Knysna

A Garden Route town on the Western Cape coast built around a lagoon protected from the Indian Ocean by dramatic sandstone cliffs known as the Heads, Knysna has a walkable centre dense with cafés, restaurants, and seafood — oysters especially. The lagoon is best explored by catamaran, while the surrounding indigenous forests and Outeniqua Mountains offer hiking, abseiling, and canopy gliding. The town's Khoi-derived name is thought to mean "place of wood," a nod to the forests that still define the landscape.

• Population68,659
• Nearest water from center0.4 km
• Nearest mountain from center9.4 km