The Garden Route has been ranked the best road trip in the world in a recent international study by Auto Trader UK, placing the iconic South African route ahead of some of the most celebrated driving destinations on the planet.
The Garden Route outperformed global icons like America’s Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway often referred to as Highway 1 which is famous for being one of the world’s most beautiful coastal drives.
It stretches along the edge of California with the Pacific Ocean almost constantly in view.
The Auto Trader UK study considered factors such as road quality, traffic levels and overall driving ease and the Garden Route was judged alongside some of the world’s most iconic routes.
It ranked higher even than Italy’s dramatic Amalfi Coast Road, Spain’s sunlit Costa Brava, Australia’s famous Great Ocean Road and Canada’s vast Icefields Parkway.
Even the gentler elegance of France’s Loire Valley, the winding Kahekili Highway in Hawaii and Norway’s striking Atlantic Ocean Road could not compete with the accolade given to the Garden Route.
The 300km stretch from Mossel Bay to Storms River offers the perfect blend of ocean views, lush forest landscapes, scenic mountain passes and all-in-all ideal driving conditions.
Autotrader in partnership with senior meteorologist Jim R N Dale, did the rating.
Dale pointed out that visibility was the most important factor when it came to ideal driving conditions.
From there, the study looked at five key elements: road surface conditions, clear days, wind speed, ground temperature and humidity comfort.
The Garden Route didn’t just perform well across those categories, but it delivered a near-perfect score of 90.6 out of 100, placing it firmly at the top of the pops.
Stretching along SA’s southern coastline, the Garden Route N2 links towns such as Mossel Bay, George, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay as far as Tsitsikamma, offering travellers an ever-changing landscape of sea views, indigenous forest, mountain passes and lagoons.
It is this diversity, often experienced over relatively short driving distances, that continues to set the route apart because one minute you see forests and the next you see lakes.
We moved to Knysna about 10 years ago and were blown away by just how beautiful it is here.
A drive from Knysna to George is an aesthetic delight, rather than a chore to get to the biggest shopping mall on the Garden Route.
You get to see the lakes in Sedgefield, then you get to climb Kaaimans Pass which meanders high above the long stretch of beach at Wilderness.
We sometimes go to Plett (that was before the price of fuel became an issue) just because it’s less than half an hour away.
The road is good and the drive passing Harkerville and its forests makes for a picturesque outing.
Then there is always that feeling of wow, when you come over the ridge just before you turn off to Plett and see the sea stretching out resplendent before your eyes.
The Garden Route is compact and easily navigable, allowing visitors to move between destinations at a relaxed pace while still encountering a wide range of environments from cliffs, to beaches, to lakes, a sequence of visual experiences rather than just a single unchanging landscaped.
The UK Auto Trader study focused on the quality of driving conditions.
The N2 highway, which forms the backbone of this Garden Route area, is generally well maintained and signposted, making it user-friendly to both local and international travellers.
Roadworks on Kaaimans Pass have added some time onto a trip to George, but an extra lane will be worthwhile when this project is finished.
The N2 isn’t pockmarked with potholes like many roads in SA.
There are, however, cattle that stray onto this national road, particularly where the N2 meets Nekkies (just outside Knysna).
Over the years I’ve been here, several vehicles have been damaged by collisions with these animals.
It’s always worth being vigilant on this stretch of road because it is also where pedestrians do their road-dash instead of using the overhead bridge.
This kind of attention and award reinforces a reputation the Garden Route has built over decades drawing visitors from SA and internationally.
Many foreign tourists visit the Cape and also include a trip to our neck of the woods because we’re just so famous for being drop dead gorgeous!
Foodie places, hotels, accommodation establishments and outdoor activities like wine farms, all win with positive news like this.
There are increased passenger numbers through regional hubs such as George Airport testifying to a steady rise in domestic and international travel to the area.
Numbers of people attending local festivals like the Knysna Oyster Festival with its sporting offerings and the Simola Hillclimb motoring event, grow annually.
Parts of the Garden Route’s early accessibility can be traced back to the work of Thomas Bain, the master road builder whose routes quite literally opened up this coastline in the mid to late 1800s.
Across the original Cape, he constructed 24 mountain passes, but it is here, between George and Knysna, that his legacy feels most tangible.
At a time when dense forest and deep river gorges made travel slow and uncertain, Bain carved a way through, creating routes that would connect communities and shape the region’s future.
His most remarkable achievement along this stretch is the historic Seven Passes Road, built between 1867 and 1882, where he linked seven mountain crossings into one continuous route.
The road winds its way through the landscape via rivers such as the Touw and the Karatara, each pass revealing a different facet of the Garden Route’s beauty.
The Seven Passes Road is a famous stretch of 75km linking George to Knysna.
It’s currently under repair and expected to reopen later this year.
