This Garden Route town is a hot holiday spot and one of the ports of South Africa. It is set on the sun-washed slopes of Cape St Blaize, overlooking the expansive bay, and against the blue-black backdrop of the Outeniqua Mountains. Accommodation in Mossel Bay ranges from upmarket hotels to comfortable B&B’s, holiday apartments and luxury homes with fabulous views.

Mossel Bay lies halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, close to the towns of Swellendam, Outdshoorn, Plettenberg Bay and Knysna on the Garden Route and is synonymous with the Mossgas project, where offshore gas fields are mined for gas that is then converted into petroleum. Despite this obvious industrial leaning, Mossel Bay has a tradition of unhurried hospitality and there is sufficient natural beauty in the town and its surrounds to make a stopover essential. Mossel Bay features in the Guiness Book of Records as having the mildest all-year climate in the world, second only to Hawaii. Add to this the long stretch of beaches, the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, a championship golf course or two and Mossel Bay becomes an ideal retreat for both summer and winter.