South Africa: Penguins, Wine, and Wild Safaris (3 Weeks of Epic Adventure)
I spent 3 weeks exploring South Africa from one side to another.
Let me tell you about my 3-week adventure through South Africa. Buckle up because this is one unforgettable journey full of stunning beaches, delicious food, wild animals, and a few “whoops, wrong trail” moments!
Cape Town (5 Days)
Starting off with Cape Town, every corner has something new to explore. I stayed at Villa Viva Cape Town—a vibrant hostel with a cozy vibe and a great spot to meet fellow travelers.
V&A Waterfront: If it’s raining (or even if it’s not), you can’t go wrong with a visit to the V&A Wharf. The shopping is on point, and the restaurants? Even better. We spent a rainy day wandering around here doing some souvenir shopping and just wandering around. P.S you definitely need to try the coffee here, it’s worth the hype.
Constantia Groot Winery: Imagine —sipping on top-tier South African wine, paired with chocolate. The tasting here was 10/10, and the chocolate pairing? Couldn’t ask for anything better.
Clifton Beach: Seriously, it’s picture-perfect with mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. But while it looks like paradise, the water is freezing. Like, icy shock when you dip your toes in, it’s like an ice bath!
Oranjezicht Market: You want amazing food for cheap? This market is your spot. Some of the best food I had in Cape Town—fresh, flavorful, and everything was so good, we ended up going twice. Seriously, recommend the Poke bowls, Smoothies, brownies, and both my friends got pizza and said it was amazing. They also have fresh fruit and vegetables here so we picked up some mangoes which were also delicious!
Camps Bay Beach: If you’re in the mood for a classic beach day, perfect sand, gorgeous ocean views, and some of the best restaurants nearby to fuel up after a full day in the sun. It’s the perfect blend of relaxation and indulgence.
Gelato at Moro Gelato: Local tip: go here for the best gelato. We got a recommendation, and honestly? This gelato did not disappoint. Each bite was like a little slice of Italy in South Africa and they have some interesting flavors that are worth a try.
Sunset at Clifton Rock: Now, let’s talk sunsets. Its basically tradition to go to clifton rock with friends and a bottle of wine, and watch the sky turning into a canvas of colors. This was one of my favorite days and our last day here.
Dinner at the Wharf: The waterfront is full of fantastic places to eat, and a good way to explore the city because they have a little bit of everything there. Whether you’re into seafood or steak, you’ll find whatever it is your looking for.
Bo-Kaap: No trip to Cape Town is complete without a visit to the vibrant Bo-Kaap neighborhood. The colorful houses are just as cool as you’ve seen in photos. It’s like walking through a rainbow, they have tons of little art museums to walk through as you walk through the town as well.
Table Mountain (Oops, We Hiked the Wrong One): We decided to hike Table Mountain, but… plot twist—we accidentally ended up on Devil’s Peak. Fun fact: Devil’s Peak is actually one of the hardest hikes you can do in Cape Town. After realizing we’d taken the wrong trail (and had already hiked halfway up), we were pretty much committed to finishing it. But hey, at least the view was worth it! So if you want a harder hike definitely go for that one however Table Mountain is definitely a big tourist attraction. If you’re not in the mood to hike you can take a cable car up and down and still get some amazing views.
Kloof Street House (Thanksgiving South African Style): Since we werent home for thanksgiving we thought we should still celebrate it even being half way across the world. Kloof Street House turned out to be the perfect spot for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with a South African twist. And the food and vibe of the restaurant was incredible.
Simons Town (3 Days)
Next up: Simons Town, a coastal gem that’s home to some of the cutest creatures ever—penguins!
Cute Airbnb (5 Min Walk to Boulders Beach): We stayed in a cozy Airbnb, just a quick 5-minute walk from Boulders Beach, which, if you didn’t know, is famous for its adorable penguins. You can walk right up to the beach and watch them waddle around.
Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point: The dramatic coastline here is so beautiful. We hiked up the Cape of good hope which had an amazing coastal view of the gorgeous blue water but beware to go to Cape of Good Hope most people hire someone to take them or do a tour. However, we are not most people and thought we could just get in and do it ourselves…We indeed could not so when our driver picked us up and informed us we would either have to pay for him to enter the park and then pay him an absurd amount to wait for us while we explored cape of good hope and cape point or we had to walk? Which wasn’t really an option because from the park entrance to where we wanted to go was probably about a 30min drive so by the time we walked there it would’ve been dark. So, we did what any sane person would do and we got out of his car and decided to hitchhike to the Cape of Good Hope! It actually went quite well. We got a ride up there right away, got to explore and take our pictures and then decided to hitchhike back. Except little did we know we wouldn’t be able to get a ride back because everyone was already here for the day so we were kinda screwed and ended up having some lady help us who then got a park ranger to sneak us into his trunk and drive us to Cape Point so we could explore and take pictures there and then to the park exit (bless his soul). Then we still couldn’t get any Uber driver to come pick us up so we ended up hitchhiking all the way back to our place and met a very nice old couple doing van life! Anyways moral of the story: If you want to do Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point do a tour.
Kalk Bay: A quaint little seaside town full of charm. We spent an evening here going out to dinner and just exploring the town. There are plenty of great places to grab dinner, and the laid-back vibe here was the perfect way to wind down after a few days of adventure.
Garden Route (2 Weeks)
After a short trip to Simons Town we were off to start the 2 week road trip journey on the Garden Route (the drive from Cape Town to Johannesburg). Some people don’t go that far but since we were flying out of Johannesburg it made the most sense for us. This also meant we were going to have to try to learn to drive on the other side of the road and on the opposite side of the car.
Moontide Riverside Lodge (Breakfast + Kayaks Included!): This was our first stop on the garden route and probably one of my favorites. Moontide Riverside Lodge was the perfect way to kick things off. Every morning, we’d wake up to an amazing breakfast which we got to choose from everyday, though this was one of our favorite things about this place. The real star of the show was our place. We stayed in the Stone Cottage and it had the cutest, coziest vibe and it even had heated beds and came with a cat!
Plettenberg Bay (Beach and Shops): A stop at Plettenberg Bay gave me some much-needed beach time. After a morning hike to a waterfall, we hit up the beach for some sun, sand, and shopping.
Addo National Park Safari (My Favorite Safari Ever): If you’re a safari lover, you have to go to Addo. I saw so many animals up close—elephants, lions, zebras, giraffes. I was in photography heaven. Our guide, King Elvis was amazing and anytime he got a call about a sighting we were on our way! He made it super fun and exciting and always stopped to let us take pictures and get all the good angles. He even got us in the middle of an elephant crossing, the elephants were so close I think we could have reached out and touched them!
Schotia Private Reserve: Don’t get me wrong, We still saw all the animals here and the cutest lion family, but the safari was just… meh. The animals were spread out, and it didn’t have the same exciting vibe as Addo. But hey, I got some amazing photos, and it included a nice dinner so still worth it but if your deciding between the two definitely go with Addo.
Airbnb in Kruger (Zebras in the Backyard): Staying in an Airbnb inside Kruger National Park meant we were surrounded by wildlife. Zebras, impalas, and kudu came right into our backyard. Seriously, they were eating apples out of my hand. All the sudden we were eating breakfast in our backyard and out of nowhere a herd of zebras just appeared and they came right up to us, such an unreal experience. We felt like we didnt even need to do a safari because they were all in our backyard.
Self-Guided Safari in Kruger: After soaking in the atmosphere at the Airbnb, I headed to Kruger for a self-guided safari. While I didn’t see as much wildlife as I hoped (everything was pretty far away), I did get to spot leopards, elephants, lions, and zebras, so no complaints there, plus it was our cheapest safari.
Some other random recommendations:
KFC in South Africa = Superior: If you’re ever in South Africa, do yourself a favor and get some KFC. It’s so much better than the stuff we get back home. It’s like they’ve perfected the crispy, juicy chicken recipe to an art form and you can get an entire meal for $3 like fries, milkshake, and entree of choice for $3! (I don’t even like KFC in the states but it was amazing here) Definitely recommend trying the Very Berry and Oreo Krushers.
Mugg & Bean (South Africa’s Starbucks): If you need a coffee fix, Mugg & Bean is the place to go. It’s basically South Africa’s answer to Starbucks—only cheaper and arguably better. I wish we would’ve gone more.
