The Garden Route sounds like a long drive and is about 300 kilometres — four hours of driving in total. The route is really a series of stops, and treating it as a drive misses it entirely.
The actual distances
| Leg | Drive |
|---|---|
| Cape Town–Mossel Bay | 4h |
| Mossel Bay–Wilderness | 1h |
| Wilderness–Knysna | 45min |
| Knysna–Plettenberg Bay | 30min |
| Plett–Tsitsikamma | 1h |
Most itineraries spend five to seven days, which is right — the time goes on activities rather than the road.
The stops
Mossel Bay — the start, with the Point and a walking trail.
Wilderness — lagoons, the Touw River, and paddling to a waterfall. Good walking in the national park section.
Knysna — the lagoon and the Heads, two sandstone cliffs the sea passes between. Oysters, and boat trips.
Plettenberg Bay — the best beaches, Robberg nature reserve with a peninsula walk and seal colony, and whale watching in season.
Tsitsikamma — the suspension bridge over the Storms River mouth, kayaking and lilo trips up the gorge, and the Bloukrans bungy, among the highest commercial jumps in the world.
The Otter Trail starts here — five days along the coast, hut-based, with bookings opening a year ahead and selling out.
The detours worth making
Route 62 — the inland alternative through the Little Karoo, with Oudtshoorn, the Cango Caves, and the Swartberg Pass, a gravel road over the mountains that is one of the great drives in the country.
Doing the coast one way and Route 62 the other makes a loop rather than an out-and-back.
Addo Elephant Park, at the eastern end near Port Elizabeth — malaria-free, which makes it a straightforward safari add-on with no prophylaxis.
The Cape Peninsula and winelands at the western end, before starting.
Whales
Roughly June to November, with southern right whales close inshore.
Hermanus, west of the Garden Route proper, is the best land-based whale watching in the world and has a cliff path for it.
Plettenberg Bay and De Hoop are the other reliable spots.
Practical
The N2 is a well-maintained main road and driving it is straightforward.
Avoid driving at night on rural roads — livestock, pedestrians and poor lighting are the real hazards.
Keep valuables out of sight and use secure parking overnight, which most accommodation provides.
Drive on the left.
Load-shedding — scheduled power cuts — has affected South Africa for years. Check whether accommodation has a generator.
Fuel is attended service, and a small tip is customary.
Season
October to April for warm weather and swimming.
June to November for whales.
The Garden Route gets rain year round, unlike Cape Town's winter-rainfall pattern — it is green for a reason.