The West Coast flowers have arrived early in Cape Town and the whole West Coast is in bloom.
When is the best time to go and watch flowers?
Traditionally, September (spring in Cape Town) is the best time to go and view the flowers on the West Coast, but with solid winter rains, they sometimes appear earlier (as is the case in 2018).
What are the locals saying?
If you want to find out when the best time is to go and watch flowers on the West Coast, you need to look at what the locals are saying first.
Our friends at the West Coast National Park publish images and guides regularly that show the conditions of the flowers in the park. Towns close by, like Darling & Paternoster also have incredibly scenic flower drives, so it’s good to check up on conditions a few days before you’re thinking of going. A quick check on Instagram using the hashtag #WestCoastFlowers will immediately give you an idea of conditions too.
Best weather for West Coast Flowers
First of all, flowers require sufficient sunshine to open up, so you want to go on days that are sunny between 10am – 2pm. There are beautiful picnic spots in the Postberg Nature Reserve (this park is within the West Coast National Park), so do pack a basket and go and enjoy a picnic on one of the beautiful spots overlooking the ocean or Langebaan Lagoon.
The North-East wind is known to reduce flowers as it’s a hot berg wind that flows offshore and dries things out quickly. If it’s been blowing a few days, you’d want to make sure that the flowers are still in bloom.
Best locations to experience West Coast Flower season
West Coast National Park
The West Coast National park is one of the favourite locations for viewing flowers and wildlife (birds and other large animals) and is located about 1.5 hours drive from central Cape Town.
Here’s our gallery of a recent visit to view flowers at Postberg within West Coast National Park:
Darling
Darling is a lovely little town that’s about an hour’s drive from Cape Town. It’s just off the West Coast Road (R27) and nestled in a valley that’s rich with culture, food and of course, flowers. If you’re heading that way, be sure to visit Darling Brew too for the best craft beer in the area!
Darling also hosts an annual wildflower show that’s an extremely popular for tourists and locals alike as they have beautiful flower displays and you get to learn more about all the different types of flora of the West Coast.
Namaqualand
If you head further north along the N7 highway past the Cederberg you enter the Namaqualand that stretches all the way to Namibia. There are many flower routes along the way to explore and this would be more suited to guide tours with a few overnight stays.
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