South Africa

Most long-haul flights get into Johannesburg in the late afternoon, and only few in the morning. After a transcontinental journey, we prefer not to have a long drive ahead of us, so we would recommend staying in Johannesburg for the first night.
There really isn’t that much to see in the city and Johannesburg is often regarded to as fairly ‘boring’ compared to the other cities throughout the country. We didn’t think that was far from the truth, and thus one night should be enough.

On the first full day, head out to the countryside. A good starting point for the Panorama Route will be Graskop, so that’s a perfect stop for tonight. Graskop is about a 4 1/2-hour drive away from Johannesburg, with a cave and lots of waterfalls already leading up to it. If you want to visit all the places on the list, you should plan seven or eight hours for the trip. We highlighted the ones that we enjoyed most, but personal preferences are different! They’re all worth stopping for.

Hope for good weather on this day! The actual Panorama Route will take you along the rim of the Drakensberg Mountains. It includes some of the most famous viewpoints in South Africa, like the Three Rondavels or God’s Window. By the end of the day, you’ll want to be inside Kruger Park, so make sure to not get up too late. Rest Camps in the park have to be reached before sunset and all the viewpoints and waterfalls along the Panorama Route do take up a considerable amount of time.

If you’ve already made your way down to Berg en Dal, you can just exit from there through Malelane Gate and you’re on the way for a straight four-hour drive to Pretoria.
If you stayed the night at Pretoriuskop, just see how you feel. A bit more safari? Take the two-hour drive down to Malelane Gate and Crocodile River and drive to Pretoria from there.

Since almost all intercontinental flights leave Johannesburg in the evening, you can spend part of the day visiting more places around Pretoria and then drive back to Johannesburg Airport, drop off the car and wait for your departure. Factor in some rush hour delays and the car return, so leave Pretoria no later than four hours before your flight.