Family Cape Town, Winelands & Garden Route

You will be collected at Cape Town International Airport and driven to the V&A Waterfront to check into your home for the next four nights: the Cape Grace.

This glamourous but friendly hotel is perfectly located for you to experience Cape Town's favourite attractions. Your rental car will be delivered to the Cape Grace, ready for you to be begin exploring after a good night's rest. Catch the cable car to the top of Table Mountain or a ferry from the V&A Waterfront to the historic Robben Island, where the legendary Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Soak up the sun in one of Clifton beaches sheltered coves or sip sundowners in a cocktail bar in Camps Bay. Explore the shopping mecca on your doorstep or stroll through the street cafes and markets of the city.

Venture further afield to the dramatic beauty of Cape Point and its resident chacma baboons, or take a picnic to the lush grounds of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens - there is so much to do and see in and around this city!

Your next destination is Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands, an hour's easy drive from Cape Town, through fruit orchards and vineyards, along glorious mountain passes that sweep you through vistas of outstanding natural beauty.

Franschhoek is South Africa's gourmet capital: award-winning restaurants and cafés line the streets, which are best explored on foot. Its crown jewel is The Tasting Room, located at acclaimed boutique hotel, Le Quartier Français, which is your home for three nights.

With its 300-year-old winemaking tradition eloquently blending the Old World with the New, you will find the surrounding vineyards surprisingly accessible. Enjoy leisurely wine tasting and light lunches in dappled sunlight under ancient oak trees, or delve into cellars sunken into hillsides for perfect expressions of the Cape’s terroir.

On day 7, put on comfy shoes for a full-day guided tour of some of the area's best family-friendly destinations and activities. Meet eagles and other raptors at Spier, where you will also undertake wine tasting while the children enjoy a grape-juice tasting and learn more about the central role bugs play in the ecosystem. You will also visit a glass blower, taste goat's milk cheese (and meet the goats!) and sample some local chocolate - all interspersed with time in the sun at exciting playgrounds.

You leave behind the Winelands and turn up the Garden Route, winding your way along this scenic coastline past white-sand beaches, sleepy lagoons and charming seaside towns. Your destination is The Plettenberg Hotel, a five-star retreat situated on a rocky headland in Plettenberg Bay, and your home for four nights.

Choose from a range of treatments at the hotel's Fresh Wellness Spa, discover a curated collection of items from acclaimed South African designers at the elegant Collection Boutique, or simply spend your days poolside enjoying breath-taking views of the Indian Ocean. Between July and October, head out on a boat trip to see southern right whales cavorting along this abundant coastline. Tour the area's renowned Tsitsikamma Forest canopy, join sea kayaking excursions or test your skills on a championship golf course.

Your journey leads you onwards, to the Eastern Cape and the Kwandwe Fort House for your final four nights on tour. Kwandwe Private Game Reserve is one of the few malaria-free Big 5 reserves in Southern Africa, where thrilling game drives and guided nature walks take you in search of lion, black and white rhino, buffalo and elephant along with a host of classic African wildlife. This is the perfect conclusion to your southern coast tour of South Africa.

After breakfast, you return your car at nearby Port Elizabeth Airport and begin your journey home. You may want to extend your tour and return to Cape Town along the scenic Route 62, which takes you inland to a land of olives, ostriches and wine farms.