Powervan Mossel Bay

The Powervan Mossel Bay is a fun rail experience for the whole family, run on the existing Transnet rail network between George and Mossel Bay. Mossel Bay serves as the main point of departure with excursions to a variety of attractions, including the ever-popular Santos Beach, Great Brak River, Glentana and Maalgate. The trip provides unsurpassed scenery, history, visits to quaint shops and art galleries and exceptional food experiences.All excursions have lovely views over the Indian Ocean (with a ringside seat for whale watching during the season), river estuaries and the indigenous plant life of the Cape Floral Kingdom. 

Location: Hartenbos Station, Port Natal Avenue, Hartenbos 

Information: www.powervan.co.za 

Price: fee

Mossel Bay    

Mossel Bay is a great holiday destination with one of the mildest climates in the world. It offers beautiful beaches and many other attractions and activities. Mossel Bay can boast many firsts in South African history, such as the first landing of Europeans on Southern African soil (1488), the first European meeting with the local population, the first successful trade by Vasco de Gama nine years later (a bull for three bracelets), and the first form of a postal system when a sailor’s boot was left hanging from a tree which served passing ships and, when Dias died a few years later, a small church was built, making this the first European structure on South African soil. The bay is named after the mussel shells found here. The1865 and 1900 ostrich feather booms and discovery of natural offshore gas in 1969 helped the town to prosper.
Location: N2, between Albertinia and George
Information: www.visitmosselbay.co.za
Price: free

Bartolomeu Dias Museum Complex

The complex is dedicated to celebrating the rich history of the region. It was originally established in the 1960s, but was officially opened under its current name in 1989. The complex is home to the 500 year old post office,The Post OfficeTree, the oldest in SA. The first written letter was left here (likely in a shoe) warning of the troublesome conditions in Calcutta. The Maritime Museum is also housed in the complex and displays, not least of all, the Dias Caravel,a life-size replica of one of the caravels used by Portuguese explorers.The complex also houses the Shell Museum and Aquarium and the Ethno-Botanical Garden which has indigenous plants and trees used as herbs by the early inhabitants of the area. Malay graves, discovered in 1968, are situated near the Post Office Tree.The complex has a host of attractions and activities within close proximity.

Location: 1 Market Street, Mossel Bay Information: www.diazmuseum.co.za 

Price: fee

Mossel Bay Zipline

Opened in 2020, Mossel Bay can boast having the longest over-ocean zipline in the world at 1100 m.The average speed of the ride is 80 km/h with 90 m of air below you to the ocean. There are spectacular views of the sea cliffs made of Cape sandstone that were deposited 400-500 million years ago; they have been distorted to a near vertical position when the Falklands Plateau collided into Africa during the creation of the super continent, Gondwana, 280-235 million years ago. Above this formation one can see the famous horizontal layers of the Kirkwood formation which formed during the break up of Gondwana 135 million years ago.
Location: Book in at 6 Point Road, under the lighthouse at Cape St. Blaize, Mossel Bay
Information: www.mosselbayzipline.co.za
068 022 9183
Price: fee

ATKV’s Hartenbos Museum    

The ATKV-Hartenbos Museum of the Great Trek documents the Voortrekkers - the Boers (Dutch farmers) - who famously moved en masse from the Cape in 1838 in search of land away from the stranglehold of colonial rule. The Voortrekkers took everything they had, including cattle, oxen, furniture and horses, and moved over mountains and rivers to new places of settlement. The museum commemorates the symbolic Ox Wagon Trek of 1938 - the re-enactment of the event that took place in its centenary year. The museum boasts a fine collection of historical artefacts, including ox wagons, weapons, household implements and clothing. It also documents the history of Hartenbos. 

Location: Majuba Ave, Hartenbos 

Price: small free

George

The area of George was a woodcutters outpost in 1776, set up by the Dutch East India Company. Under the second British occupation of the Cape, they established George as a town and drostdy in 1811 and later a municipality in 1837. It is the 6th oldest town in South Africa. The city is worth visiting for its location (the largest continuous natural forest in South Africa) and historical value, from the The Slave Tree, an ancient English Oak planted by Landdrost van Kervel, the King Edward VII Library building and the oldest Roman Catholic church in the country.The OuteniquaTransport Museum, which houses replicas of old stations, displays of locomotives and coaches, is well worth a visit. The city has excellent road, air and rail links to all major centres within the country, and is a convenient base from which to explore the many attractions of the Garden Route and Klein Karoo.
Information: www.visitgeorge.co.za 

Location: Between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth on the N2
Price: free

Outeniqua Pass

After three passes had been built over the mountain (Montagu Pass, the Voortrekkerspas and the Treinspoor Pass), there was a need for a pass that could handle the traffic volume of the modern age.The Outeniqua Pass was started in 1942 using Italian P.O.W.s. They were replaced with half the number of local labourers which saw an immediate improvement in the pace of construction. Two tunnels were planned in the original design but were not needed in the final outcome.The 14.5 km pass was opened in 1951 and, in 1993, the road went through extensive widening. This route, with numerous viewing sites,breathtaking vistas and historical significance,is a must even if just a drive up and down it being the objective. 
Location: Between George and Oudtshoorn.
Price: free

Outeniqua Transport Museum 

For any train enthusiast, this is the place to visit, with thirteen steam locomotives, including a narrow gauge, the Emil Kessler - Johannesburg’s first steam locomotive, the impressive GL Garrett, together with carriages from a bygone era, such as a coach from the Royal Train of 1947. Paul Kruger’s coach and private saloons are on display. Various models of steam locomotives and a brilliant collection of steam locomotive number plates and makers plates can also been seen. There is an extensive model train room and, to add to this, a road motor vehicles and a private vintage car selection.
Location: 2 Mission Rd, George Central, George
Information: https://museumexplorer.co.za/outeniqua-transport-museum/Price: small fee

George Museum

The drostdy, dating back to 1811, houses this museum which was established in 1967.The main focus of the museum is the timber industry, which was the financial foundation of George. To this end, a large part of the museum is dedicated to the old tools and implements used in the timber trade of long ago, as well as a stunning Yellowwood remake of the woodcutter’s cottage. The Mini Museum (inside the main one) is an incredible rendition of times of old, all recreated by the founder of the museum, Charles Sayers. Another fascinating feature of the museum is the exhibition dedicated to the forced removals that marked the apartheid regime. The museum examines this segregation on a personal level, putting a face to those that suffered the injustices.
Location: 9 Courteney Street, George
Information: www.gardenroute.com/george-museum_content_op_view_id_52
Price: fee

Knysna

This has to be one of the most beautiful towns in South Africa, with its large lagoon surrounded by forests and the rugged cliff faces guarding the Knysna Heads. The town was established in the late 1700s, largely by a few woodcutter families.The first person of note to settle here was James Callander who tried to persuade the Cape government to establish a harbour. It was George Rex, however, who took his idea to fruition. Rex acquired most of the land around Knysna, started farming and developed the timber industry on a large scale. The Thesen family, in 1869, established the shipbuilding industry and dominated it until the steam ships era took over.In 1953,Knysna lost its official status as a harbour because of the railway line. After timber and shipping, Knysna reinvented itself as one of the premier tourist destinations in South Africa.
Location: Between Wilderness and Plettenberg Bay
Information: www.knysna.gov.za
Price: free

Knysna Museum

The Knysna Museum is made up of five buildings at different locations within the town. Each tells different aspects of a story about the long history of this area. The Gaol Building has a collection of maritime, angling, old maps and ship models relevant to Knysna’s history. Millwood House was dismantled after the short lived Millwood gold mining boom and was relocated to Knysna where, today, it is a museum exhibiting the local history and everyday items of bygone days.Parkes Shop,a general dealers store from the early 1900s, focuses on the forests, woodcutters and timber industry which were once the mainstay of the town. Parkes Cottage, also a house that was relocated from Millwood, displays Millwood history and the story of Knysna’s most famous resident,George Rex.Pitt Street House, a wood and corrugated iron labourers cottage, houses a comprehensive display on the Anglo-Boer War.
Location: Knysna
Information: www.knysnamuseums.co.za
Price: fee

Holy Trinity Belvidere

This little church would be anyone’s dream venue for a wedding, as long as the guest list was small.It was built by Thomas Henry Duthie, owner of Belvidere Estate, from 1833 to 1857. The church is a beautiful example in miniature of the Norman style of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and was constructed

using local wood and masonry.The church was consecrated by Bishop Gray of Cape Town in 1855, likely because his wife, Sophia, was intensely interested in the project and it was she who obtained the architectural plans from England. The land the church is built on was acquired from his father-in-law,George Rex of Knysna. The estate provided an excellent site for a church which was built for his family, friends and their servants. It is now a National Monument.
Location: 8 Church Street, Old Belvidere, Knysna
Information: www.holytrinitybelvidere.org 

Price: free

Brenton on Sea

This small seaside settlement is named after Sir Jahleel Brenton who helped George Rex establish Knysna as a harbour in 1817. The existence of this settlement was purely for holidays and getting away from the hustle and bustle of life. All the houses and amenities are found on a ridge overlooking miles of open beach to the west and five small beaches flanked by rocky outcrops on the east. The seashore is accessed by wooden boardwalks, so remember what you carry down to the beach has to be carried up at the end of the day. Within Brenton on Sea is one of the smallest nature reserves in South Africa which was declared for one purpose only - to safeguard the Brenton Blue Butterfly.
Location: Seaside of Knysna Lagoon, via Belvidere Estate
Price: free

The Motorcycle Room

If you grew up riding motorbikes and still live with the nostalgia and freedom these machines gave you, this niche museum is really worth a visit. This private collection is defined as ‘the bikes we rode when we were growing up’. The museum has concentrated on the bikes from the 1960s to the late 1980s and, especially, the 50cc bikes that many school kids had growing up in South Africa at the time. The collection also showcases old classics, vintage enduro bikes, motocross and super bikes. Every bike has a story if you are eager to listen. This museum is a working museum with restoration and rebuilding bays where visitors can watch old bikes being transformed to their former glory.
Location: Top Floor, The Parking Shed Thesen Harbour Town, Long St, Knysna
Information: www.knysnamuseums.co.za/pages/the-motorcycle-room/
Price: fee

Noetzie Beach

There are not many beaches to visit in and around Knysna as the coastline is dominated by rugged sea cliffs all the way to Plettenberg Bay. Noetzie beach, originally known as Noetziekamma, a Khoisan phrase for ‘darkwater’(a reference to the tea-coloured water of the Noetzie River as it meanders through the indigenous forest) is a gem found in this wild landscape with a pristine beach and estuary. The main attraction is that some of the holiday homes built here resemble medieval castles. This was not planned but, after building in local stone in 1932,a friend of the owner mischievously suggested adding turrets to the ‘castle’ and so the owner did! The owner’s name was Herbert Stephen Henderson.The cove has been visited or inhabited for over 3500 years by indigenous people and was mentioned by early European explorers in 1786. Noetzie became the holiday spot for some families from Knysna and Oudtshoorn who came via oxwagons.
Location: At the top of the hill overlooking Knysna on the N2 (Khayalethu Township), take the Hornlee Road which becomes the Noetzie Road, which will end above the Noetzie Beach (steep walkway down to beach)
Information: www.noetziecastles.co.za/ 

Price: free

Harkerville

Besides the many holiday-orientated businesses such as crafts shops, markets, Adventure Land and animal sanctuaries like the Elephant Park,Wolf Sanctuary and Radical Raptors, Harkerville forest and the rugged coastline provide the magic in this area. Most of it falls under SANParks and is managed as a conservation area.This area can be explored from short walks, day-long walks, such as the Kranshoek Coastal Day Walk, to overnight hikes, such as the Harkerville Coastal Hiking Trail which a lot of hikers rank as being as good as the Otter Trail. There are trails for mountain bikers as well as horse trails.For those who do not want to break into a sweat, there are scenic picnic spots to relax and take in nature at its finest. 

Location: Half way between Knysna and Plettenberg Bay
Information: www.sanparks.org/parks/garden_route/tourism/activities/harkerville.php
Price: fee

Garden of Eden Big Tree

This small natural forest, run by SANParks and part of the greater Harkerville nature conservation area, gives us a glimpse of what some of the forests were like a few hundred years ago before they were ruthlessly cut down by woodcutters to keep the fires burning and for building in the early Cape Colony.The great fire of 1869 added to the destruction of these great ancient trees.This little stop on the side of the N2 offers the visitor some of the original Wet High forest, with many examples of tall stinkwood, kalander, wit-els and other tree species of the moister forest types. Short, circular walks traverse the area and an 800m trail for those in wheelchairs is route-marked.
Location: Half way between Knysna and Plettenberg Bay.
Information: www.sanparks.org/parks/garden_route/tourism/activities/harkerville.php
Price: fee

Diepwalle Forest

This is a magical place of ancient forests, gorges and rivers hidden from the modern world. It was only in the early 1800s that Europeans started penetrating into its thickets that were once the haunt of large herds of elephant and reclusive Khoi. Years of destruction to the forest by woodcutters could not destroy all the vast trees of the Outeniqua and Diepwalle and it is as close as you going to get to the original forest.This area can be visited on a day trip or an overnight stay at one of the SANParks camping decks. The attractions are walking through ancient forests, swimming in streams, mountain biking and visiting the Forest Legends Museum.
Location: Just east of Knysna on the N2, turn into the R339 (Prince Alfred Pass), follow the road till you see the sign on the right to Diepwalle.
Information: www.wildcard.co.za/diepwalle-forest/
Price: fee

Plettenberg Bay

Plett, as it is affectionately known, has been inhabited since 12 000 BC but it became known to the world in the 1500s when its bay and mountains were plotted on navigational maps. In 1630, it had its first 100 European inhabitants as a result of being shipwrecked and they stayed for 8 months. This area became very attractive for the timber industry so, by 1763, the small settlement was exporting goods to the Cape. In 1778, the Governor of the Cape visited the area and renamed the settlement after himself. The town added whaling to there list of income generators in 1910 but, over time, the ‘Bay of Lagoons’ or ‘Beautiful Bay’ as it was first named, found its true calling and is now one of the top tourist and holiday destinations on the South African coastline.
Location: Between Knysna and Port Elizabeth Information: www.plett-tourism.co.za
Price: free

Old Nick Village

This homestead was built after 1880 by Aaron Toplis, an English immigrant who was brought out to work on William Newdigate’s country estate as a young boy.Aaron acquired the Gansevallei farm where he built the core buildings and, in 1900, the trading store which is now the Mungo Shop. The Village acquired its name from Spike Devine who set up shop in Plett, selling second hand furniture, most of which was not in good ‘nick’. His shop was in the old Plett gaol or ‘the old nick’ which is slang for gaol in his home country. Today, the village is a mix of carefully selected shops, art galleries, textile mill and places to eat. Dogs on leads are welcome.
Location: N2, Plettenberg Bay
Information: www.oldnickvillage.co.za

Robberg Nature Reserve

This peninsula, west of Plettenberg Bay, is a World Heritage Site and is managed by Cape Nature. In the 15th century, Robberg was first named “Cabo talhado” (Sharp Cape) by the Portuguese and, in around 1750, it was named Robberg (Seal Mountain) by the Dutch. Its big attraction today is a breathtaking hike around the peninsula, swimming and relaxing on the beach and fishing at the point.
Location: 8km south of Plettenberg Bay
Information: https://www.capenature.co.za/reserves/robberg-nature-reserve
Price: fee

Keurbooms River

This river is the boundary of Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma and is a World Heritage Site. It is the focal point of the Keurbooms River Nature Reserve managed by Cape Nature.The best way to see this river, which twists its way up a magnificent gorge, is by canoe which can be rented at the main office next to the Keurboom bridge (east side).
Location: Keurbooms River between Plettenberg Bay and the Crags, N2
Information: https://www.capenature.co.za/reserves/keurbooms-river-nature-reserve/
Price: free/fee

Keurbooms Arch Rock

Also known as Cathedral Rock, this magnificent hole right through a massive outcrop of sandstone at the mouth of the Matjies River, is worth a short walk (2.7km)from Keurbooms main beach and can be achieved with children.Above the river, on the west side just up the hill, is the famous Matjes River Rock Shelter. The shelter contains artefacts from the San dating back to the Neolithic period 11,000 years ago and the shelter is a National Monument.
Location: Keurboomstand- start your walk from the Enrico Ristorante 
Information: https://www.cape-hike.co.za/cathedral-rock-walk/
Price: free

The Crags

The first non-indigenous people to set up home in this area were a few poor woodcutter families in the late 1700s. Later, some families made money out of the endless timber, such as the Newdigates who built Forest Hall (today a heritage home). The great fire of 1869 opened up this impenetrable forest to the outside world. Within a month, Thomas Bain had started surveying a road through to Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) which opened up this area. Today, it has become part of the Plettenberg Bay holiday attractions, with one of the youngest wine routes in the country, wildlife sanctuaries and the world’s largest free-flight aviary bird sanctuary. Ziplining, kloofing, horse riding, hiking and polo are also on offer here.
Location: Between Keurbooms River and Natures Valley
Information: www.showme.co.za/plett/lifestyle/history-of-the-crags/
Price: free

Nature’s Valley

Nature’s Valley, which offers the only beach and lagoon in the area, started out as a farm owned by Hendrik Barnardo who was the foreman of the road-building team for this section of Thomas Bain’s 1879 route over the Groot River. From 1941-43, he sold land to a syndicate of 10 families and to Baron Ulrich Behr, who officially named the place ‘Nature’s Valley’ when a township was declared in 1953. Today, it is a sought-after holiday destination with a limited number of houses and the only township surrounded by a National Park in SA. 

Location: R102, between The Crags and Bloukrans Bridge 

Information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature's_Valley 

Price: free

Bloukrans Bridge

This bridge is well known for the world’s highest commercial bridge bungy but few know it is the highest arch bridge in Africa after its construction in 1984 and, for nine years, it held the title of the highest concrete arch bridge in the world until the Jiangjiehe Bridge in China was built.Standing at 216 m and with a 272 m span, it is the biggest of the five bridges on this section of the Garden Route. This bridge was designed by the South African engineering firm, Liebenberg and Stander. Visitors can try the bungy jump, zipline or a walking tour. 

Location: N2, between the Crags and Tsitsikamma Village 

Information: http://www.highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bloukrans_Bridge 

Price: free viewing.

Paul Sauer Bridge

This bridge was the first of 5 archbridges to be built on the Garden Route to straighten out Thomas Bain’s 1879 route through this area.The bridge was designed by Ricardo Morandi in 1956. The bridge is 120 m high off the valley floor and its span is 100 m. Visitors have access to great viewing platforms, restaurants, take aways and shops. 

Location: N2, Garden Route, between Tsitsikamma Village and Thornham 

Information: www.highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Paul_Sauer_Bridge 

Price: free

Tsitsikamma National Park    

This area was proclaimed in 1964 to protect a wonderland of intertidal and marine life, the first in Africa and the largest single unit Marine Protected Areas in the world.The park’s draw cards are breathtaking rugged coastline, ancient forests, waterfalls and gorges, turaco, Cape clawless otter, blue duiker and rich unspoilt marine life; for the adventurous, there are hiking trails, mountain biking, swimming, diving, kayaking and kloofing. The famous Otter Trail starts from here where day trippers can walk the first section on the Waterfall Trail. The biggest attraction is the Suspension Bridge and Lookout Trail which takes you over the Storm’s River with magnificent views up the gorge. Accommodation and amenities include huts, chalets, cottages, a campsite and a restaurant and gift shop. 

Location: Between Bloukrans Bridge and Storm’s River village 

Information: www.sanparks.org/parks/garden_route/ 

Price: fee