A Family Adventure: 4 Week Toddler Friendly South Africa Road Trip
- Emma
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
In November 2024, we were lucky enough to spend an entire month exploring South Africa with our two-year-old daughter. Despite having four whole weeks to travel around this stunning country, coming up with our South African road trip itinerary was a huge challenge. It is over five times the size of the UK after all!
Countless hours of work resulted in a toddler-friendly road trip including two safaris, whale watching, gorgeous beaches, the Garden Route, winelands and Cape Town. Here is an overview of our route, where we stayed and our daily activities.
Overall, we were really pleased with our itinerary. Our priority is always seeing wildlife, so we focused on that with two safaris and lots of opportunities for bird watching, whale watching and nature walks. We love to pack trips full of activity, which this one certainly was, but we did enjoy a few days of down time and tried to stay in each hotel for two or three nights (with a couple of exceptions).
We would have loved an additional day in Cape Town and Plettenberg Bay, skipping Muizenberg and either Wilderness or Oudtshoorn. However, with a two-year-old in tow, we tried to keep daily driving time below five hours, which did dictate some of the stops just mentioned.
Day 1: Arrive in Johannesburg
We flew from Heathrow to Johannesburg with British Airways (a long but smooth flight, especially now our daughter had her own seat) and collected our hire car from Avis. We hit the road, spending our first night just outside Pilanesberg National Park at the budget-friendly but excellent Kingdom Resort.
Day 2-4: Safari in Pilanesberg National Park Three incredible days of safari, seeing the Big Five in the wild for the very first time. We stayed at Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge, which is inside the reserve, and did a combination of morning game drives and self-drive safari. On the evening of the third day, we drove to Rustenberg with an eye on our wallets for a cost-effective stay at Tshiberry Bed and Breakfast.
Day 5: Fly to Cape Town
A travel day, dropping off our hire car in Johannesburg airport, flying to Cape Town with LIFT (which was excellent), picking up another Avis hire car in Cape Town and heading to our apartment in the Central Business District.
Day 6-9: Cape Town We found lots of toddler friendly activities in Cape Town, and spent our three days visiting the Cape Town Two Oceans Aquarium, shopping in The Watershed, exploring Victoria and Albert Waterfront, visiting Seapoint, and of course taking the cable car to the top of Table Mountain.
Day 10: Chapman’s Peak Drive and Boulders Beach
The drive from Cape Town to Simon’s Town along the iconic Chapman’s Peak Drive is utterly stunning, especially on a sunny day. Upon arrival, we couldn’t resist heading straight for Boulders Beach and its famous colony of African penguins (aka toddler heaven).
Day 11: Cape of Good Hope
We took a short day trip to visit the Cape of Good Hope, where rugged scenery and wild waves combine with the chance to spot yet more wildlife.
Day 12: Muizenberg Being totally honest, this day was the only misstep on our itinerary! We had planned to spend the day in Muizenberg Bay, but high winds made the beach very unpleasant, the pool was closed and we struggled to fill our time.
Day 13-15: Hermanus
We stopped at Betty’s Bay to visit another adorable African Penguin colony before heading to Hermanus for three nights. We fell in love with this beautiful coastal town, filling our days with whale watching both on land and at sea, and enjoying delicious food.
Day 16: Wilderness
A longer driving day saw us heading for an overnight stay in Wilderness. This cute town is pretty quiet, but was a great, budget-friendly way to break the journey along the Garden Route.
Day 17-18: Plettenberg Bay This beach town is a family-friendly haven, with incredible bird sanctuary Birds of Eden, a wolf sanctuary, golden beaches and exceptional food options.
Day 19-20: Tsitsikamma National Park
We took a slightly slower pace for two days in the green oasis of Tsitikamma, with some toddler friendly short hikes, watching the bungee jumping from the Bloukrans Bridge and exploring the quirky village of Stormsrivier.
Day 21-22: Addo Elephant Park Venturing slightly further east than many Garden Route roadtrippers, we couldn’t resist a second safari at Addo Elephant Park. Doing only self-drive safaris this time, it was worth the trip with some incredible elephant and buffalo sightings.
Day 23-24: Oudtshoorn and Barrydale Two very quirky days in the Karoo! From meeting a rescued fennec fox named Jellybean, to exploring caves, and arriving in a town that truly felt like Radiator Springs before Lighting McQueen came to save the day (toddler parent reference), we certainly saw another side of South Africa.
Day 25-26: Babylonstoren and Franschoek Who knew that the Cape Winelands were so toddler friendly? The combination of golden light, rolling hills and excellent wine with the joys of trams, animals and play parks was a hit for the whole family. We didn’t want to leave.
Day 27-28: Stellenbosch
With the end of holiday blues setting in, we enjoyed a final day of wine tasting, glorious brunch and truly incredible burgers in Stellenbosch. After one last night, we dropped off our faithful little hire car and boarded our BA flight home to the UK.
If you are planning your own South African road trip and have any questions, please send us a message.
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