Hi Rick Steve community! I am going to be in Johannesburg and Cape Town in September and I was just wondering if its cheaper to fly or drive from JHB to CPT? (driving sounds more fun but I am worried about the state of the roads)
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
Prices of car hire and flights will vary depending on when you are travelling. You need to try some dummy bookings for both options. The major routes such as this are generally good. It is 1,400k, so it can’t be driven in one day, so you would have at least one night’s accommodation en route.
I took the coastal route between these destinations and spent 3 + weeks doing it - a lovely route.
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1601 posts
A random search on Google flights shows flights for around $55 in Sept. Whereas the driving distance is likely to be over 900 miles. When I flew this about 8-9 years ago, I recall it being a 2 hour flight, and google map shows a drive time of approx 15 hours. I think you can draw your own conclusion based on these #s.
Posted by
South Africa
5 posts
You can easily fly Johannesburg to Cape Town for around R1000. The drive down is quite long but if you turn it into a road trip and include the east coast then you can stay along the way for quite cheap, especially in the wild coast, and also see the beautiful garden route which is highly recommended! You can search Google for flight prices yes and if you want to rent a car, www.carhire-southafrica.co.za lists all the cheapest rentals. You can comfortably do the trip in a hatch back (I have done it like this) but a SUV would be the best