South Africa's Garden Route

Although there were some good things about the Garden Route, I felt the leader was poor. If you would like more information, please reach out to me to inquire. I will elaborate only when someone shows interest in knowing details, rather than writing about it and no one does anything with the information. Thank you.

Bianca is an exceptional tour leader and extremely well organised so our trip ran very smoothly ... full of fun, knowledge and laughter. We had a brilliant trip made even more so as Bianca always went the extra mile for each of us, both jointly and individually, at every opportunity. She is obviously held in high affection by all the contacts at each location. A truly memorable trip, possibly the best I have been on with Explore.

Well worth doing. Great leader, perfect group size and good itinerary. Lots of variety.

The Garden Route is worth doing. There are a wide variety of things we saw and did.

The Garden Route was jam packed with wonderful experiences, without being rushed. Plenty of time to relish the beautiful scenery between stops. The food and accommodation were all excellent. Above all our tour guide was superb, keeping us informed and engaged so we got the most from our experience. This was a real treasure.

Fantastic coastline & range of optional activities. Good pace - not too rushed or frenetic with a few early starts.

I went in South Africa wintertime. A wonderful introduction to this small part of South Africa. The trip is quite quiet to begin with (Cape Town), most planned things are towards the end of the trip. Definitely not an overloaded itinerary. Lots of walking, but not too strenuous, and there are other options for the less mobile, albeit less scenic. If you don't do vineyards (great wine!) there is a great farm visit as an alternative, well worth it for the scones alone. The optional Monkey park, and Bird wildlife centre visits later in the tour are definitely worth it! Others loved the Plattenberg Bay whale watch tour as it was a smaller group and boat. The first option early in the trip was a huge tour boat for 200 people. It feels a day or two short, maybe arrange to arrive a day early and do the Red Hop-on-off bus in Cape Town. Very worthwhile to get a broad introduction, and takes you to the Botanic gardens, beaches, and to the V&A Waterfront which is a good place to start on day 1 (and means you don't have to worry about safety/ubers/walking). Ubers are an ideal option for getting around Cape Town safely if you are doing your own thing, I didn't have the app on my phone, so relied on other people. Some tourist venues/trips/extra excursions accept Credit Card only, no cash. I used a prepaid card when needed, others had a decent non-fee credit card. Beware of seasonal variations to the itinerary. E.g. in winter the hotel swimming pools are not usable as they are outdoors and unheated. No need to buy a Water2Go bottle, most guides will buy big water bottles that travel with you, and you can refill your own bottle from. Super trip, your bags follow in the bus/in a trailer, nice hotels, good food, lots to see and do.

We really enjoyed our time in South Africa. Everyone we met was helpful and friendly. The tour was well structured with good accommodation, which was sometimes a little out of the ordinary. The tour leader, Bee, was outstanding. She recommended some additional activities which really enhanced the trip and went out of her way to make it special for everyone. As we went in the winter some activities needed to be slightly amended, Bee was fantastic at making those decisions for us so everybody was safe. Through the whole process everyone we dealt with at Explore was extremely helpful. We would recommend both Explore and the South Africa garden route tour.

Excellent trip with excellent tour guide