Travel to Plettenberg Bay

an out-and-out beach resort

Plettenberg Bay, known simply as Plett, is located in the Garden Route, some 470 km east of Cape Town.

More than anywhere else along this coast, Plettenberg Bay is an out-and-out beach resort, a modern development of hotels and holiday homes overlooking three fine beaches.

Standing by the old Anglican church on the Peninsula at the heart of the old town it’s still reasonably easy to envisage how wonderful this place was just a few decades ago and how the reputation of the Garden Route became so established.

But in recent decades the town has been developed out of all recognition, with holiday and retirement villages dominating the beaches and hillsides all around.

The old town centre has been stripped of its quaintness by a modern makeover and the whole place has become a bustling, busy holiday centre of bars, restaurants, swimwear shops and realtors.

The beaches are still amongst the best in the region.

The Garden Route is considerably less seasonal than most other parts of Africa.
Most notably it experiences a good deal more consistent levels of cloud and rain year round, in contrast to the Cape which has a much more pronounced dry summer Nov-Mar.

The climate is still very pleasant, but you can expect a little bit more weather out here. For this you are compensated by the wonderful verdant landscapes and rich forests for which the area is named.

Summer : Nov-Apr

This period is generally considered to be the preferred time to visit, with pleasantly warm temperatures, longer days and marginally higher average sunshine hours.

Winter : May/Oct

This period is notionally winter, but temperatures are only a few degrees below their summer levels, average sunshine hours about the same and rainfall just as unpredictable. But the days are definitely shorter.

Where to stay

We tend to include Plettenberg Bay in trips increasingly rarely these days, although more urban, nightlife-focused guests may still find the place worth spending time in.

More of our guests tend to look to stay in the higher quality and more rural escapes around Nature’s Valley just to the east and maybe visit the town from there.

the town has grown at an incredible rate