The Garden Route is a mix of modern golf courses, ancient forests, secluded artist communities, retirement estates, modern malls, craft centres, mountain hideaways and beach holidays. A large number of interesting and creative people have come to live down here, drawn to this magnificent stretch of coastline.
The main arterial highway of the Garden Route in South Africa - a highlight on most visitors' itineraries - is the N2 stretch running from Heidelberg in the southern Cape to Storms River Village on the Eastern Cape border.

The travelling trick with the Garden Route is to find as much time for it as possible and to keep slipping off the N2 onto side-roads with promising destinations.

Many interesting and creative people have come to live on the Garden Route, drawn to this magnificent and mountainous stretch of the South African coastline. Old woodcutter clans, fishermen, artists, businessmen and top chefs have all found their niches along the Garden Route in the Western Cape.

The Garden Route is famous for is hardy fynbos floral kingdom, its secluded little bays and its year-round holiday frame of mind. And it's conveniently accessible from Cape Town.

Don't forget to look seawards for the Southern Right whales, the humpback, bottlenose and common dolphins, and even killer whales that frolic close to shore, especially near Plettenberg Bay.

An exciting new development is the new Garden Route National Park, which weaves together the existing Tsitsikamma National Park's ancient forests and wild coastline with the Wilderness National Park via a chain of lakes and preserved sections of fynbos. It's a fascinating mix of ecosystems. And don't forget to listen for the raucous cry and vivid scarlet wings of the Knysna turaco.