Travel to George

once the ‘prettiest village on the face of the earth’ 

George is a relatively large town, set in a broad valley some 10 km inland from the ocean at the western end of the Garden Route.

In 1877 the British author Anthony Trollope described the town as the ‘prettiest village on the face of the earth’.

Unfortunately these days the magnificent indigenous forests that once surrounded the town have virtually all been torn down and relatively little of that old world charm remains in the town itself.

But George is by no means an unpleasant locale and it remains a decent place to live.

The main highlight is the world-famous Fancourt golf estate.

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

Golfers are particularly well catered for, with several excellent courses in the vicinity, most notably the very well known Fancourt, which form the mainstay of the local tourist economy these days.

But for the majority of our non-golfing guests, George has little to offer and is usually either bypassed to the main N2 highway or cut through when heading inland to the Karoo town of Oudtshoorn.

only of significant interest to golfers