Garden Route Self-Guided Tour

SA - GardenSG1 If you want to sample the delights of the Cape, but don’t have the time for a longer stay, then this is the road tour for you – a real ‘highlights’ tour. And we promise it will leave you wanting to come back for more.

Tour highlights

The warm air and sun on arrival at Cape Town
Your introductory "orientation" tour of Cape Town on arrival
False Bay with mountains above you, fast sweeping bends, and the azure blue sea below you
The semi-desert region of the Little Karoo with endless horizons
Riding the huge and spectacular Swartberg Pass on a gravel road

Itinerary

Day 1 Depart UK.

Day 2 Arrive Cape Town. We meet you at the airport and transfer you to our Cape Town hotel. We suggest you rest, unwind, swim in the pool or catch up on sleep until 2 pm when we pick you up in a mini bus, issue the bikes and guide you on an 'orientation' tour of Cape Town. This evening your guide Tony will join you for dinner and a relaxed ‘tour briefing’.

Day 3 Cape Town – Cape L’Agulhas. Your first morning’s ride and you head for the exhilarating and spectacular drive round False Bay via Gordon’s Bay, Betty's Bay and on to the historic coastal resort and former whaling town of Hermanus, where we lunch. After lunch the route continues through rolling wheatfields with long sweeping bends - ideal bike country. Finally you arrive at Cape L'Agulhas, and visit the southernmost point of Africa. Your accommodation for the night has a superb restaurant specialising in locally caught fish.

Day 4 Cape L’Agulhas – Knysna. Again traversing the rolling wheatfields with magnificent views of rich farming country you head for the picturesque town of Swellendam and then leave the coastal lowlands via the rugged Tradouw Pass which crosses the Langeberg range of mountains. Immediately after the pass you are in the arid Little Karoo where ostrich and tobacco farming are the main occupations. Passing through the area's main town of Oudtshoorn you leave the Little Karoo via the huge Outeniqua Pass which brings you back to the coastal plain and on to the famous Garden Route. Your overnight destination, Knysna, surrounds a tranquil lagoon which empties into the Indian Ocean through the turbulent waters of the ‘Heads’. Point Lodge, Knysna.

Day 5 Knysna - Oudtshoorn. We suggest a visit to the Blue Hills Wild Life Park where you will see buffalo, rhino, giraffe, zebra, kudu and possibly even leopard. Then you turn north towards Oudtshoorn, ostrich farming capital of South Africa. There should be time to visit the famous Kango Caves, have a quick ostrich race and take in the Wild Life Ranch (cheetahs, lion, tigers, crocodiles and alligators). Die Oude Meul Country Lodge, Oudtshoorn.

Day 6 Oudtshoorn – Robertson. You recross the Little Karoo, again through wild and rugged country passing through Calitzdorp, Ladysmith and Barrydale arriving back in the Western Cape at Montagu, an attractive spa town with natural hotwater springs hidden in a mountain cleft. On leaving Montagu you pass some of the most contorted and folded mountain strata you will ever see and finally enter the fertile fruit growing area of Robertson. Your guesthouse for the night is on a long established wine farm in a gracious old homestead. Nuy Valley Guesthouse.

Day 7 Robertson. Today you ride the "7 Passes Route": some are fast and perfectly engineered, some tortuously twisting, others over 1200 m high. During the day you circle the Hex River mountains (where there is a ski club!), always on good tar roads. Nuy Valley Guesthouse.

Day 8 Robertson – Cape Town. Return to Cape Town via Du Toits Kloof pass and the main N1 road. Proceeding on from Cape Town you tour the picturesque Cape Peninsular with the Atlantic Ocean on the one side and Indian Ocean on the other, visiting the a penguin colony at Simonstown and taking lunch at Cape Point (don't let the baboons steal it!). Return your motorcycle and we’ll whisk you back to the airport for your evening flight home.

Day 9 Arrive UK.

Total distance c. 1500 km

Ready to book? Please click here

Price includes: 7 days motorcycle hire, insurance, unlimited mileage, 6 nights 2-3* hotel accommodation with breakfast (guesthouse in Cape Town), airport transfers, winery tour, maps and daily information pack; luggage storage; biker’s rucsac.

Price excludes: Petrol, meals other than those specified, personal items. Security deposit ZAR12,000-20,000. Flights, travel insurance and tour extensions can be arranged through H-C Travel.

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Garden Route self-guided tour
BMW F650GS	BMW F650GST	BMW R1150GS	BMW R1200GS	Passenger	Sgl rm suppl.
£795.00	£825.00	£845.00	£925.00	£495.00	£95.00