With its long, sandy beach, turn-of-the-century bathing pavilion (recently converted into an elegant restaurant), and charming vacation cottages, Mossel Bay lives up to its reputation as one of the loveliest spots along South Africa’s Garden Route. This small town on the Western Cape makes an excellent stop on a regional road trip; things to do include spending long days on the beach and indulging in the town’s food and wine scene, and, for adventure seekers, cage-diving with sharks and skydiving with the blue ocean far below.
The best time to visit depends on what you plan to do—Mossel Bay and the rest of the Garden Route are known for whale watching, and you can spot such majestic mammals as humpback whales, killer whales, southern right whales, and Byrde's whales swimming through the region. June is the best time for whale watching, but it does mean cooler water and winter rain. December to March is a warmer, drier season if you’re looking for a classic beach vacation.
Mossel Bay itself is small and walkable, but it’s also nice to explore by bike. If you want to check out more of the surrounding area or take on a section of the Garden Route, renting your own car is the best option. It takes around 40 minutes to drive from George, which is the closest large city. From Cape Town, it’s about a 4.5-hour drive, but flights are frequent between George and Cape Town.
Discover your roots with a trip to the nearby caves at Pinnacle Point, which was home to a huge discovery in the late ‘90s. An archaeologist unearthed tools and found decorative pigments that were determined to date back some 164,000 years—proof of early human habitation. Visitors can book tours of one of the caves and the surrounding area to learn about their earliest ancestors.