First Time South Africa - Tour Companies vs. Self-planned

Hi - I'm planning a honeymoon to the Cape Town area in Late October or Early November. I've found a few companies online that will create an itinerary and arrange hotels, car rentals, etc. Does anyone have any experience (positive or negative) using any of the companies to plan their vacation? Thanks. -Matt

I have several positive experiences of a company called Cedarberg Travel (UK/SA). We choose what we want to see/do, and they fix it up for us, sometimes recommending places not in brochures, etc.

Hi Matt, personnal recommendation is to pick the brains of TTers, hit the sites they recommend and then 'DO IT YOURSELF' I always think that half of the fun/adventure is to plan 'How, Where and When'.

Hire your car online, pay now and benefit from a Rand that is probably at its weakest at this time of year !

Or be cautious (don't upset the bride) and follow Peter's suggetions, probably paying slightly more but knowing you are in experienced hands.

Which ever you do ? Have a great holiday and happy marriage !!

Drink Wibndhoek not Castle

For example, that agent recommended a small boutique hotel, OonKloof, which was wonderful. Huge room with views over ocean, indoor pool, hot tub on balcony, personal attention of owner. We would never have found it on our own as it had only recently opened, but it was ideal. Olaf would introduce us to stunning local wines and then suggest places we might want to eat at night.....

I think that should be "Drink Windhoek"

Try an online company in South Africa, they organise trips all the time and know the best places to visit and stay.

That's what they do.

South African Tours and Safaris

Step one -- what do you want to do and see.
Step two -- What do I do first.
Step three -- where is the best place to stay to do #1 and #2 (shutup)
Go online and find a good B&B to stay at. (Believe me they are good value)
Rent a car, get a map, ask some questions and go and have fun.

self-planned!

seb

I guess it depends how complicated your itinerary will be.

If it was just a holiday I would do it myself but frankly, if you've got time to plan a wedding and a honeymoon yourself you must be an organisational genius with a lot of time on your hands!

You can do it all yourself, but as others point out it can take time and energy.

To clarify, we plan our trips and then get agent to do the leg-work in booking the components (not too bad in SA, but can be tiresome in Namibia) .

Using an agent also gives you some fallback if problems arise, and also can save carrying a lot of cash (again, not so much a problem in SA, but can be in other countries).

#3 Peter whoops sorry! Think that problem arose because of drinking whilst wearing dirty glasses (reading variety) instead of drinking from them ! Could also be something to do with a half empty bottle of Klipdrift at my side (saturday night not sunday morning) but the old eyes were struggling to focus !

Drink Windhoek (please note the mistake was to hit 2 keys next to each other whilst suffering a hangover caused by a very bad day on the golf course) not Castle (because they've run out of bottles ha ha !)

Thanks to all of your great suggestions...including the beer.