb. Matjiesfontein was a well known cease place for travellers on the Cape-to-Cairo street and an crucial stronghold in the Boer War, so look at underfoot for outdated bullets and food cans from the 1899 war.

Greatest factors to do

A driving tour of the Yard Route

Push the Garden Route and lurch from a prolonged, boozy lunch on an award-profitable wine farm to a swim in a single of black lagoons that drift slowly but surely into the Indian Ocean. Shell out your morning looking at elephants scratch their backs on the incredibly hot gum trees and your afternoon lying on the seaside with your toes in the h2o. It is these wild contrasts that make the Garden Route these a sumptuous put to go to — so take 10 idyllic times to gradually investigate the 400 miles concerning Hermanus and Port Elizabeth.

A walking safari in the Kruger Park

The largest difference concerning a going for walks and video game-travel safari is that the Big Five are no longer in the highlight. If you occur across them, it’s heart-stopping – but a walk is about experiencing the bush at a substantially far more personal pace. When you are on foot, you put down the psychological checklist of Lion King people and emphasis on 100-calendar year-old tortoises, waddling floor hornbill and chattering vervet monkeys. You also get important Bear Grylls points, and likely on a strolling safari usually means you have a talking place at dinner get-togethers for decades to come.

Stop by the artwork galleries of Johannesburg

The main hub of the country can be a tough position to visit as it’s nor specially fairly, additional unsafe than other elements of the country, and there are several inexperienced areas or community regions to wander all around in. Really don’t essentially make a distinct journey but, if you’re being right away, be guaranteed to visit the Apartheid Museum, the Everard Browse gallery and Arts on Key.

Eat some bunny chow in Durban

Bunny chow is a weird-sounding identify for a strange-looking concoction: a loaf of white bread hollowed out and stuffed with curry, chutney and bay leaves. But this quirky dish is also Durban’s most well known export and no excursion to the city would be entire with no at minimum just one bunny chow dinner. Capsicum Cafe in the Britannia Hotel is a colonial-style gem in the old city and is renowned for serving the greatest chow in Durban—choose concerning beef or rooster and wash it down with sweet community tea.

Getting all-around

Covid wiped out quite a few of South Africa’s very low-price tag airways – the most inexpensive and the finest is now FlySafair, otherwise Airlink also does a few routes. The nation is greater than you consider it is and driving from Johannesburg down to Cape Town will acquire about 14 hrs, of which only about six are gorgeous – so it is most straightforward to fly between all those cities. For the Back garden Route, employ the service of a automobile and generate, and if you are heading to Kruger you can either fly to Nelspruit (an costly route) or drive from Johannesburg. The educate technique is however unwieldy and not often harmless.

How to get there

If you’re likely on safari in northern South Africa, then fly into Johannesburg. It is more affordable than Cape Town, and when internal flights to Nelspruit (the gateway to the bush) are expensive, you can drive there from OR Tambo in five hrs. Reduced-price airlines this kind of as FlySafair present affordable inside flights down to Cape City, George and PE, and South African Airways, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic all fly instantly to Joburg from London. If you are only likely to the Cape, then the desire selection is to fly immediate on British Airways from LHR – but it can be eye-wateringly pricey and fortunately there are a range of far more affordable oblique carriers like Emirates. At the time you’re there, you will will need to hire a vehicle except if you want to count on Uber as general public transportation is inadequate.

Income-conserving tip

The trade charge suggests that outside the house of motels, day-to-working day life in South Africa is likely to come to feel very low cost – and even the very good Cape Town eating places are not likely to ever expense far more than £35 a head. The only expense is accommodation – despite the fact that prices in the Cape drop exterior of the summer time, and superior bargains can be observed in modest bed and breakfasts somewhat than large resorts.

FAQs

What’s the weather like?

South Africa is made up of several climates: the east coast is tropical with warm winters and muggy summers, the Kruger Park has sunny winter times, ice cold winter season evenings and really sizzling summers, while Cape City and the Backyard garden Route have a classic Mediterranean climate.

What time zone is it in?

South African summertime time (our wintertime) is GMT+2 even though South African wintertime is GMT+1 and operates from March to the conclusion of Oct.

What currency do I will need?

Rands.

What language is spoken?

English may perhaps be one particular of 11 nationwide languages but luckily for readers it is by significantly the most widely spoken and utilized all over the nation.

Is it secure?

Central Cape City is generally risk-free to walk around in by day, though be sensible: no expensive jewelry or designer handbags, make sure you. At night, it is dodgier – acquire an Uber, or if you are driving, park as close as you can to the cafe. Driving down the Garden Route is perfectly secure in the day, and the same mainly applies to driving from Johannesburg to the Kruger Park if you only quit at petrol stations. You do will need to be far more cautious in Johannesburg – if you’re driving by yourself, make confident you have prepared your route, only use registered taxis or Uber, and try out to walk outdoors as minimal as feasible.