Where to stay
Nine provinces, one guide. Start with a region you already have in mind, or pick a province and work down.
KwaZulu-Natal
Warm Indian Ocean swimming beaches, banana plantations and a string of small holiday villages running south from Port Shepstone to the Wild Coast border.
1 place
Western Cape
Table Mountain, the Atlantic seaboard and the False Bay villages, from Camps Bay to Simon's Town.
Browse the area
Mpumalanga
God's Window, the Blyde River Canyon and the escarpment villages above the Lowveld.
Eastern Cape
Rolling green hills straight into the sea, rondavels on the ridge lines, and almost no development between the river mouths.
Limpopo
Malaria-free bushveld and game lodges within easy reach of Gauteng.
Free State
Clarens, the Golden Gate sandstone and the cherry farms along the Lesotho border.
North West
Big five in an extinct volcano, two hours from Johannesburg.
Northern Cape
The spring flower season, the diamond coast and the Richtersveld.
The gate towns for the Kruger National Park and the private reserves alongside it.
Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl — Cape Dutch gables, oak avenues and the country's best-known wine estates.
The Dolphin Coast — Ballito, Salt Rock and Zinkwazi — where Durban goes for the weekend.
Indigenous forest, lagoons and the sea road from Mossel Bay to Storms River — the country's most-driven holiday stretch.