Discover the Best of South Africa

South Africa fits an unusual range of experiences into a single, well-connected country, which is exactly why things to do in South Africa covers such varied ground. A proper Cape Town travel guide anchors most first-time trips — Table Mountain, Robben Island, and the V&A Waterfront sit alongside the Cape Peninsula’s penguins and coastline, with the Cape Winelands’ 200-plus estates a short drive inland at Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. From there, the Garden Route South Africa trip strings together lagoon towns, ancient forests, and dramatic sea cliffs along 300 kilometers of coast between Mossel Bay and Storms River. For wildlife, a Kruger National Park safari delivers the Big Five across nearly 20,000 square kilometers, while a stop in Johannesburg things to do territory and Soweto add the essential, often difficult, history of apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s role in ending it — best understood at the Apartheid Museum and on a proper Robben Island tour together. Hermanus adds land-based whale watching considered among the best in the world (June–November), and the Drakensberg Mountains hiking routes offer scenery and San rock art on the border with Lesotho. Few countries let a single trip move this fluidly between mountain, coast, vineyard, and savannah, which is why most first-time visitors build a South Africa itinerary 10 days long around two or three of these anchors.