Plettenberg Bay travel guide

Plettenberg Bay, or ‘Plett’, as it is commonly known, is one of the most appealing resorts on the Garden Route. Although it is modern and has little of historical interest, the compact centre is attractive and the main beach beautiful. Plett has now become fashionable and, during the Christmas season, the town is transformed. Wealthy families descend from Johannesburg and the pace can get quite frenetic – expect busy beaches and long queues for restaurant tables. For the rest of the year the pace is calmer and the resort becomes just another sleepy seaside town. There are three beaches that are good for swimming, but the coastline is spoilt by a multi-storey hotel built without much thought on a sandbar between two of the three beaches.

The tourist office gamely tries to promote some sights to visit but the attraction of this area is the sea and the outdoors. Aside from the three beaches, Robberg, Central and Lookout, there is excellent deep-sea fishing and, in season, good opportunities to spot whales and dolphins, particularly southern right whales from June to October. Plett climbs up a fairly steep hill; there are many elevated land-based vantage points as well as regular boat tours offering closer encounters with the marine life. The nearby Keurbooms River lagoon is a safe area for bathing and other watersports, and the dunes around the lagoon are now part of the Keurboom River Nature Reserve. In town itself, the main streets are just a collection of modern shopping malls and restaurants, but there are a few old buildings still standing which represent a little of the town’s earlier history: the remains of the Old Timber Store (1787), the Old Rectory (1776), and the Dutch Reformed Church (1834). Also look out for the polo field with its lush grass and stylish white pavilion.