Cape Town city break and Western Cape wildlife discovery

Itinerary in brief:

• 4 nights Cape Town
• 1 night Hermanus
• 2 nights De Hoop

Day 1: Arrive Cape Town

On arrival in Cape Town you will be met at the airport and driven to your hotel, where you’ll check in for four nights. Arriving here from the UK you should have any jetlag so why not head to the V&A Waterfront tonight for a fresh dinner of garlicky seafood and a glass of fine South African wine!

Days 2 - 4: Cape Town  

This morning a hire car will be delivered to your hotel which you can use to explore the area over the next three days. On your first day you’ll probably want to stick to the centre of Cape Town, taking in the V&A Waterfront, taking the boat to Robben Island to learn about the prison and taking the cable car up to Table Mountain for views over the city and the ocean.

The next day, why not drive down to the Cape of Good Hope, stopping along the way at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens before spending the morning with the cute penguins at Boulders Beach near Simons Town. Continue to Cape Point National Park where you can standard the most south-westerly point of Africa and hike through the park, looking out into the ocean where ships have passed through for centuries as they rounded the bottom of Africa.

Spend the rest of your time in Cape Town exploring a little further – you could have high tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel, head to one of the many museums or head to the beach in Camps Bay for some surfing.

Day 5: Cape Town to Hermanus

After breakfast you’ll start the pretty drive towards Hermanus, around 1.5 hours south on the coast. You’ll head through the winelands so why not stop off in the tiny towns of Stellenbosch and Franschoek as you drive through the stunning mountains surrounding Cape Town. On arrival in Hermanus you’ll check into your hotel for one night.

Day 6: Hermanus to De Hoop

Today will be an early start as first thing this morning you’ll set off on a whale watching boat to look for the southern right whales that frolic along the coast here as well as humpbacks, dolphins and seals. Keep your eyes peeled for the classic fin slap and tail flicks and if you’re lucky you’ll be graced with a full breach – watching whales launching themselves into the air before crashing down in a splash of water is great fun, for both you and the whale!

After finishing the tour, you’ll drive onwards to the De Hoop Nature Reserve where you’ll check into your hotel for two nights. If you want to stop somewhere on the way, why not take a detour down to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa. Here you can stand with a foot in the Indian Ocean and a foot in the Atlantic!

Day 7: De Hoop

De Hoop offers a great outdoor experience of the Cape region – sea, sand dunes and the vlei where rare plants and birds make their home in the Potberg Mountains. Keep an eye out for Cape vultures soaring high above you whilst walking and biking through the reserve, meeting bontebok, zebra, baboons and ostrich on the rich fynbos plains. De Hoop is usually taken in on hikes, whether you take a guided bird or marine walk, looking for whales along the shore and rare birds in the spiny bushes or do your own thing along one of the many walking trails around the reserve. At night the stars light up the whole sky and you can do a stargazing tour to learn about the constellations of the southern hemisphere. While you won’t find the big five here, it is a rare glimpse into the natural environment, flora and fauna of the cape.

Day 8: Depart Cape Town

Today is your final day in South Africa – take a final nature walk in the reserve after breakfast before driving back to Cape Town, around 3 hours away, in time to catch your onwards flight.