The Perfect Two Week South Africa Itinerary

Wondering how to spend two weeks in South Africa? IMHO, South Africa has the perfect mix of things you could want on holiday – white sand beaches, epic sunsets, over 500 wineries, ridiculously beautiful views, wildlife, delicious food, and friendly locals.

I’ve lived in South Africa for most of my life, and I am very opinionated on what is worth doing and what is skippable. This two week South Africa itinerary covers all the highlights, without rushing you through them.

There are iconic experiences (Table Mountain, the Garden Route, and the Kruger National Park), personal favourites, plus a few tips that only a local would know. It’s ideal for first-time visitors or anyone who wants a perfectly paced mix of culture, scenery, food, wine and wildlife.

Here’s how to plan an unforgettable two weeks in South Africa.

Days 1 – 5: Cape Town

IMHO, five days is the shortest amount of time you need to really experience Cape Town. My suggested 5-day itinerary for Cape Town first-timers is here. Make sure that you book restaurants and activities in advance.

The top four things not to miss in Cape Town are the beach, a visit to a wine farm, some mountain involvement of some kind, and Robben Island for an important dose of history.

If you have more time, add the colourful Bo-Kaap neighbourhood, the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, and African penguins to your list, or choose from my list of the top 40 things to do in Cape Town.

My other favourite things about Cape Town, which are slightly less well-known, are its food scene and its spas, which are world-class and well-priced – make sure you indulge in both.

People often ask me if Cape Town is safe, and the short answer is yes, as long as you keep some basics in mind – see my Cape Town safety tips here.

A 5-day Cape Town Itinerary

Here’s a summary version of my suggested Cape Town itinerary:

• Day 1: Table Mountain, the beach and dinner at the Pot Luck Club

• Day 2: Robben Island, the Waterfront and the Bo-Kaap

• Day 3: Cape Peninsula Tour, featuring African penguins and Chapman’s Peak drive

• Day 4: Lion’s Head and the Constantia Wine Route

• Day 5: Museums, Kirstensbosch botanical gardens and fine dining at La Colombe

Days 6-7: The Winelands

Next up, it wouldn’t be a trip to South Africa if you didn’t go to the winelands. The day in Constantia was a little taster, but you should fully immerse yourself in wine country too (as an alternative, skip the Constantia day, and spend three days here instead).

South Africa has many wine routes, and over 500 wineries, but here’s my overview of the best ones:

• The Stellenbosch Wine Route: South Africa’s most famous wine route, Stellenbosch is large, scenic, and has a slightly more relaxed vibe. Expect leafy estates, big-name wine farms, and lots of options. I went to University in Stellenbosch, so I am biased, but it is absolutely stunning.

• The Franschhoek Wine Route: Upmarket and utterly picturesque, Franschhoek is smaller and more curated. Think boutique wineries, fine dining, and dreamy guesthouses. Stay for a long weekend, and get around the wineries in style on the Franschhoek wine tram.

• The Hemel en Aarde Wine Route: A lot less well-known, Hemel en Aarde translates to “Heaven and Earth”, and is my favourite South African wine route (don’t miss the best lunch of your life at Creation). The valley is near Hermanus, and is known for its cool-climate wines, especially Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

• The Paarl Wine Route: Paarl is often overshadowed by Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, but it’s very near to both. There are fewer crowds, and some great wineries – go to Fairview or Spice Route, or hidden gems Nederburg or Anura.

• The Robertson Wine Route: Slightly further away, most tourists don’t make it all the way to Robertson. If you’re coming back to Cape Town after your Garden Route trip, it’s worth a stop – go to Graham Beck for delicious MCC, or to Springfield for the Life From Stone Sauvignon Blanc.

My advice? Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are the easiest to get to geographically, so I would choose between them (plus a few Paarl farms are easy to tack on to them, and you can always pop to the Hemel en Aarde Valley on your Garden Route trip).

They are quite different, so make your choice based on the vibe you want: the Stellenbosch wine route is huge, and quite casual (probably because it surrounds the university town). Franschhoek has a more refined, upmarket vibe, but is a lot smaller, with fewer farms – a long weekend in Franschhoek is pure luxury.

Days 8 – 11: The Garden Route

Every year, many South Africans make the annual pilgrimage along the Garden Route, one of the most beautiful drives in the world, for their December holidays. The Garden Route is easily accessible from Cape Town, which is the perfect starting point.

Locals mainly base themselves in one town, but there is so much to see that you could town hop a lot as well. If I only had four nights, I would stay for two nights in either Knysna or Plett, and two nights in Tsitsikamma National Park/Storm’s River.

Here are the best things to do on the Garden Route:

• Wilderness: You’re technically in the Garden Route when you get to Mossel Bay, which is a little while before Wilderness, but I always consider myself properly in the Garden Route at Wilderness – you come around and down the mountain, and the beach stretches out in front of you, and you just know you’re on holiday.

• Sedgefield: Very little actually goes on in Sedgefield, but it is very close to my heart as I learnt to ride a bike, fairy-wheel free here! Jokes aside, there is a lagoon with great, calm, warm water for swimming, and a Saturday food market. Find the man selling pies (the one under the tree) – these are the best pies you will ever have.

• Knysna: My favourite Garden Route town, Knysna has it all: oyster restaurants galore, boat trips, hikes, beaches and the Knysna Forest, known for its wild roaming African elephants. Knysna is the best base for your Garden Route trip. In winter, the oyster festival and the marathon are a lot of fun.

• Plettenberg Bay: A close second for the best Garden Route town, “Plett”, as locals call it, has great restaurants and a very cool vibe during the summer months. Avoid Plett during the first week of December, when school-leavers flood it for their end-of-year party, and it’s loud and chaotic.

• Storm’s River and Tsitsikamma National Park: Hikes, swims, suspension bridges and ziplining (known locally as a canopy tour). I had a very memorable holiday here as a child, where I first discovered the concept of a buffet breakfast, and life was never the same again.

• Addo Elephant Park: Addo is a lot smaller than the Kruger National Park, but it does have the Big 5, and it is malaria-free, so it is definitely worth doing on the Garden Route (especially if you’re not doing any other kind of safari).

The Garden Route strictly starts at Mossel Bay and ends at Storm’s River, but don’t miss these bonus areas (which are not actually part of the Garden Route, but are definitely worth seeing in the vicinity):

• Oudtshoorn: Located just inland from the Garden Route in the semi-arid Klein Karoo, Oudtshoorn is famous for its ostrich farms, where you can see and feed ostriches, and buy their enormous eggs. It also has the Cango Caves, a dramatic underground network of limestone caverns. The scenery is strikingly different from the coast, with desert landscapes and quirky Karoo charm.

• Hermanus and the Hemel en Aarde Valley: Hermanus is a stunning fishing town with a lovely coastal path walk and access to the Hemel en Aarde wine route. Have a drink at Bientang’s Cave, and lunch at Fick’s Pool Restaurant.

• St Francis Bay and Cape St Francis: If you’ve made it this far, you deserve a treat – have dinner at Nevermind in Cape St Francis, the best restaurant on the Garden Route, and thank me later. The town is small, but stunning. Get an acai bowl at the Coastal Collective, and browse the linen clothing next door at Better Days Boutique.

A Four-Day Garden Route Itinerary

• Day 1: Oudshoorn and Wilderness – Go to the Cango Caves, the ostrich farm, and have a walk on the beach in Wilderness.

• Day 2: Knysna – Have breakfast at île de païn, go for a boat trip to the Knysna Heads, and have some oysters at 34 Degrees South.

• Day 3: Plett – Go hiking in Robberg Nature Reserve, go to Monkeyland, have a beach day at Lookout Beach and a cocktail at the Lookout Deck.

• Day 4: Tsistikamma/Storm’s River (add on Cape St Francis if you have time!)

If you want to spend more time on safari, you could shorten this itinerary by a day or two.

Days 12-14: Safari

For your last hurrah, there’s nowhere better (or more luxurious) than a safari, or as we call it in South Africa, “the bush”.

You can drive back to Cape Town after the Garden Route, but I think it’s easier to drive to Port Elizabeth or East London, and leave your rental car there. You can then fly to Johannesburg or to Durban for your safari trip.

Safari Options in South Africa

You can do a safari in South Africa in a national park, a private game reserve, or a private concession within a national park.

National Parks, like the Kruger National Park and the Addo Elephant Park, are large, government-run, and generally more budget-friendly. Accommodation is often self-catering, and you’re allowed to self-drive. They sometimes also offer guided drives, and there are restaurants.

Private Game Reserves (like Sabi Sands or Phinda) are exclusive, high-end experiences. These are fully hosted, typically with all-inclusive meals and luxury lodges, and you go on game drives with expert rangers and trackers, usually in open 4×4 vehicles (NB: it can be cold on a game drive, even in summer – bring a jacket).

Private Concessions within national parks (like some parts of Kruger) are privately operated but located inside the boundaries of the national park. They follow the private reserve model (fully catered, guided drives), but benefit from being inside a large park – the best of both worlds.

What you choose depends on your budget and what you’re after. Self-driving the Kruger is on a lot of bucket lists, and there is nothing quite like driving yourself through the Kruger, knowing that the only thing separating you from the wildlife is your little Hyundai Getz (kidding, that was just me – if you were renting a car, you’d pick better!).

Since I’m quite keen on great food when I’m on holiday, the concessions are my preference, but that means I don’t recommend going for more than about three days – each day is quite similar, and there is a surprising amount of lounging around.

What a Typical Private Safari Day Looks Like in South Africa

The exact options will differ slightly depending on where you’re going, but there are usually two game drives per day.

Your days usually start with an early wake-up call (around 5:00 a.m. in the summer) for your first game drive. Don’t worry, there will be coffee and pastries waiting for you as you arrive for your drive, and there is often also a mid-drive coffee stop. This is absolutely spectacular at sunrise.

You then usually head back to your lodge for breakfast, a swim and a bit of lounging around before lunch. After lunch, most people need a nap or get an in-room massage. There is also a late afternoon game drive, with a lovely drinks and snacks stop in the middle of the bush.

Afterwards, you have drinks and dinner back at the lodge. Some lodges will also offer night drives – if you can, definitely do this, as some of the best sightings in the bush happen at night.

What a Typical Self-Driving Safari Day Looks Like in South Africa

Self-driving the Kruger National Park in South Africa

If you’re self-driving the Kruger, you might want to spend a bit longer on your safari – the Kruger is almost 20,000km², and you could easily spend a week there. It has nine separate entrances, with twelve main rest camps, which are enclosed (and locked at night) and situated within the park.

A lot of people are surprised by this, but in the Kruger, you spend most of the day in the car. You can stop for breakfast and lunch, and you usually get back to your rest camp before dinner. The main camps have restaurants and cafes, as well as places to picnic or barbecue (“braai”, as the locals say).

The Kruger is only open during daylight hours, and you can’t self-drive at night for safety reasons, so day visitors leave before the external gates to the park close.

The internal gates to the rest camps also close at night, so if you’re staying at a rest camp, you have to be back by the time the gates close in the afternoon, usually by 6 p.m. at the latest (the staff get very cross if you’re back late, and may fine you).

The bigger camps sometimes show movies at night, or offer paid night drives on safari vehicles – definitely do this if you have the chance, as it’s the only way to be in the Kruger after dark, when some of the best sightings happen.

In the morning, you can leave your rest camp to drive around the park as soon as the gates open, as early as 04:30 a.m. in the summer. Hot tip: pack a flask of coffee and a box of rusks, and don’t bother with breakfast until you’re feeling more human, and you can stop at one of the camps.

If you do want to self-drive, I would suggest doing three days of that, followed by two days in a concession, which means you still end your trip on a luxury high (and honestly, the food in the Kruger leaves a lot to be desired – luxury game reserve meals are a form of self-respect).

FAQs About a Two-Week South Africa Itinerary

Ready to Plan Your South Africa Itinerary?

From beach and spa time, wine farms, mountains, history, a Big 5 safari, epic views and amazing food, this two-week South Africa itinerary is the perfect introduction to a country that has a bit of everything, and anything you could possibly want in a holiday destination.

Bookmark this post to plan your dream South Africa trip, and see all my other South Africa travel guides here.

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