What to Do Along the Garden Route: The Essential Activity Guide

Most people don’t expect world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on the Garden Route. The Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven and Earth) Valley produces both, with its cool maritime climate.

Hamilton Russell Vineyards set the benchmark decades ago; Bouchard Finlayson, Creation Wines and Storm Wines have built on it. The valley is now producing Pinot Noir of genuine international standing.

Our Wines of the Garden Route guide covers the valley’s producers and what to taste in more depth.

Knysna

The lagoon at Knysna is a scene that has been loved by artists for decades. Locally known as ‘the Heads’, twin sandstone cliffs frame the narrow passage where the lagoon meets the Indian Ocean.

A boat trip to the Featherbed Nature Reserve on the western Head makes for a great afternoon This restricted-access nature reserve is accessible only by the official ferry, with a guided walk through coastal fynbos and views back across the lagoon.

And then there are the oysters, which in the modern day, is a somewhat confusing topic. Knysna became renowned as South Africa’s oyster capital, for molluscs farmed in the lagoon. However, due to environmental concerns in the mid-2000s, commercial farming ended, yet the story and reputation stuck.

The headline experience is the suspension bridge walk across the Storms River Gorge to the river mouth – a short but spectacular trail through indigenous forest that ends at a viewing platform over the gorge where the river meets the Indian Ocean.

Sea kayaking through the gorge itself, beneath forest-draped walls and into sea caves, offers a more sensory vantage point. The forest overhead is ancient yellowwood and stinkwood; the resident Knysna turaco – a vivid green bird with a red wing flash – is usually somewhere overhead.

Fancourt Hotel and Country Club (George)

South Africa’s most prestigious golf resort, home to the Montagu and Outeniqua courses and the Links at Fancourt. It hosted the Presidents Cup in 2003 and remains the benchmark for Garden Route golf. The hotel and facilities are five-star and the courses championship standard.

Simola Hotel and Country Estate (Knysna)

A Jack Nicklaus Signature Design course set in the Knysna hills, with the town and lagoon in the valley below. A strong option for those staying in Knysna.

Plettenberg Bay – ‘Plett’ to everyone who’s been – is one of the Garden Route’s most glamorous addresses. Beautiful Blue Flag beaches, a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins, and a buzzing summer social scene make it a fitting finale for a Garden Route drive. 

Boat-based whale and dolphin tours launch from the central beach; Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary and Birds of Eden (a free-flight aviary that is more impressive than it sounds) are both within a few kilometres and particularly good if you’re travelling with children. The area is also producing some interesting coastal MCC – another reason the Garden Route wine story doesn’t end at Hemel-en-Aarde.

Gondwana Game Reserve, near Albertinia on the western Garden Route is the closest Big Five safari option to Cape Town – reachable in under three hours and offering a luxury safari experience without the logistics of flying to Kruger or beyond. It’s the perfect option if you want to add safari to a Cape-focused trip without significantly extending your days away.

Further east, beyond Plettenberg Bay lies Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa’s third-largest national park and home to more than 600 elephants.