South Africa Motorcycle Tour: Swartberg & Garden Route

Your South Africa motorcycle tour begins with your individually booked flight to Cape Town, usually an overnight flight so you arrive the next morning. Use the time on board to get in the mood for the passes, vineyards, and coastal roads of the Cape region that await you in the days ahead.

After arriving at Cape Town's newly built airport, this Cape region motorcycle tour kicks off with a transfer to the ANEW Hotel Green Point, including a welcome round with the group. The afternoon leaves time for a city tour or a stroll along the Waterfront, before the first evening together ends with dinner in the city.

After handover of your GPS and motorcycle, this first Cape of Good Hope stage takes you all the way around the Cape Peninsula – only about 140 km, but packed with highlights. You ride the winding Chapman's Peak with its 114 curves and pass the penguins at Boulders Beach, almost entirely on tarmac.

On the way to Paarl, this guided Cape Town motorcycle tour crosses the world-famous wine regions via Stellenbosch and the Sir Lowry's Pass. You pass eucalyptus groves and orchards near Elgin and Grabouw, cross the La Rochelle Pass into picturesque Franschhoek, and continue to the wine town of Paarl, entirely on paved roads.

This leg of the off-road South Africa motorcycle tour crosses the beautiful Bain's Kloof Pass, through the wine town of Tulbagh and the fruit-growing area of Ceres, into the remote Cederberg Mountains. Over the Gydo Pass the landscape turns increasingly barren and Karoo-like – 70 percent tarmac, 30 percent gravel, all the way to Mount Ceder Lodge.

Via the Blinkberg Pass and striking sandstone formations, this Cederberg leg first reaches the R355, South Africa's longest continuous gravel road. Over the Rooihoogte and Burger's Pass you ride through the Koo Valley back into fertile valleys, ending in the Karoo town of Montagu, with a 60 percent gravel share.

Via the imposing Seweweekspoort, built by engineer Thomas Bain in 1862, and the Huisrivier Pass to Calitzdorp, this Swartberg Pass stage continues through narrow, jungle-like farmland along the Great Swartberg range. The day's finale awaits: crossing the legendary Swartberg Pass into Prince Albert.

Today you have the choice: relax by the pool, or tackle one of South Africa's most spectacular mountain pass rides – the steep switchback descent over "De Hell" down into Gamkaskloof, an isolated valley deep in the gorges of the Swartberg range, entirely on gravel.

Via the paved Meiringspoort with its small waterfall, and on through the Klein Karoo near Uniondale, this Karoo motorcycle tour leg climbs the impressive Prince Alfred Pass. Through deserted forests and small river crossings, you finally reach the rustic Tsitsikamma National Park on the Storms River.

This Garden Route leg passes the world's highest bungee jump at the Bloukrans River Bridge to the Grootriver Pass, through dense ancient forest in the Nature Valley. After a viewpoint over the Indian Ocean, lonely pass roads lead through farmland to the tropical, green lagoon town of Knysna.

Via the Phantom Pass and the picturesque old Seven Passes Route toward George, this Oudtshoorn leg crosses numerous crystal-clear river fords. Over the Montagu Pass up into the Outeniqua Mountains and back via the Robinson Pass, the route runs mostly on gravel tracks to the Mooiplaas Lodge.

On lonely South African gravel tracks, the route crosses the spectacular Rooiberg Pass and Vanwyksdorp to the R62 toward Ladismith and Barrydale. Over the Tradouw Pass into dreamy Swellendam, and via the hand-operated ferry across the Breede River, you reach the De Hoop Nature Reserve with its unique fynbos landscape.

After a detour to the white sandy beach, this Cape Agulhas leg reaches the southernmost point of Africa, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Via Bredasdorp, Arniston, and historic Elim, the route continues along Walker Bay to Hermanus, with a chance of spotting humpback whales.

Via the Hemel-en-Aarde Pass into the artsy town of Greyton and back on gravel tracks to the penguin colony at Betty's Bay, this Hermanus leg brings you along False Bay back to Cape Town. Passing Strand and Stellenbosch, the stage ends almost entirely on tarmac with a final dinner together.

The last day of this Cape region motorcycle tour is yours to spend freely – a relaxed close to the many varied impressions, before you need to check out by noon at the latest. An airport shuttle takes you directly from the hotel to the airport for your return flight home.

Early-morning arrival back home marks the end of this South Africa motorcycle tour. Depending on your destination, onward travel by train or connecting flight follows – with plenty of memories of passes, coastlines, and vineyards of the Cape region in your luggage.