Two of the best road trips in the world have Cape Town in common. South Africa is a vast country. Whether you’re a tourist or a local, road-tripping in the scenic country if you have the time is mandatory. Just jump in your hired car – search term car hire Cape Town Tripadvisor to the rescue – and experience this land of dramatic contrasts from The Drakensberg mountains, the Kalahari Desert and Karoo landscape to the Garden Route, West Coast and Hermanus. Whether you’re visiting the country to sample its fine wines or watch whales frolick, making the effort to take in the splendour of the landscape along the way by road is richly rewarding. It also happens that two of the top-rated routes in the world are found in this southernmost country.

Route 62

This 748-kilometre stretch of road will take you 9,5 hours, assuming you don’t stop to rest anywhere, so leave early! Be sure to avoid the wear and tear on your own car. Hire something from the likes of Alamo car hire at Cape Town Airport, Dayway car hire in Cape Town or any other company at the airport. Most vehicle hire companies will gladly drop off your car at any major local airport. For this route, a manual drive works just fine, unless you want to spend a relative fortune on petrol.

Starta at Chapman’s Peak, the other world-famous drive. It’s a spectacular nine-kilometer marine drive hugging the mountain between Hout Bay and Noordhoek. Don’t take the wheel if you hate sheer drops and enjoy it from the passenger’s window instead.

If you love wine sampling, you’re in for a treat. You’ll find almost 70 wineries along the way, splattered in between farmstalls with the best of baked and homemade goodies. A few local dishes to sample in these farmstalls are homemade pasties, homemade jams such as sour fig and melon and ginger, and homemade konfyt or preserve. The best konfyt is of the naartjie or clementine variety, ginger, watermelon and green fig.

As for hot dishes, be sure to catch the local bobotie or sweet-savoury meatloaf, potjiekos (food made in a black pot over open coals), snoek, the local fleshy west coast fish and oxtail stew. South Africa is a literal melting pot of cuisines so the number of dishes we could list here are quite endless.

This Cape Town to Port Elizabeth route also meanders past many cliffs, fauna, rivers, valleys and plains. Sometimes you’ll have to make slight detours but you can easily rejoin the main route.

The private Roman baths at the Warmwaterberg Spa are a recommended stop and a highlight. Rest and rejuvenate here after a long driving session.  You could also take a two-day hike on the Donkey Trail over the Swartberg Mountains. A great diversion before carrying on again.

Continue to the Klaasvoogds Game Reserve. You’ll be sure to encounter wildebeest, leopard tortoise, springbok and Burchell’s zebra.

Chapman’s Peak Drive

This incredible route is sometimes closed due to rockfalls, which should be some indication of the skill level you need to tackle this drive. It is a once-in-a-lifetime view though.The drive was also closed for 3 years in 1999, following a fatal rockfall. It frustrated residents’ ability to get out quickly and hit the Cape Tourism sector hard as a whole.

Chapmans Peak Drive starts at Hout Bay and hugs 114 bends of mountain called Chapman’s Peak along treacherous, rocky coastline with some of the best sheer drop views you’ll see anywhere.

Luckily, there are a number of stops where you can picnic as you tackle the next stretch of steep incline, azure blue Atlantic waters below and constant winding curves.

In 2004, the road won a major civil engineering award. It is acclaimed as not only some of the best scenery, but one of the best feats of mountain pass road engineering in the world. You can also hike up the Peak if you prefer. Silvermine Nature Reserve and Table Mountain National Park are two nearby not-to-be-missed attractions.

Alamo Car Hire Cape Town

Using Alamo car hire at Cape Town Airport is one good option. Usually car hire Cape Town Tripadvisor does not throw up the likes of independent or new but solid entrants into the market. When making arrangements, a search using car hire Cape Town Tripadvisor is a good start but there are a great many other rentals to choose from, and a little bit of research will take you a long way.

Alamo Rent a Car is actually an overseas franchise offering extremely competitive local rates. They have been operating for over 30 years. With Alamo car hire at Cape Town Airport, you have the option of Unlimited Free Mileage and a wide range of vehicles, perfect for hitting the road. Alamo is in demand, so make your booking as early as possible. Alamo car hire at Cape Town Airport is handled by Europcar.

Another great option you’re unlikely to find easily on car hire Cape Town Tripadvisor is Dayway car hire in Cape Town. Dayway car hire in Cape Town is situated in Maitland, about 10 minutes away from the City Centre. Dayway car hire in Cape Town is one of the lesser known agencies with great rates and service nonetheless. Look here if you can’t find a car anywhere else.