weather in south africa

does anyone know the best time to go to south africa. im looking for hot sun and thinking of october.. any info please

We went for a fortnight in September 3 years ago. Weather wonderful. Hired a car in Cape Town (nice city, especially the Waterfront, Table Mountain, Robbin Island etc. but watch out for pickpockets everywhere). Booked an apartment just outside the city centre on the Internet, worked out fine. Hired a car, drove part-way along the Garden Route - fantastic scenery, magnificent beaches (I've a great pic of hubby swimming at one of the beaches - the only pinky among a mass of black skin - lovely) - and for the second week booked another apartment North of Cape Town (Blauberg Beach). Again, no problems with internet booking, got great 2-bed apartment beachfront and drove around the area there - weather was brilliant all the time. Only drawback for me for the whole trip was the advice given to us by locals, car rental company, apartment owners etc. to avoid the streets in any main city after 6 pm and even when driving, not to stop at red lights, just keep going!!!

The only other bit of advice is if the car in front of you stops at the lights, leave enough room between the cars so that you can drive round it if the other driver or passenger gets out with a gun in his or her hand.

If you want hot weather in SA then go in the mid summer Dec/Jan. It's very hot then. October could be hot but maybe not either.

BillK said:

The only other bit of advice is if the car in front of you stops at the lights, leave enough room between the cars so that you can drive round it if the other driver or passenger gets out with a gun in his or her hand.

Click to expand...

wow... pretty scary stuff. thanks for the advice... dont think i wanna rent a car now. :0

I was there last September and it was miserable. Even in January the wind was quite cool in the evenings. Definately late October to early Febuary is the best time to go if you want nice weather.

Yes, you have to be careful about where you go at night and driving.

It depends on where in SA you want to go. It's a big country, and the climate varies quite significantly in different regions. You say you want hot - how hot do you like it? Is 40 pushing it a bit far, because large parts of the country will regularly be over that in December/January. September/October will hit 30+ depending on where you are.

oooh seagull 30+ is great for me.. thanks so much for all your replys

We got married in SA and rented a car for a week and a half. I would not drive in dodgy areas at night but I could not see a problem in major cities on main routes. We rented a satnav and found it very usefull. (Cheaper to rent than to buy SA maps). Stories such as above are generally from the outskirts of Jo'burg according to my sister who has lived there for 20 years. There are a lot of traffic cops there so stay within speed limits as they are generally looking for bribes when your pulled over.
As hot as it can get in SA the sea can be quiet cold also.