Honeymooners and romantics can look forward to exquisite lodges and boutique hotels; families will have days packed with activities; wildlife watchers sit back to epic game viewing. Accommodation ranges from the best there is to just like home. And everyone will enjoy South Africa’s famous mix of old-school hospitality and modern-world infrastructure. Join a tour, package your own or hire a car and do it your way – you’ll find the people friendly and the food fabulous.
Two stand-out destinations – Cape Town and the Sabi Sands (a private Big 5 reserve that adjoins the Kruger National Park) – feature on most South Africa holiday itineraries. They are easily combined, offering the traveller some of Africa’s best game viewing plus all the attractions of ‘The Mother City’ – Table Mountain, Cape Point, Boulders Beach Penguin Colony and the Cape Winelands.
It’s also easy to get around and enrich your holiday – South Africa is a destination with many add-on experiences. The Whale Coast – home to amazing whale watching in spring – lies close to Cape Town. Further along the Cape coast, the family-friendly Garden Route beckons. A long lazy stretch of beaches and forests, the Garden Route is ideal for a self-drive adventure, especially as it ends where malaria-free Big 5 game reserves begin.
A short domestic flight gives you access to South Africa’s other holiday hotspots. Families with children will love the thrills and spills of super-resort Sun City and its nearby malaria-free game reserves. Travellers looking off the beaten track are sure to love the wildlife-rich KwaZulu Natal wilderness and its tropical beaches.
Make it a regional flight and you’ll turn your holiday into a Grand Tour. Fly from Cape Town and Johannesburg to iconic African destinations such as Victoria Falls and Botswana or hit the dazzling beaches of the Indian Ocean on a hideaway Mozambican island.
Home to Cape Town – the world’s must-see city – as well as the Big Five, whales and winelands, South Africa is a natural choice for travellers seeking diversity, comfort and experience. A South Africa holiday can be a simple week in Cape Town, taking advantage of the Mother City’s fine offerings – Table Mountain, Cape Point, and the penguins of Boulders Beach. Adding on the Whale Coast and Winelands is easy and we recommended doing it yourself on a self-drive tour. Continue the self-drive adventure along the Cape coast and have a Garden Route holiday, complete with Knysna oysters and Plettenberg Bay cocktails. More tropical coastlines wait in KwaZulu Natal, a province where you can also tour excellent game reserves as well as haunting colonial battlefield sites.
Adding a Big Five safari to your South Africa holiday is a choice between different destinations. The malaria-free destinations of a Garden Route safari and the Madikwe Private Game Reserve are popular with honeymooners and families with children. But South Africa’s heavyweight game viewing is in the Kruger and Sabi Sands. And it’s in the private Sabi Sands Reserve that you’ll find Africa’s best Big Five safaris balanced by some of its most sophisticated safari lodges.
And with Johannesburg as the travel hub, South Africa combines easily with Botswana, Victoria Falls and Mozambique’s Indian Ocean islands to make an epic holiday. Browse our recommended South Africa holidays below – all are tried-and-tested itineraries ready to go – or simply contact us and we’ll create an itinerary based on your needs and budget.
Two distinct climatic zones means the best time to visit South Africa depends on your priorities. Cape Town, the Whale Coast and the Winelands enjoy long, hot and dry summers from November to April and short, cool and wet winters from May to September. Visitors to Cape Town and the Garden Route in high summer (December – March) may experience very windy weather. Cape winters on the other hand are often marked by long periods of dry, windless and sunny weather.
The rest of South Africa – including all the safari destinations – is the reverse: a short, hot and wet summer season and a long, mild and dry winter. Safaris are best enjoyed in the comfort of winter but summer season safaris have their own attractions – lush landscapes, off-the-scale bird watching and lots of new-born animals.
Our team of destination experts will design a holiday to meet your budget and interests. Let’s start planning your tailor-made African safari today!
South Africa can be just one of several chapters to your holiday. The continent’s biggest travel hub – Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport – lies at your fingertips. From here, it’s a short hop to Victoria Falls, Botswana, Namibia, East Africa or the Indian Ocean islands. There’s plenty of accommodation if you need to overnight in Johannesburg but you can reach Victoria Falls and Botswana with a direct flight from Cape Town – Africa awaits!
