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

A good trip, not too hectic. More activities in Cape Town should have been included rather than being options. For example Table Top Mountain and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

The only recommendation I will suggest is to change itinerary accidentally to the time of the year

This is a good trip but expect some long drives in a mini bus. If you are in a mini bus ( as opposed to a coach)you can't always see out of the windows that well and experience some of the spectacular scenery. On the whole the standard of the hotels was very good except for the last venue, and the locations were fantastic. It would have been nice to have spent two nights in some more places as there wasn't really time to experience the locations and relax. If you're only staying for one night and living out of your suitcase and rushing to get changed for dinner it isn't always ideal. South Africa is a fabulous place with some amazing scenery and it was great that our guide was South African and helped give us the essence of the country. Free time seemed to be focused too much towards the beginning of the trip. Food and drink great and good value. I would recommend flying into Cape Town a few days before. A fabulous destination...too little time!

This was a good trip, very varied, interesting, a good pace with lots of high-lights. The accommodation was true Explore - location, location, location! The hike up Table Mountain was disappointing, the trip notes suggested it was going to be a lead hike, four of us opted for the hike and our tour leader indicated the start of the path and sent us on our way. The route was tough and two of us decided to turn back. Unfortunately I took quite a tumble on the way down and spent the remainder of the trip bruised and sore. However, I appreciated getting down but I felt quite vulnerable on a lonely path in extreme heat. The stay in Tsitsikamma National Park was stunning, our accommodation was a self-catering apartment which was unexpected with great views of the sea. With a bit of pre-planning we could have shopped for some provisions to make the most of our facilities. The gift shop with a few food items and temporary restaurant was a mile away, not a problem for us but someone with limited mobility might have struggled, especially in the dark walking back from the restaurant. All in a good trip!

I found the hotels to be of a very high standard all across the 12 day holiday. Plus, which was helpful to me all but one was on the ground floor. The penultimate hotel was very nice but my shared room was on the first floor, but Vern the tour leader carried my luggage up the stairs.

If this had been my first experience with Explore I think I would have been really put off booking again. It was probably one of the most expensive trips I’ve done with Explore but also the most disappointing. The Explore Leader did the bare minimum and was very immature. In comparison to other trips, I felt I really got very little information about the country. He rarely went out of his way to impart knowledge or make an effort to show us more of each of the places we went. He usually just showed us restaurants.

The itinerary was odd as there were very long periods of free time. As such the trip seemed disjointed. The tour leader was more like a taxi service taking us from town to town.

Ryno was an exceptional guide. Highly recommended tour.

Stunning and varied landscape on this tour The holiday offers a range of experiences and options to try more. There’s some modest walking, animal encounters ( penguins, whales, birds, monkeys etc) and culture. Food is of a good standard and great value - fresh fish is widely available. Add a couple of days to your tour in Cape Town as there’s so much to do and not much chance on the tour. Similarly if you like safaris, there is just the one drive at the end of the holiday in Addo - add a day or two there and visit the private reserves and Addo park. The tour is at a relatively gentle pace and activities are generally relaxing rather than energetic

Great way to see South Africa for the first time. Small group ensured flexibility around itinerary based on local knowledge of excellent tour leader. Some unexpected hotel upgrades as well! Loved the scenery, the animals and the wine.

I felt the explore leader had her own plans which didn’t match what we wanted and was different from the itinerary Explore had given us . The drives were much longer than Explore had advised . The group meals including some breakfasts were far too slow. Some breakfasts taking over an hour which impacted on time spent available for activities . Large group.