Cape Town to Campfest – South Africa 2026
We’ve been daydreaming about a 4 day 2,200km cruise across South Africa, from Cape Town to CampFest, in Bela Bela. We’ve driven there a variety of ways in years past, meeting wonderful people and their cars along the way, but for 2026 we’d like to invite everyone along with us.
There’s some epic roads and scenery in South Africa, plus the awesome VDub CampFest show, so in a similar idea to the annual DubRun organised the VW Club of South Africa from JoBurg to Durban, we’d like to go for a drive with our friends – just a bit of a particularly long and epic one.
With an average of 750km / 466mi per day, with 3 days driving an average of 8-9 hours each day – staying to daylight hours as much as possible, with regular fuel and food stops, there’s also one full rest day at the home of Volkswagen South Africa near the city of Gqeberha, plus meetings at each major city and other cruises meeting along the way.
It will be during the South African summer, with temperatures likely reaching 30’C-35’C (90-95’F), with little shade on the roads. Starting out will be cooler though, with the windy winding tree lined roads on the southern coast, before driving north into the hot semi-desert of the eastern edge of the Karoo. This will mean climbing from zero elevation up and over the mountains, and gaining over 1,750m / 5,751ft of elevation – not including all the up and down on the roads themselves.
We’d love you to drive what you’ve got, we, and countless other people have done these drives in VW Golfs, Beetles, and probably every other type of car you could image, but if you’re an international guest from overseas, we’d also love to help you find a car to drive or share, beit in the driver or passenger seat. Except for possibly some very small detours, everything is 100% tarmac roads – driving 2,200km and partying in parking lots everyday is a challenge and adventure in itself.
Total Days : 4 (3 days driving + 1 day VW museum)
Cities we’ll visit : Cape Town / Gqeberha / Bloemfontein / Bela-Bela / (and Johannesburg after).
Additional days for meetings, the car show, and safari – especially suitable for international guests – takes the trip up to 10 days, plus you may want to stay a little longer before or after.
// February 2026
+ Pre-Meeting Cape Town – Sunday 1st
+ Cape Town to Campfest – Monday 2nd – Thursday 5th
+ Camp-Fest – Friday 6th – Sunday 8th
+ Safari – Monday 9th
+ Johannesburg – Tuesday 10th
// The Itinerary (subject to change..).
Starting in Cape Town, with a car meeting the day before we leave – you can arrive in the city at your leisure before to check out the sights around the city,
Day 1 heads along the southern coast, with lush forests and small towns along the way. Lunch will be provided at the fuel stop, with time to stretch your legs and relax for a little bit. The drive continues to our first sleep stop, Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape.
Day 2 is only local driving. Visit the VW museum in Kariega, meet local car owners, perhaps we’ll see the Volkswagen Factory and the local Aldo Scribante Race Circuit if we’re lucky. You can choose to make a side trip to go see Penguins or Elephants at local parks too.
For Day 3, after spending two nights in the same accomodation, the big drives continue with 675km north through South Africa’s vast interior, climbing 1,395m / 4,577ft above sea level to Bloemfontein. One of South Africa’s capital cities, it’s located centrally in the country. We’ll have dinner, get fuel, and likely meet some local cars owners, before getting some well needed sleep.
Day 4 will be heading North again, but with a twist – we’ll turn right and head around the northern border of Lesotho, on the road towards Durban. The road a little less travelled heads east to Harrismith, where we’ll have lunch and meet anyone driving from Durban north to CampFest. After that restpite, we’ll head north to Johannesburg, staying on the east side of the city, heading up through Pretoria and finally onto the last roads into Bela-Bela. As the cruise gets closer to the main road north from Joburg, we’ll likely meet more cars and owners along the way.
Arriving Thursday evening, you can get settled into the show accomodation, and not set an alarm on Friday morning.
// The rules and the details.
We provide a suggested route, with a hard start time, and you can choose to drive along with us, or detour for your own adventure. You’re responsible for your own vehicle and actions. If you break down, it’s pretty likely someone will be happy to help out, and we’ll all try our best to get you to a safe spot, or indeed the next fuel / sleep spot, but the next departure time will be kept. Sort of Top Gear rules, but much friendlier.
You’re responsible for your own fuel, food, and accommodation, unless expressly stated otherwise. It’s our aim to have lunches ready at certain fuel stops – simply so that you can relax, chat, fuel, and maybe fix anything that needs attention, instead of looking for food and waiting to order.
There will be a small cost to join, which will be kept as low as possible. This will include some goodies in return – think t-shirt, car stickers, and the lunches. We’ll solidify this and update, especially if there’s some companies that want to jump in to help out. Right now, it’s looking like:
R1,111.00 / $69 USD per person – covers lunch for 4 days (Monday – Thursday) plus goodies :
Goodies : T-shirt, copy of Performance VW Magazine, stickers for your car, and some oil if you need a top up…
We are also raising money for a very special care facility in Bela Bela, Talje House, which if you’re joining we ask that you save money for them, or if you’re following internationally you can donate with 100% of the proceeds going to the charity here : https://gofund.me/85d438d89
// The Schedule (subject to change).
| Day | Date / Dist. | Item | Location |
| (0) | Sun 1st | Arrive + Meeting | Cape Town |
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| 1 | Mon 2nd | DEPART | Cape Town |
| Fuel | Heidelberg | ||
| Depart | Heidelberg | ||
| Lunch + Fuel | George | ||
| Depart | George | ||
| ARRIVE | Gqeberha | ||
| 750km | Dinner + Sleep | Gqeberha | |
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| 2 | Tues 3rd | Day in Gqeberha | |
| 0km (750km) | VW Factory / Track Meet / Museum | ||
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| 3 | Wed 4th | DEPART | Gqeberha |
| Lunch + Fuel | Middelburg | ||
| Depart | Middelburg | ||
| ARRIVE + Fuel | Bloemfontein | ||
| 675km (1,425km) | Dinner + Sleep | Bloemfontein | |
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| 4 | Thurs 5th | DEPART | Bloemfontein |
| Lunch + Fuel | Harrismith | ||
| Meet | Durban Cruise | ||
| Depart | Harrismith | ||
| Fuel (North Joburg/Midrand/Rietfontein) | TBC | ||
| 760km (2,185km) | ARRIVE | CampFest | |
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| (5) | Fri 6h | CampFest + Town | Bela-Bela |
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| (6) | Sat 7th | CampFest | Bela-Bela |
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| (7) | Sun 8th | CampFest | Bela-Bela |
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| (8) | Mon 9th | Safari Tour | |
| //// | //// | //// | //// |
| (9) | Tues 10th | Johannesburg / (Fly Home or stay) | Johannesburg |
