Sydafrika

With the feel of a small country village, despite its double-capital status – it’s the Free State’s capital and the judicial capital of the country – Bloemfontein is one of South Africa’s most relaxed and welcoming cities. Although it doesn’t possess the type of big-name attractions that make it worth a visit in its own right, you’ll likely pass through 'Bloem' at some point on your way across South Africa’s heartland, and there are some small-scale sights and good restaurants to keep you occupied for a day or two.

Rough and ready, smart and sophisticated, rural and rustic: there’s no doubt that KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is eclectic. It’s a region where glassy malls touch shabby suburbs, and action-packed adventurers ooze adrenaline while laid-back beach bods drip with suntan lotion. Mountainscapes contrast with flat, dry savannahs, while the towns’ central streets, teeming with African life, markets and noise, are in stark contrast to the sedate tribal settlements in rural areas. Here, too, is traditional Zululand, whose people are fiercely proud of their culture.

Vi guidar dig till Sydafrikas stolthet – Krugerpark – med tips på boende och aktiviteter.

A place of big skies and open pastureland, the Free State is ideal for a road trip. Broad horizons are interrupted only briefly by a smattering of towns and villages and, apart from Bloemfontein, the urban centres are small and manageable.

Nelspruit (now officially called Mbombela, though locals rarely use the new moniker) is Mpumalanga’s functional provincial capital. It's more a place to get things done than a worthwhile destination for tourists, but it's not unpleasant and has the facilities to make it a practical stopover on the way elsewhere. Well connected to Jo'burg, it's a good place to organise a trip to Kruger National Park, the Blyde River Canyon, Swaziland or Mozambique.

Route 62 takes you through some spectacular scenery changes, from the rugged mountain passes between Montagu and Calitzdorp to the arid semidesert of the Little Karoo region around Oudtshoorn. It’s touted as the longest wine route in the world and is a great alternative to the N2 if you’re travelling from Cape Town towards the Garden Route.

A string of charming and historic coastal communities, including Muizenberg, Kalk Bay and Simon’s Town (plus the penguins living at Boulders Beach), line the False Bay side of the peninsula. More wildlife and incredible landscapes are protected within the nature reserve at Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. On the Atlantic coast side, Kommetjie is beloved by experienced surfers, and the broad beach at Noordhoek by horse riders.

This shipwreck-strewn coastline rivals any in the country in terms of beauty and wilderness, stretching over 350km from just east of East London to Port Edward. Often referred to as the ‘Transkei’ (the name of the apartheid-era homeland that once covered most of this area), the Wild Coast region also stretches inland, covering pastoral landscapes where clusters of rondavels (round huts with a conical roofs) scatter the rolling hills covered in short grass.

A coming-together of cultures, cuisines and landscapes, there's nowhere quite like Cape Town, a singularly beautiful city crowned by the magnificent Table Mountain National Park.

Green Point’s common includes an imaginatively landscaped park and the Cape Town Stadium, built for the 2010 World Cup. There are several pleasant guesthouses and backpacker lodges to stay here too, but if it's luxe digs you're after then head to the V&A Waterfront. Known simply as the Waterfront, this shopping, entertainment and residential development is the city's most popular tourist destination and home to top sights such as the ferries to Robben Island and the new Zeitz MOCAA Museum, which opened in 2017.