Planning a trip is not an easy task. Though many people enjoy the spontaneity of these trips, it sometimes turns into a spoiler if things keep going wrong one after other. It is very important that you have some sort of idea about where you are going, what all places you want to cover, where you are going to stay and approximate time you have in hand for these.
I had taken the responsibility of planning whole trip and though it was taking out much of random nature of our trip, it ended well with good satisfaction to each one that everyone enjoyed it without stressing ourselves or missing anything major. Below details will tell you how I went on to plan this trip and what all information I collected. You can also take this as a base plan and modify it as per your convenience. I don’t take any credit for maps, or pictures given in this plan as most of time I have taken it from other website while planning and I am sorry that I don’t have any reference to those website now while writing this post. Please let me know if anyone has any objection on using any picture in this post and if a valid point is raised, I would change/remove that particular item.
My planning to Cape Town was in same line as mentioned above. Our group was focused on 3 things –
1. Bungee jumping is a must, so we need to go to Knysna for it.
2. We need to cover major attractions of Cape Town.
3. We don’t want it to be hectic so it should be enough free time in evening for rest.
So I started with our route plan. It was only bungee jumping first and accommodation in Cape Town was confirmed for all 4days, so I skipped Knysna initially. Thanks to Anand that he booked a place for one night in Knysna, which gave us chance to cover it. Now our plan was to go to Knysna and halt there for one night. Start early morning and reach Cape Town around check-in time (10:00 AM). Route maps are easily available in Google Maps or other websites for this, so I am not giving any reference for it. From Knysna, it was Garden route which was important and so we made sure that while going to Cape Town, we would take this route. While returning, as we would have covered all of points, we were planned to take N1 which is fastest route back to Jo’berg.
Bungee Jumping: Now with main travel plan done, I was focused on every day planning within city. For first day, it was Knysna. On searching I found that it is beaches we could cover and Bungee jumping was main point to go. We had one pamphlet for it and also they have website (http://www.faceadrenalin.com/bloukransbridge.asp) where one could get exact location and other details. This place has been recognised as world’s highest commercial bungee jump (216 m) so it is natural to get inspired and take a shot on this jump. Place gets crowded so give at least 2-3 hours to complete it and in holiday seasons, you might want to book in advance if you don’t want to waste the day. It costs 620 R for one person to do bungee jump. It is perfectly safe and they don’t have any accident history so it gives them a very good record to conduct it.
Beaches are quite easy to reach. Brenton beach is good for walk and surfing. You can even go inside just for fun as well. Same is Buffalo beach. There are some other beaches which are rocky (no or less sand) in nature and if you have kids, you could skip those as you need to descend down on high rocks to go to water level. But once you are down, you can sit and relax in peace as long as you want.
Cape Town: One needs to start at least by 5:00 AM to reach at a good time in Cape Town and not waste the day. It gives you ample time to stop and absorb the beauty of Garden route also. There is no rest place, but you can stop your car at a good place on side and finish your breakfast, if you have arrangement. It is quite nice to eat while watching the view. In Cape Town you can check-in and get fresh. By 12:00 PM you would be ready to start your plan to cover points.
Map for Cape Town
Table Mountain: I would suggest keeping Table Mountain first on list. It is afternoon and you don’t know if weather will be suitable for it or not next day. So if it is a sunny day, go straight for Table Mountain. Give at least 4 hours to cover it and if you are not tired, take longest route in Table Mountain and spend the whole rest of day on top. You will get a good experience of hiking and trekking. On coming back, you can sit in Waterfront and relax while taking your dinner. If you are planning to do some speed boating or sailing, you can book it in Waterfront. These are available on time also if it is not holiday season. Take cable car for going up and it can be quite time consuming and hectic to go on walk all the way up.
First Car up – 08h00
Last Car up – 18h00
Last Car down – 19h00
The Cable car departs every 10-15 min and can carry 65 persons at one time.
Robben Island: Next priority should be for Robben Island. It should be booked in advance as it gets a long queue if you want to do it right there and may be you will not get it as there are limited trips available per day. It takes about 4 hour for this also to go and come back while you can spend more also as there is no restriction on which cruise you will take to return, as long as you are able to catch last one. Book a trip of around 2:00 PM while taking almost the last cruise to return. It might give you chance to see sunset while you are in sea which is a spectacular view. Ticket counter and boarding happens from building behind clock Tower in Waterfront.
Waterfront Roads
StellenBosch: As it would be in afternoon, you can either go to beaches for spending morning time, or like us, go to wine land StellenBosch. There are many wine yard available who let you visit wine farms and facility where they make wines. Spier is famous for its wine and they have Cheetah and Eagle breeding place as well. But they don’t conduct wine yard tour so it is not the place for it. You can cover Spier for food, wine tasting and encounter with Cheetah and Eagle. Then go to another wine yard to get a tour. Asara conduct tour but if booked in advance. Reach there early morning so that you get back to Waterfront in time to catch your cruise. It takes about 1.5 hour to comeback if traffic is light.
Wine Yards in Stellenbosch
Above two items will cover our whole day and you can go and sit in some club to spend night. If you have time left in afternoon, there are many malls available near waterfront and you can cover those.
Penguin Encounter: On 3rd day you can make a trip from far side of Cape Town, covering Boulder’s beach first. You will get to see Penguins on a point before this beach. As you are near to Boulder’s beach, keep looking for Penguin sign board and it will take you to right place. Try to go early morning as it would be quite and you could go down the boundary to reach near Penguins. If it is crowded, it is actually not allowed to cross that boundary.
If you like, spend time on beach or else after sometime, proceed for Cape Point. You will get other beaches later where you can relax.
Cape Point: Cape point is spread in a big area and if you want to cover many of those, you will need at least 4-5 hours for it. Cover few points where you can see Whale and proceed directly for Cape of Good Hope. Take train to go up, it is thrilling to see how it climbs so steep ramp. Wind is strong on top so keep some jacket and make firm steps while climbing stairs. Later you can go to Cape Point where you can do hiking on nearby rocky mountain. Waves are strong here and it makes a nice snap when taking photos with water splashing behind you.
Chapman’s Peak Drive: Go to Waterfront side of Cape Town through Chapman’s peak drive. It is a scenic drive with few view points. You will love driving on this road. It also cut down on your time as it would take about 2 hours if you are not taking this route. Keep 1 hour for this drive as you want to enjoy it and not just cover it.
Hout Bay/Clifton beach: You can spend your time on these beaches whichever you like. If you have started early, you will reach here much in time to take bath and enjoy sea waves along with babes. You can park on side of road and capture an area on beach to spend time.
Tow Oceans Aquarium: I personally didn’t
cover it as it was told not much different than in other places. If you have not gone in any big aquarium, this is a nice place to visit. You will get a good experience of walking inside sea while watching difference fishes.
Direction for Two Ocean Aquarium
This would cover our 3rd day. On 4th day, you can relax on beach or cover any other place which you like to visit again.
Please let me know if this plan was useful for you or you have any suggestions to make it more time efficient and better coverage.
You can read about my Trip to Cape Town here, day wise -
Day1 - Starting to Cape Town
Day2 - Jumping Down the Bridge
Day3 - Table Mountain in Cape Town
Day4 - Robben Island and Wine Yards
Day5 - Penguin Encounter
First of all, A Very Happy New Year to You. Thanks for visiting my site. I wish this New Year will bring you new opportunities and pleasure in life.
, have a wonderful time with your family and friends together, joining you in this party.
