Garden Route

Travel Advice & Access

By air. Three airports matter. George (GRJ) is the route's own, an hour from Knysna, handling close to a million passengers a year on Airlink, CemAir and FlySafair services from Cape Town (CPT) and Johannesburg (JNB). At the eastern end, Chief Dawid Stuurman International in Gqeberha (PLZ, renamed from Port Elizabeth International in February 2021) serves the Eastern Cape reserves.

Light aircraft. Plettenberg Bay has a licensed aerodrome (PBZ) with no dependable scheduled service; treat it as a charter field. A charter from Cape Town into George or Plettenberg Bay removes the least interesting four hours of the drive, and is the most effective single upgrade here. Standard light-aircraft limits apply: 20 kilograms per person in soft bags, no rigid frames.

On the ground. The N2 is a well-surfaced two-lane national road for the whole route, and this is one of the few parts of Africa where self-drive genuinely works. It is still the wrong call at this level. A private guide-driver costs a fraction of the East African equivalent, absorbs the stop-go roadworks between Mossel Bay and Storms River, and turns the driving into content: the Outeniqua Pass, the Kaaimans bridge, Bloukrans. Avoid night driving outside towns.

Access and drive times by area

Mossel Bay and Gondwana — 380 km / 4 hrs from Cape Town — Closest Big Five to Cape Town; first or last night George and Wilderness — GRJ direct; 424 km / 4 to 5 hrs from Cape Town — Airport, Fancourt golf, the lakes; 20 minutes apart Knysna — 64 km / 1 hr from GRJ; 483 km from Cape Town — Featherbed by boat only; ferry through the Heads Plettenberg Bay — 34 km / 30 min from Knysna; PBZ for charters — Strongest bed stock; helicopter base Tsitsikamma and Storms River — 70 km / under 1 hr from Plettenberg Bay — Day trip; SANParks fee at Storms River Mouth Oudtshoorn and Cango Caves — 65 km / 1 hr from George over the Outeniqua Pass — Overnight or long day trip; pre-book cave tours Eastern Cape reserves — 233 km / 2.5 to 3 hrs Plett to PLZ, then 1 to 2 hrs — Road or light aircraft; fly out of PLZ

Routing advice. Run west to east and fly home from Gqeberha. An open-jaw into Cape Town and out of PLZ saves a full day of backtracking. The standard shape is Cape Town and the Winelands, then the Garden Route by charter or road, then three nights in an Eastern Cape reserve.

Practicalities. British, EU, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders enter visa-free for up to 90 days. Children travelling with one parent should still carry a full unabridged birth certificate and written consent; enforcement has softened since 2019, but airlines still ask. The route is malaria-free end to end. Medical care in George and Gqeberha is good; the stretch between them much less so, so evacuation cover should be standard. Carry rand in cash for SANParks and CapeNature gates and for tips at 10 to 15 per cent.