South Africa

This 15-night escorted tour with Riviera Travel traces a wide arc across South Africa, offering a measured pace through its sweeping savannahs, diverse towns and coastal scenery. You begin with a morning at Johannesburg's Apartheid Museum, a thoughtfully curated encounter with the nation's troubled past, before setting off on the Panorama Route to Kruger National Park, where forests meet a riverbank hotel and hippos graze nearby.

Kruger brings game drives in ten-seat 4x4s, with a chance to spot cheetahs and elephants early in the dawn light, led by game rangers whose lifetime knowledge colours the experience. A day is left free here for either relaxation by the pool or optional activities including bush walks and night safaris. The tour continues through the battlefields of KwaZulu Natal to the Garden Route's Knysna and then west to the Cape Winelands, where 300-year-old Cape Dutch wineries sit under the watchful peaks, paired with a traditional Cape Malay dinner.

In Cape Town the itinerary features the botanical array of Kirstenbosch Gardens and a day to explore at leisure. Coastal drives include Chapman’s Peak and the Cape of Good Hope nature reserve, finishing with a penguin colony on Boulders Beach. It is a holiday that balances busy days and free time, tracing a route through varied landscapes and histories, with enough space to absorb the details that reveal the character of this vast country.