South Africa was our first experience of summer in December. Coming from the US, particularly Colorado, where December means it’s cold, snowy, and the fun thing to do on weekends is ski, meant that being on the beach with perfect mid-70’s weather was a little slice of paradise. That combined with the fact that we were in the middle of our senior year of college and spontaneously decided on a trip with our best friend for our very last winter break, made this trip a favorite.

It took us just over 44 hours to make it to Cape Town with an 8-hour layover in Turkey. We highly recommend Turkish Airlines (especially for this length of travel), the price was comparable to other international flights but they go all out on amenities for their passengers (e.g. sleeping mask, lip balm, slippers, blankets & pillows, lots of alcohol and of course Turkish delight). Upon arriving, we easily walked up to the taxi desk at the airport and got a ride to our hotel – this is the safest way to do it at the Cape Town airport. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which happened to be in a great location in downtown Cape Town. Since we had just arrived and evening was already setting in we asked the front desk of the hotel for dinner recommendations (beware: hotels definitely recommend places that are relatively expensive because they are tourist hot spots), then hit the sack. We definitely embody the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality while traveling so this was a rare, yet sacred occasion to get a full night’s sleep on this trip.

For our first full day in Cape Town we decided the best way to get the lay of the land quickly was to take the Big Red Bus Tour – very touristy, we know! But, actually it was a great way to get around the entire city, see all the highlights and find out where we wanted to spend more time. The first stop on the tour where we got off to walk around was the infamous Table Mountain. There is a cable car that can take you up and down the mountain, the ride is only about 5 minutes, or you can opt for the 1.5-2 hour hike up the mountain. Both are great options and the hike isn’t too hard as long as you have a lot of water and you’re prepared for the heat. The other very important thing we learned on our first full day in South Africa is that not only is it summer in December, but also the ozone layer over South Africa is a lot thinner than other parts of the world. We thought we had prepared and put on enough sunscreen but even after just the first day both of us were splotchy red and peeling for the rest of the trip – bring lots of sunscreen!

South Africa is a beautiful and vibrant country and we wanted to see as much as we could in the short time we were there, so we decided on a Hotspots2c Tour of the garden route, wine country and southern coast. It was a 5-day tour packed with all kinds of outdoor activities and exploring! It started with wine tasting at the Viljoensdrift Winery and a beautiful drive along Route 62 through the mountains and along the coast. Day 2 was bungee jumping off the Bloukrans bridge followed by ziplining over waterfalls in the Tsitsikamma forest – it doesn’t get much better than that! We spent a night on Myoli beach where our hostel floor was literally sand because the beach was just steps away and at night the luminescent organisms in the sand lit up under your feet! Then we spent half of a day on a safari in the Addo Elephant National Park, then went exploring around Jeffreys Bay (i.e. J Bay), played frisbee on the beach and splashed around in the Indian Ocean. Finally, we hiked the Tsitsikamma mountains, and went canoeing in the Wilderness National Park and on the drive back to Cape Town we saw the Knysa Heads which are two massive sandstone cliffs nestled between the sea and the South African mountains.

Once we were back in Cape Town we had a few final days to do a little shopping for friends and family back home and take the train to Boulders Beach to see the African penguins. We were informed by a local after our trip to Boulders Beach that the train is not the safest way for two girls to travel to the Cape Peninsula but we didn’t have any problems. We made sure we were in a train car with lots of other people and it turned out we were heading there on a local holiday so the train was busier than normal because all the locals were headed out to the beach at Fish Hoek for a mini vacation. The street stands that locals sell handmade products are a great place to find gifts and trinkets but make sure you haggle the price down because they will always start high, and it’s easy to get them down when you find comparable products at other stands.

On our last day in Cape Town we went to the V&A Waterfront where we tried to get a ticket to Robben Island (the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for many years) but realized we should have booked it ahead of time. It turned out to be a great time anyway because there is not a shortage of things to do at the Waterfront. This is where you can find the Cape Wheel overlooking the city and more shops and restaurants than you can visit in one day.

Our ten days in South Africa were the trip of a lifetime and we agree we’d go back just for the bungee jumping! If you have any questions, or want to share your own tips and tricks for South Africa, feel free to comment below!

XOXO,

Lauren and Lexi