Three Weeks in South Africa – Our Expenses

Three Weeks in South Africa

We spent six weeks in Turkey between March and May. After Turkey, we had three weeks in South Africa planned. The primary reason for the trip was a 50th birthday party for my sister-in-law who also lives in Atlanta. Since she is from South Africa, the big party needed to be there with her family. They had rented a guest farm about 90 minutes from Cape Town to host the event.

On the day of the event, we went to lunch with a group from the party. A total of 40 people were at lunch, and 18+ lived within 10 minutes of us in Atlanta. Therefore, it was like being home, but not, at the same time.

Tour Guide Time

After meeting us in Istanbul, my sister and her husband joined us on the trip to South Africa. My sister and her husband had never been to South Africa, so I was the tour guide to show them around the Cape Town area. We were based in Strand and used that location to go into Cape Town, Hermanus, Paarl, Stellenbosch, and even down to the southern tip of Africa at Agulhas. Luckily, they rented an apartment in the same building as us. Therefore, it was easy for us to meet up, explore, or relax with some food and drinks at the restaurant next door looking out over False Bay.

Since I was the “tour guide” I did not do a lot of videos, mostly pictures on this trip.

That is a lot of Dining

As with most of our trips to South Africa, there were a lot of group dining events with 15+ people. Therefore, splitting the bill into smaller groups was not always possible. So most of the time someone or 2 people would pick up the bill, and then someone else would buy the next time. It probably is a little more expensive than separate bills over 10+ meals. However, it depends on how many times you get stuck with the bill ;-). Also, a fair share of “libations” are involved in South African dining experiences, so that will affect the bill a tad bit. Most breakfast/lunch meals were under $12 and dinner was around $20-25 per person depending on the number of libations. We averaged about $32 a day per person for all meals and libations including what we ate at the apartment.

Itinerary

* indicates where we stayed at least one night

Strand *

Day Trips to Cape Town, Hermanus, Paarl, Stellenbosch, and Agulhas.

Aquila Private Game Reserve

Kampala Guest Farm *

Paarl *

Tulbagh

Strand *

Budget for Three Weeks in South Africa (estimated)

Please check out my videos on YouTube from this and other trips.