Still one of the best ways to explore and discover scenic places is on foot.
Hiking, said to be a “long walk for pleasure or exercise”. Think about this for a second, how much skill would be required to cross some of the terrain you can walk on with a mountain bike or how much development would go into a vehicle that could cross the same terrain that we could cross on foot? Sure, those means of travel allow us to cover larger distances with less effort or take more equipment than we could carry so they have their place but there is still just something about journeying on foot. There is a reason hikes like the Camino, the Pacific Crest Trail, Inca Trail or our own Otter Trail have such strong call and thousands embark on these journeys.
There are so many trails in the Garden Route going through a variety of scenery and plant life and ranging from easy to strenuous. We’ve grouped them into four categories and then grouped them by the nearest town in those categories.
Beach Walks
The section of coastline that stretches from Mossel Bay to Tsitsikamma has kilometers of beach were you can get your tows in the sand and walk for hours with the waves lapping at your feet. This selection of hikes follows almost exclusively beach with the exception of a short access walk in some cases.
Day Hikies
A selection of day hikes in fynbos or forest following foot paths or boardwalks. Some follow streams, others go there and back to see the attraction and other just make ‘circles in the forest’. Short to long, easy to strenuous, something for everyone.
Overnight Hikes
There is just something rejuvenating in breaking life down to these basics, exploration, eating or a coffee in beautiful places and sleeping in the middle of nowhere and then repeating just that the next day and the day after. Again.
Climb a Mountain
In the famous words of George Mallory, “Because It’s There”. What more of a reason do you need to set off and step foot on these peaks and breathe in the fresh mountain air while taking in these amazing vistas.