Travel in South Africa

June 1, 2005 2:25 AM

Cape Town to George - 10 days in October - Ideas..

We're arriving in Cape Town on a Sunday, and then want a couple of days there before touring, flying out of George the following Wednesday...

Any ideas (and we'll have an 18 month old with us)..... We thought the Garden Route, Wine country but not too much driving...

posted by brettski to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total)

As the resident Capetonian I guess it my sacred duty to respond. First up the weather in October should be pretty good, but be prepared for some variable weather.

Here's a list of some kid friendly stuff to do in and around Cape Town.
1. Taking a cable car up Table Mountain and taking a stroll around on top. There's plenty of facilities up top including a restaurant.
2. If you have a baby carrier (those backpack type ones) you can even walk up with the kid. Another nice walk is Lion's Head which is right next door.
3. The penguins at Boulders Beach are also kid friendly. If you want to see animals closer to the city the Two Ocean's Aquarium has a number of kid friendly exhibits including touch pools. Check to see if you can get there for the penguin or shark feeding.
4. If the weather is really good consider going to Kirstenbosch National Gardens which is great if you just want to relax for a bit.
5. If you're up for the drive you can take a day drive to Hermanus. August is the best time to see whales but they hang around till December. Check beforehand.
6. There's also the World of Birds which is in Hout Bay. Also from Hout Bay you can take a boat trip to Duiker Island which has a colony of Cape Fur seals. Just be prepared for the smell.

In terms of stuff to do outside Cape Town, there's the Garden Route which is quite nice. Seeing as you will be in George you might as well go to Knysna which is just past George. I can reccomend going to the Featherbed Nature Reserve which takes up one side of the Knysna heads (the other side taken up by expensive houses). Plettenberg Bay is also nice and shouldn't be busy at that time of year.

I can reccomend Baardskeerer Maps (Disclaimer: I am not an employee but my dad works for the company that prints them and as such I have a few of them at home) for finding stuff to do and getting around. They have one for day drives around CT as well as a Whale Coast map which almost goes up to George.

I've sat throuth two different JRun errors so I'm just going to submit this before it's all wiped out by another server failure. If you have any more questions you can email me.
posted by PenDevil at 7:48 AM on June 1, 2005

Doesn't really answer your question, but if you get a bright and sunny day go up Table moutain. There is a cable car and it would take no time to go up there and walk around the mountain. It is a spectacular view.

If doing the Garden route, stop to see penguins (i think the place is called Boulder)
posted by darsh at 7:50 AM on June 1, 2005

And PenDevil got through the JRun errors before I did, I see
posted by darsh at 7:51 AM on June 1, 2005