Our South African Honeymoon
I have had this itinerary on my to do list for 1 year now… but I’m finally posting! Our honeymoon was my favorite trip I’ve ever been on. We were in South Africa for 2 weeks, and we packed SO much in to our trip. I figured the easiest way to narrow down our trip is to post day by day. I will try my best to link all hotels, restaurants, etc. At the bottom I will have a “Tips & Tricks” section which I always like to do on my travel guides. This should help you prepare, pack, and get the required documents.
DAY 1
Our first leg of the trip started in Capetown. We landed late the night before, and went straight to bed upon arriving. I really wanted to stay in Camps Bay, not the city, and we LOVED it.
We stayed at The Marly Hotel. 10000/10 recommend. It was directly across the street from the main beach, the service was amazing, the rooms were gorgeous, and you couldn’t beat the view from the balcony.
Since this was the first day (and we traveled for 24hrs the day before), we took it easy. Slept in, got room service, and walked around Camps Bay. We had lunch at a seafood restaurant near the hotel (I can’t remember the name).
Before dinner we had drinks at Chinchilla (located in The Marly Hotel). They have the coolest cocktails!
We had dinner at The Bungalow. Tip: make a reservation around sunset, it was the prettiest view. This restaurant was AMAZING.
After dinner, we went to speakeasy called The Art of Duplicity. This was the coolest experience and one of the best “speakeasies” I’ve ever been to.
DAY 2
Day 2 is winery day! We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then took a cab to the wine tram.
We booked Franschhoek Wine Tram. This train takes you to certain wineries throughout the day, and there is many different ‘routes’ to take. We booked the Purple Line.
You are able to get on and off whenever you want which made it easy to pick and choose which wineries to go to. I recommend doing research beforehand!
We figured out on the map when we will be having lunch and booked the Werf Restaurant at the Boschendal Winery. When I tell you guys this is the best meal I’ve ever had in my life, I am not kidding. You MUST go here, and make sure to make a reservation.
If we could do it again, we’d spend the night in wine country for 2 nights. We didn’t want to leave!
After day drinking, we hung out at the rooftop pool and then went to dinner at Zenzero.
DAY 3
My absolute favorite day of the WHOLE trip. Shark cage diving and Boulders Beach day!!!
We woke up early and grabbed breakfast at a nearby coffeeshop because it was the only thing open. We needed to travel about an hour away! We did a lot of research and ultimately decided to take a cab and not use the shuttle system that the shark cage diving place provided. This left us freedom after it was done to walk around and get lunch.
We booked Apex Shark Diving. This experience was amazing! Also, there are no great white sharks near where we went because the orca whales have scared them all off. We ended up seeing lots of bronze whalers!
After we got back from this, we walked around the Simons Town and made it to Boulders Beach. Tip: you have to pay an entrance fee to get in. The beginning of it is very touristy but if you keep walking all the way to the end you can actually go on the beach with them!
After this, we showered, took a long nap, and got dinner room service. We then got ready and went to the V&A Waterfront and found CAUSE EFFECT. Such a cool cocktail bar! Every drink comes in a unique glass and they are all specially made.
DAY 4
The day we go to our Safari! We had breakfast at the hotel — which we did a lot because the food was so good.
We booked transportation via the safari. They picked us up from the hotel and brought us straight to the reserve! (It was a few hours away). We compared prices on cabs, renting a car, etc; this made the most sense.
We stayed at the Garden Route Game Lodge. Our room was the luxury family suite with plunge pool. It was huge, but we loved it! And the private pool was the best part.
We arrived in the afternoon, checked in, got ready, and headed out for the nighttime game drive. After the drive we had dinner and then went to bed early!
DAY 5
Day 2 of the Safari! Each day you have 2 game drives - in the morning and right before dinner. The morning one starts at 6:45am. This morning we saw elephants, cheetahs, buffalo, lions, and springbok.
After the drive we had breakfast. The safari is like an all inclusive resort — breakfast and dinner is at a specific time, and you can order whatever. You also eat with everyone else at the same time.
We napped, showered, and then had a spa day! Massages on a honeymoon are a 10/10 experience.
For the nighttime drive, we took the long trek out to find the giraffes. We can’t get close to them, but we found them!
After the drive we had drinks by the fire, ate dinner (tried raw springbok), and went to bed.
DAY 6
Safari day 3! We started off early with a game drive and then breakfast.
This day we booked a private picnic — which consists of the reserve packing you a lunch, snacks & wine and driving you out to an open spot.
They leave you with a blanket and everything you need! It was so cute.
We relaxed by the pool the rest of the day and then got ready for dinner & our nighttime game drive.
This was also the day a gigantic spider joined me in the shower — Tom had to somehow kill and it was an EXPERIENCE let me tell you.
DAY 7
The final day of the Safari. We started early again with a game drive and then breakfast!
This was also the morning we had to rescue a baby Wildbeest — full story coming on TikTok about that.
After checking out, we headed back to Capetown.
We stayed at the Queen Victoria Hotel. They ended up overbooking the hotel and we got upgraded to the penthouse suite????
After resting, we walked around and got drinks & snacks at the V&A Food Market.
We had dinner at La Parada — it was soooo good!
As much as we loved this part of the trip, if we did it again, we would have ended our trip in wine country and spent more time there. We didn’t love the waterfront as much as Camps Bay.
DAY 8
We slept in this day! We were still exhausted from the Safari. We had breakfast in the hotel, and then had a massage at the hotel’s spa. We hung out in the courtyard/pool area before getting ready for the day.
We headed to The Lawns for lunch. It was higher up a mountain and had the best view of Camps Bay!
After lunch we headed to Clifton Beach. We got dropped off in a random parking lot and took a lot of stairs down, and found the most beautiful beach! We ended up going to a local beach with no tourists and it was amazing.
For dinner we went to Kloof Street House. We went early and had drinks at the bar. You MUST make reservations before or you might not get in! This meal was absolutely amazing, my second favorite meal from the trip.
DAY 9
Day 9 was a very chill, last full day in Capetown. We slept in, and got room service breakfast.
For lunch we went to Belly of the Beast. This restaurant is whole culinary experience, you have to go at a certain time, and the whole restaurant eats at the same time. There are no menus or course limits, and it was SO cool. Highly recommend! Everything was delicious.
After lunch, we hung out by the pool and then walked around the V&A Waterfront for dinner and drinks. We ended up finding a bar with a local band playing and it was so fun!
DAY 10
We woke up early this day to go to the top of Table Mountain. We were originally going to take the cable car up & down and lock story short — we ended up hiking down. I DO NOT recommend unless you are ready for/an avid hiker. It was miserable. Lions Head is next door, hike that instead!
After the hike, we rushed back to the hotel and ran to the airport. We had a 24hr layover in Johannesburg.
We found The Peech Hotel. We wanted to find a small, cute hotel with a pool & a restaurant. Our goal was to not leave before our next flight home!
We had dinner at the restaurant called Basalt. It was AMAZING.
DAY 11
We spent the whole day laying by the pool at The Peech Hotel :)
It was Valentines Day, so we made reservations at the restaurant. They were offering a 7 course dinner, and again, it was amazing!
We went straight from dinner to the hotel for our 16 hour flight home… and then slept for a week.
Tips & Tricks
We did not hire a travel agent, you can definitely plan this trip without one! I am a control freak and like to be able to do whatever when I travel so I prefer this.
We went in February 2021, so we needed a negative PCR test to get in the country. This changes daily — do research beforehand to see current requirements.
Shots are not needed, our safari was malaria free. Ask your doctor beforehand for any recommendations.
Everyone speaks English! This was a huge plus for our trip, you don’t have to learn another language :)
Make restaurant reservations in advance! We weren’t able to go to some we wanted to eat at because they were fully booked.
The USD exchange rate is in our favor in South Africa, don’t let this trip scare you. You can afford it! We did things a little fancier because it was our honeymoon but you can do what we did in half the price.
Tipping is not required but it’s appreciated! We still tipped around 20% everywhere because the service was amazing.
Uber is available and very affordable. No need to rent a car.
We felt very safe the whole time. Don’t let any headlines scare you — just be smart like you would in any other city.
We didn’t want to go to another part of SA for the Safari, but Kruger National Park is highly rated and arguably has better reserves.
