- Important points
- Choosing wings
- Hotel or apartment
- Transport subtleties
- Nightingales are not fed with fables
- Useful details
- The perfect trip to South Africa
The BBC and travel magazine Travel + Leisure consider Cape Town in southern Africa to be the fifth most beautiful city in the world and 50 places in the world to visit. In addition to the impressions of walking around the beautiful city near the Cape of Good Hope, a trip to South Africa will give a tourist a lot of other amazing memories of the trip and hundreds of unique memorable photos for a family album.
Important points
- A visa to South Africa for Russian citizens is issued at the country's consulate. The requirements for applicants are quite strict, and the list of prerequisites for obtaining it is the availability of round-trip air tickets. All documents submitted to the consulate must have a certified translation into English.
- South Africa supports the Tax Free system. To receive the paid VAT on departure from the country, it is enough to present checks for the amount of at least 250ZAR, which corresponds to about $ 20. The purchased product must be in undamaged packaging.
- Driving in South Africa is left-hand, and when renting a car, you should take into account the peculiarities of local driving.
Choosing wings
There are no direct flights from Russia to South Africa in the schedule of any airline, but with connections in Europe or the Middle East, you can fly on the planes of various carriers:
- The cheapest connections between Moscow and Johannesburg are Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and KLM. A flight via Doha, Abu Dhabi or Amsterdam will take from 17 hours, including a transfer. Ticket prices start at $ 530.
- Quite good prices for a ticket to Cape Town and back are offered by the same Qataris, as well as by Turkish and French airlines. For the cheapest flight with a connection in Abu Dhabi, Doha or Paris, you will have to pay from $ 640.
Regular direct flights from their own capitals to the international airports of South Africa are carried out by many European air carriers. If you subscribe to their online newsletter and monitor special offers, you can book your flight on very favorable terms.
Hotel or apartment
Hotels in South Africa strictly adhere to the system of international standards if they show at least some stars on the facade. A room in a standard "three-ruble" room in Cape Town will cost $ 40-$ 50 per day, moreover, breakfast is often included in the price. For a bed in a hostel dorm room you will have to pay from $ 19, and for the keys to a room in a 5 * hotel - from $ 80.
The hotels in the reserves are ethnic-style lodges and chalets that cannot be called cheap. For a bungalow in such a 4 * hotel, you will have to pay from $ 80 per night.
It is not very common to rent an apartment in South Africa, but if you do it through specialized verified sites, the risk can be avoided to the maximum. A tourist can be asked from $ 40 to $ 60 per day in a separate one-bedroom apartment in the center of Cape Town. The room can be rented for $ 25-$ 30.
Transport subtleties
Between distant cities in South Africa, it is most convenient and safest to travel by domestic aircraft. For example, a flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town and back on the wings of the local company Safair will cost only $ 90 and take a little over two hours.
The luxurious Rovos Rail train travels from South Africa to Tanzania and Namibia. There are several routes in the train schedule, including one to Victoria Falls. The cheapest tickets start at $ 1100, but the Rovos Trail train is considered the most luxurious in the world.
It is safe and convenient to use taxi services in the cities of South Africa - prices are comparable to European ones. It is better not to catch a taxi on the street, and the easiest way to order it is to use the help of the hotel receptionist.
As a sightseeing tour of Cape Town, you can choose the "red" and "blue" routes of special tourist buses. They start from the city's Aquarium and run near the most famous landmarks. The "red" route has 18 stops within the city, while the "blue" route goes beyond the city limits and is suitable for those who prefer to admire the natural beauty of Table Mountain and Hout Bay. The price of a one-day ticket is approximately $ 12. For this money, a passenger can use the buses of both routes without restrictions, get off at stops and get on the next buses. The driving interval is about 20 minutes.
Nightingales are not fed with fables
South African cuisine has collected in itself many national traditions of a wide variety of peoples - from the British to the Dutch. It is based on meat, vegetables, seafood in coastal cities and rice.
Expensive restaurants scare off budget travelers with high prices, but you can find a budget meal while traveling in South Africa at the ubiquitous Indian, Chinese, Thai and Arab cafes and McDonald's. A sausage dough from a street vendor costs about $ 0.55, a liter of mineral water is a dollar, and a bottle of excellent local brandy will cost $ 3-5.
For an English-style breakfast in a good hotel, the guest will be asked from $ 4 to $ 6, and for a bag of buffalo or ostrich jerky, which is convenient to quickly satisfy their hunger, you will have to pay only $ 0.3.
Of the local exotic in South African restaurants, there are dishes made from ostrich or crocodile meat, but the average bill for a dinner for two in such an institution can go beyond $ 50-$ 70.
Useful details
- Vaccinations are not required to travel to South Africa, but malaria is at risk in the northeast of the country. To avoid trouble, use mosquito repellent and appropriate clothing.
- In national parks and on safaris, it is important to choose clothing in neutral colors. It is forbidden to get out of cars and get into them while observing animals.
- It is customary to move along the streets of South African cities by taxi or a rented car, except for special pedestrian zones.
- Hermanus in the Western Cape is home to the best area for whale watching from the shore. They swim up to it at a distance of only a few meters.
- Most of the major highways in the country are toll roads. They are marked with an "N". The fare is approximately $ 5-$ 7.
The perfect trip to South Africa
The state is located in the Southern Hemisphere, and climatic zones change from north to south and from west to east throughout the country. Off the coast of the Indian Ocean, there is a belt of subtropics, while in national parks in the savannah zone, precipitation falls much less often, and the air temperature rises higher in all seasons.
The ideal season for safari is the end of autumn and the first half of winter. At the same time, it is especially comfortable and sightseeing in the cities of South Africa. During the daytime in June-August in Cape Town and Johannesburg, the average temperatures are + 22 ° С, and at night the thermometers drop to + 10 ° С and below.
The water temperature in the ocean in the Cape Town area is always quite uncomfortable for swimming and does not exceed + 18 ° С in summer and + 15 ° С in winter.
