The 6 best road trips in South Africa

Here’s my personal pick of the best multiday road trips that anyone can enjoy in South Africa …

South Africa has some of the most gloriously scenic road trips in the world. Many take you through showy landscapes that are bursting with dramatic views and adventure activities. Others offer a gentler but equally rewarding charms, like superblooms and rural villages thick with culture and history.

What actually constitutes a road trip can be debated, but in this list I focus on routes that require a few days to explore properly and have been curated by tourism bodies to promote a particular experience. I haven’t been able to include all the routes I love, but I’ve tried to provide a mix so that there’s something for everyone – young and old, active and less active.

With that said, here are the six of the road trips I would most want to take my international friends to see, starting with my top pick …

1. The Garden Route

Route: Mossel Bay, Western Cape to Storm’s River, Eastern Cape

The Garden Route is perhaps South Africa’s most beautiful and famous road trip. It’s absolutely world-class and will be one of the best road trips of your life, so give yourself as long as you can to enjoy as much of it as possible!

As its name suggests, the Garden Route is full of beautiful greenery. But what its name belies is the fact that it’s an incredibly rugged landscape overall, so not at all like a regular garden. We’re talking cliffs plunging into the ocean, narrow valleys threaded by tannin-coloured rivers, and dense forests full of centuries-old Outeniqua yellowwoods and birdsong.

Highlights of the Garden Route

• Eating seafood in the lagoonside town of Knysna and climbing the Knysna Heads
• Going all in on adventure activities like canyoning, canoeing, and abseiling in Wilderness
• Doing the world’s highest bungee jump off Bloukrans Bridge
• Relaxing on the beautiful sandy beach of Plettenberg Bay
• Doing a whale-watching boat tour in season
• Hiking the impossibly picturesque coastal trails of Robberg Nature Reserve
• Walking the Storm’s River suspension bridge in Tsitsikamma National Park

Check out this epic 14-day Garden Route Experience itinerary if you’d like to plan this road trip. Or if you want to go big, do the Garden Route and Wild Coast Tour, which takes you on a similarly epic coastal road trip – the Wild Coast – only this one is far more remote.

2. Free State Sandstone Route

Route: Ladybrand to Golden Gate Highlands National Park, Free State

Also known as the Free State Highland Route, this road trip takes you through very pretty farmland and rural, historic villages in the western foothills of the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains. A key feature of the itinerary is also a visit to Golden Gate Highlands National Park, where you find dramatically shaped sandstone cliffs among other features. There’s also a variety of wildlife to be found, like zebras, black-backed jackals, and rare grey rheboks and blesboks.

Drive the Sandstone Route in spring for beautiful greenery, but know that autumn is its most charmed season. At this time, pink and white cosmos line the roads, and the region’s iconic Lombardy poplars turn golden.

This is a great road trip for hikers. But it’s also ideal for culture and history aficionados, and anyone wanting a gentler sort of road trip that involves cappuccinos with views and visits to ancient rock art sites as well as modern art galleries.

Highlights of the Free State Sandstone Route

• Enjoying the scenery as you wind up the mountain pass inside Golden Gate
• Exploring upper Golden Gate by vehicle or hikes and visiting its vulture hide
• Exploring the galleries, cafés, and craft shops of the delightful art town of Clarens
• Hiking the Clarens Kloof Mountain Trail for beautiful forest trails and expansive views
• Learning about Boer War history in Fouriesburg and cherry picking on one of its farms
• Visiting well-preserved San (Bushmen) rock paintings in sandstone caves and overhangs
• Fishing for trout in a local stream

3. Panorama Route

Route: Long Tom Pass to Echo Caves, Mpumalanga

For dramatic landscapes, you can’t beat the Panorama Route in the northeast corner of South Africa.

As the name suggests, the Panorama Route is a road trip that’s all about big, bold, and panoramic views. This is because it’s centred on the northeastern edge of the country’s interior plateau, where the land transitions dramatically to the lowlands below. You visit all manner of wonderful features on the drive, including one of the world’s largest canyons and various spectacular waterfalls.

While there are many wonderful hiking opportunities along the Panorama Route, as well as opportunities to swim in waterfall pools and, the route is also ideally suited to those who just want to enjoy scenic drives and short walks to special viewpoints. There’s also a great deal of history to discover in the region, from the Anglo-Boer War to the local gold rush.

Note that May to August is best for clear skies and cooler days.

Highlights of the Panorama Route

• Taking in the truly epic view from the edge of Blyde River Canyon
• Walking the boardwalks of Bourke’s Luck Potholes to marvel at the ‘potholes’ in the canyon rock below
• Visiting Lisbon Falls, a showstopping twin waterfall that plunges 94 m (308 ft) into a wide, shallow pool
• Strolling through pretty rainforest to reach God’s Window, a spectacular break in the escarpment offering a far-reaching view
• Throwing yourself off the edge of Graskop Gorge courtesy of its big swing
• Learning about the 1880s gold rush by exploring the Victorian village of Pilgrim’s Rest

Learn more by reading Top 7 most astonishingly beautiful stops along the Panorama Route and check out this Panorama Route and Kruger safari itinerary.

4. Route 62

Route: Cape Town, Western Cape to Humansdorp, Eastern Cape

Route 62 runs roughly parallel to the coastal Garden Route, but is further inland and so exposes you to very different scenery, livelihoods, and adventures.

Some refer to Route 62 as the Wine Route, and claim it to be the world’s longest such route. Certainly you drive through very beautiful vineyard country during the initial stretch of the route out of Cape Town, and that’s a big highlight of this road trip. But when I think of my experiences of Route 62, I tend to dwell more on what comes later – on ostrich farms and hardy sheep scattered across the Little Karoo, on remote mountain passes and canyon roads, and on isolated dorps (small towns) with wide streets, steepled churches, and tin-roofed homes with wraparound porches.

I would recommend Route 62 to pretty much anyone, except perhaps those with small kids who don’t like long drives. It’s especially great for winelovers and history aficionados. Visit at any time, except perhaps deep winter when snow can close passes or the height of summer when daytime temperatures can spike.

Highlights of Route 62

Route 62, like the Garden Route, is a big road trip, so I find it hard to select just a few highlights. The drive itself is one of the biggest drawcards, as you scale thrilling passes and see spectacular mountain scenery. There are countless places where you could stop and do an exceptionally rewarding hike or swim in a cold, clear river with nobody else in sight. The sense of real remove and isolation is, for me, one of the biggest allures of many sections of Route 62.

That said, four other highlights of Route 62 are:

• Sipping your way through wine country, which includes visiting the famous Robertson Wine Valley and sipping award-winning ports in Calitzdorp
• Swimming in one of the Western Cape’s natural warm mineral springs
• Exploring the vast limestone caverns of the Cango Caves near Oudsthoorn
• Staying in the arty town of Montagu and hiking or rock climbing in the surrounding mountains

5. Midlands Meander

Route: Various roads between Pietermaritzburg and Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)

The Midlands Meander is all about arts and crafts. That’s why it exists, in fact. It started small in 1985, with local potters and weavers coming together to devise a way to promote folks visiting their craft shops. Today, the attractions along the route have expanded greatly to include various other artisans, like leatherworkers, metalworkers, chocolatiers, cheese makers, and beer brewers.

I tend to think of the Midlands Meander as a ‘cosy’ road trip, as most folks focus on browsing studios and shops and then eating and drinking in one of the prettily placed cafés or restaurants. In fact, this route would better suit the name Garden Route than the country’s actual Garden Route, as you visit many properties with gorgeous gardens. The route takes you through very bucolic hills that pretty much everyone agrees is somewhat reminiscent of the English countryside.

That said, there are also various adventure activities and historical sites to enjoy on the Midlands Meander too, like hiking, ziplining, and a Nelson Mandela museum. But whatever you do along the Midlands Meander, know that spring and autumn are the most delightful seasons for this road trip.

Highlights of the Midlands Meander

• Simply popping in and out of various artisans’ studios, which range from the smart to those with a backwoods feeling
• Visiting the breathtaking and secluded 105 m (344 ft) Karkloof Waterfall
• Tarzan-ing your way down Karkloof Gorge via 10 ziplines that duck in and out of the canopy
• Visiting the moving museum and outdoor art installation at the Nelson Mandela Capture Site
• Letting the kids ride the mini train, play putt-putt, and do candle dipping at Piggly Wiggly Country Village

6. Namaqualand Flower Route

Route: Cape Town, Western Cape to Port Nolloth, Northern Cape

The Namaqualand Flower Route runs parallel to the Atlantic coastline from Cape Town at the southern tip of the country all the way north till just short of the Namibian border. It must be said that there’s no need to do the entire route – you can select a portion that works for you.

The Namaqualand Flower Route is highly seasonal. It only ‘exists’ every August and September after short-lived rains transform the otherwise parched and relatively plain Karoo into something magnificent. You encounter enormous sweeps of orange daisies or pink or white vygies (succulents) for miles around, and the joy is in a vast landscape painted by one intense colour. In other places, there’s a tapestry of wildflowers of different heights, colours, and types, and the treat is in drawing close to admire each one.

In fact, not only is the desert dressed up in riotous colours, but an unbelievable 3,500 species of flowers are in attendance. What’s more, about a third of the flowers can’t be found anywhere else in the world!

Know that Namaqualand is in a very remote and hard-to-reach part of South Africa. So one of the best ways to see the flowers is on an overland trip like those offered by African Overland Tours, as you’ll work the flowers into a broader itinerary that makes the most of the travel to and from the Namaqua region.

Highlights of the Namaqualand Flower Route

• Exploring Namaqua National Park, a biodiversity hotspot if ever there was one, where you find not only flowers galore but also sometimes exciting wildlife like oryxes standing among them
• Walking the nature trails of beautiful Goegap Nature Reserve to see wildflowers, quiver trees, and wildlife, and strolling its Hester Malan Flower Garden to learn about all you observe
• Hiking the Roodeberg Kloof Trail for gorgeous mountain scenery and wildflowers
• Admiring the view of wildflowers meeting the shoreline in Port Nolloth or Alexander Bay

If you’d like to do one or more of South Africa’s greatest road trips, browse these South African road trips on offer from African Overland Tours.

Note: This blog post was created by Sarah Duff in February 2016. It was completely rewritten in June 2026 by Megan Abigail White.