There are so many amazing and fascinating things to see and do in Namibia, and it’s such a large country, that it’s easy to get lost when trying to put together a self-drive road trip itinerary. Because of its size, many will recommend focusing either on the southern or the northern half of Namibia for a two-week. We argue (and will try to convince you) that you can definitely and easily do both. Obviously, this will require spending a bit more time on the road, but the drives here are just amazing with stunning landscapes. Below we present our two-week Namibia self-drive road trip itinerary that combines the best of both the southern and northern parts of the country.
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Our two-week Namibia self-drive itinerary starts and ends in the Capital Windhoek but with only one night spent in (or near) the city. The rest of the time will be spent exploring deserts, wilderness, national parks, and the coastal towns of Luderitz and Swakopmund.
This itinerary is built with travelling during the dry season in mind (May-October), and particularly during the late dry season (September-October) when your odds of seeing loads of wildlife significantly increase.
All the attractions listed below can be visited with a standard 2WD vehicle (with the exception of Sossusvlei and Deadvlei, but there are shuttles available from the main 2wd vehicle parking lot).
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Two-week Namibia self-drive itinerary
Lodging locations // Attractions visited
Grunau (2 nights) // Fish River Canyon, Canyon Roadhouse
Luderitz (2 nights) // Kolmanskop, Ludertiz
Sesriem (2 nights)* // Deadvlei, Sossuvlei, Dune 45, Solitaire
Swakopmund (3 nights) // Pelican Point, Sandwich Harbor
Etosha NP (Okaukuejo) (4 nights)+ // Self-drive Safari
Windhoek (1 night) // Dining with Giraffes @ Windhoek Game Camp
*Although our intent was originally to spend two nights in Sesriem, we had difficulty reserving consecutive nights at the Sesriem campground. We ended up spending one in Sesriem and one night in Solitaire, and were quite happy with the split as our accommodation in Solitaire was fantastic and it split the long Sesriem – Swakopmund drive into two more manageable portions.
+Although our intent was originally to spend four nights inside Etosha National Park, we had difficulty reserving four consecutive nights. In the end, we ended up spending 3 nights in Etosha and one in Outjo, south of the par. Although initially disappointed we couldn’t get that fourth night in Etosha, we ended up spending a fantastic afternoon at our Outjo accommodation by the pool and had one of the best meals of the trip there (more on that below). It was also a great place to stretch our legs and do a little bit of hiking, which is something you definitely cannot do in Etosha with all the potentially dangerous wildlife around.
Day 1:
Windhoek International Airport –> Grunau
If there was a “rough” day during our two-week Namibia self-drive itinerary, this was it. The drive itself was straightforward and easy, but it was fairly long, especially after a red-eye flight the previous night before, which made for an exhausting day. The landscape was scenic, but not as scenic as elsewhere and it became somewhat repetitive after a while.
With more than 14 days, we would have definitely broken this drive over two days and spent the night somewhere along the way, likely somewhere around Mariental. But we wanted to maximize what time we had in the areas we truly wanted to visit.
Suggested lodging: Savanna Guest Farm – Situated on a working sheep farm surrounded by breathtaking landscapes, hearty breakfasts and delicious candle-lit dinners are all available from the local farm kitchen. It’s the perfect base from which to explore the Fish River Canyon.
Day 2:
Grunau –>Fish River Canyon –> Canyon Roadhouse –> Grunau
Nowhere else in Africa will you find anything quite like Fish River Canyon. It measures 160km in length, and up to 27km in width, and the dramatic inner canyon reaches a depth of 550m — many claim it to be the second-largest Canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon.
If you go to the Fish River Canyon in the morning, then we highly recommend stopping by the Canyon Roadhouse and its unique decor of old automobiles (both outside and in the restaurant itself) for a great lunch stop on the way back from the canyon.
In the afternoon, you can either just relax at the Guestfarm or do some local exploring – unguided hiking and driving trails are available, and many game species including, Springbuck, Kudu, Oryx roam freely on the farm.
Day 3:
Grunau –> Luderitz
A straightforward drive on well-maintained highways. Google Maps will suggest a different route, via road C12. However, that road is not paved and very bumpy, and the odds are that it will actually take you longer that way.
The scenery was generally more pleasant and more varied than on the long first day. Driving along the Koichab Pan between Aus and Luderitz was particularly lovely as the sun was starting to set.
When you are about 1hr out of Luderitz, just after you passed the town of Aus, you will come across two sites that may be worthy of a stop (depending on your interests: the Garub wild horses view spot and the abandoned Garub train station. The wild horses weren’t around when we passed by, but the abandoned train station was interesting.
Suggested lodging: Sadly the Airbnb we stayed at has permanently closed, so we don’t have a specific place to recommend, but there are several good options on booking.com
Suggested dining: Barrels Pub & Restaurant Great pub atmosphere and unexpectedly serves delicious pizzas. Popular with both locals and tourists alike.
Day 4:
Luderitz –> Kolmanskop –> Luderitz
Spend the morning exploring the fascinating abandoned mining town of Kolmanskop, then have lunch with a turtle, and explore the town of Luderitz.
You have certainly seen images from here before – it’s hard to forget these powerful images of old abandoned buildings half-filled with sand. Kolmanskop is now a ghost town but was once a thriving diamond mining town in the early 1910s. The discovery in 1928 of the richest diamond-bearing deposits ever known, 270 km south of Kolmanskop, led to the town’s decline, being completely abandoned in 1956.
Being able to freely explore the sand-filled buildings was quite the thrill and experience. You best arrive there early, immediately after opening, if you don’t want to share the place with too many other tourists.
For information on how to plan your visit to Kolmanskop, check out:
- Kolmanskop Travel Guide (coming soon)
Once you are finished exploring Kolmanskop, you can head back to Luderitz for lunch.
Suggested lunch: Garden Café. Beautiful outdoor seating and a resident turtle strolling the grounds.
There perhaps isn’t that much to see and do in Luderitz, but it is nonetheless a pleasant town to stroll through. German colonial buildings can be found throughout the city and climbing the hill up to the Felsenkirche, a hilltop church, will reward you with panoramic views of the bay and city below. There’s also a short boardwalk along the waterfront.
Finally, if you drive just southwest of the city around Luderitz Bay, you will no doubt cross some beautiful flamingos.
Suggested dining: The Portuguese Fisherman Seafood and Fish
Day 5:
Luderitz –> Sesriem
If you are puzzled by the discrepancy between the distance and time travelled, this is because this route takes you to some of the famed Namibia gravel roads that significantly vary in quality. Google Maps estimates this to be a 6hr drive, but it systematically overestimates the quality of the roads.
The first 120 km of this drive is on a smooth-going paved highway (B4). The rest was on gravel roads (C13 and C27) that went from bad (heavy corrugation with potholes) to good, to just ok, and then back to bad on several occasions, resulting in top speeds oscillating between 30 kph and 80 kph. We suggest starting this drive bright and early to arrive in Sesriem towards the end of the afternoon. No day of this two-week Namibia self-drive itinerary will be more emblematic of a true road trip!
Note that you’ll cross very few gas stations along this route, so plan accordingly. While there are several stations in Luderitz and one in Sesriem, you will only cross three others along the way.
Another reason to start the day early is that you will probably want to stop for a few photo ops. The scenery in several areas is simply stunning.
Then, as you cross the Namib-Rand Nature Reserve, you are more than likely to cross wildlife.
After you arrived and settled into your accommodation, and depending on when you want to have dinner, one great activity to do is to climb up Elim Dune to watch the sunset. The views are simply glorious.
Note: If you are staying outside the park, you cannot be inside the park limits after dark. So watching the sunset at Elim Dune is possible only if you are staying inside the park limits. If you are staying within the park limits, you have to be back at your accommodation roughly 1hr after sunset (the park’s inner gates close one hour after sunset, while the park’s outer gates close at sunset).
Finally, what better place to admire the night sky than in the middle of the desert?
Day 6:
Exploring Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, Big Daddy Dune, Dune 45, and Sesriem Canyon.
We highly recommend staying inside the park if possible, as this will grant you access to the park 1 hour before everyone else – however, your options are limited to pricey lodges and camping.
Once the inner gates open, most people rush toward Dune 45. We didn’t and recommend that you head straight for Bid Daddy Dune and Deadvlei. We were the first to climb Big Daddy on the day of our visit and how it to ourselves for quite some time.
If you have a 2wd vehicle, you can drive most of the way yourself to Deadvlei/Big Daddy, all the way to the Sossusvlei parking lot (red parking sign in the map above), which will take you about 45 min. From the parking lot, you can take the 5 min shuttle ride to the Deadvlei parking lot. From there, you can choose to head to Deadvlei, climb Big Daddy, or head towards Big Momma to the north.
We recommend starting to climb Big Daddy as you’ll probably be first, and you’ll be in close proximity to the Deadvlei pan when the sun starts to it (which is when you want to be there to photograph it). The downside is that you might not have the time fully climb Big Daddy, but it certainly didn’t bother us as rushing down the side of the dune to get to the Deadvlei pan was quite the rush and lots of fun!
Early morning with the sun hitting just one side of Big Daddy.
The Deadvlei just as the sun started hitting it.
Climbing halfway up Big Daddy and photo-shooting Deavlei will easily take up two hours of your time. If you have nothing else planned during the day, you can stick around longer, but if you want to pack in more sights, best to move on to the next one before it gets too hot out.
From the Deavlei parking lot, you can get awesome views and shots of Sossusvlei Pan and Big Momma Dune.
After taking in the view, we recommend you make your way to Dune 45 to ascend it for some majestic desert views before it gets the heat picks up and it becomes an unbearable climb.
Once you are completely exhausted and have had time to enjoy the views, it’s probably time for lunch and some shade. The restaurant & bar at the Sesriem campsite provides good if simple dishes at a reasonable fare.
Are you still looking for something else to do after lunch? Check out Sesriem Canyon. It’s not the most impression canyon, but at least you can find some shade.
For information on how to plan your visit to Sossusvlei, check out:
- Sossusvlei and Deadvlei Travel Guide (Coming Soon)
If you would like to do as we did and spend the night at Solitaire Desert Farm, plan for about two hours to get there from Sesriem. Although it’s only 90km away, the road is rough going in patches.
Both the food and the views (from our room porch) were amazing there.
Day 7:
Cheetah Sanctuary (Solitaire) –> Swakopmund
We had organized a 9 am visit to a nearby Cheetah Rescue Sanctuary through the Solitaire Desert Farm. This activity was lots of fun. Although the cheetahs were pretty lazy and sleepy, we got to get really close to them (from the safety of our guide’s safari jeep).
After visiting the Cheetahs, we visited the small settlement of Solitaire, which is essentially just composed of a gas station, small restaurant, bakery, and decorative car wrecks.
After we filled up with gas, we hit the road toward Swakopmund.
- 262 km, approximately 4.5 hrs. Road C14.
- Also note that once you leave Solitaire, you will not cross another petrol station for another 200 km or so, until you reach Walvis Bay.
This first section (roughly the first hour) is pretty rough going at times. This is where Google Maps several underestimates the drive time – overall it should take you roughly one extra hour than the Google estimate to make it to Swakopmund. Once you have crossed the Kuiseb Pass, the road flattens out and the ride gets much smoother, allowing for driving at speeds near the limit (100 kph).
Your first photo stop on this drive will probably be for the Tropic of Capricorn sign.
Just before reaching Walvis Bay, after driving in the middle of nowhere for roughly three hours, you will come across Dune 7, Namibia’s tallest sand dune, standing at 383 meters tall.
Day 8:
Exploring Swakopmund
After several days of activity-packed days, this is the perfect place to take it easy and explore Swakopmund, Namibia’s most picturesque town. Like Lüderitz on the south coast, the town is rich in German colonial architecture. It also has a lovely seaside promenade and beach (though the ocean here is generally very cold).
If you are more inclined to keep the activities coming, there are lots to do here, as for many the town is Namibia’s adventure capital with a long list of desert-based and water-based activities given its prime location between the Atlantic and the Namib Desert. Activities range from quad-biking on sand dunes, to coastal wildlife excursions, to sky diving, just to name a few.
Suggested dining: Our two favourite restaurants of the entire trip are located in Swakopmund, both along the beachfront.
The Jetty 1905. In fact, this restaurant just not just on the beachfront, but at the very end of the jetty. The views are incredible and the food is delicious.
The tug. Delicious seafood with more great ocean views. Just a few feet south of the Jetty 1905.
Day 9:
Pelican Point and Sandwich Harbour (Walvis Bay)
Of all the activities you can do in the Swakopmund & Walvis Bay area, these are the ones we chose to do as a guided excursion combo (which you can also do as separate activities; both of which begin in Walvis Bay):
1) Morning Guided tour of Pelican Point and kayaking with the seals
On your way to Pelican Point, you will likely cross countless flocks of pelicans and flamingos, in addition to a great variety of other birds along the Walvis Bay lagoon. Pelican Point is home to up to 50,000 Cape fur seals year-round. They are very friendly and playful and not scared of the kayaks.
2) Afternoon 4×4 Guided expedition to Sandwich Harbour
During this activity, you’ll explore where the giant sand dune of the Namib desert meets the Atlantic Ocean. This was such a fun activity being driven by experts along the coast and over multiple sand dunes in 4×4 vehicles. The trip includes snacks and drinks atop a sand dune.
Day 10:
Swakopmund –> Etosha National Park
Pretty smooth driving the entire way on paved highways, even if not the most stunning roadside landscapes of your two-week Namibia self-drive itinerary. The distance and drive time above assume you are entering via the Anderson Gate, the southern entrance to the park.
Suggested detour: If you have a few hours to spare on this drive, check the crazy landscapes of Spitzkoppe. If you can add an extra night here, you can get amazing sunrise and sunset shots.
Days 11 – 12:
Etosha National Park
One of the reasons Etosha is so great for wildlife viewing is because of the barren landscape that forms during the dry season, which leads to masses of animals congregating around the numerous waterholes around the park (over 40 of them), creating some of the most spectacular wildlife viewing opportunities in the world.
Etosha is a safari lover’s paradise. In part because of the abundance of wildlife and easy viewing, particularly towards the end of the dry season, but also because of the simplicity and fun of exploring the park in your own vehicle. It’s without a doubt one of our all-time favourite travel experiences. It is home to over 100 species of mammals and over 300 species of birds, and it has a salt pan that can be seen from space.
If you choose to stay at any of the park’s camps, you can just sit back and relax by the camp’s adjacent waterhole and watch the animal kingdom show.
For more detailed information on how to explore Etosha National Park, check out our Etosha National Park Self-Drive Safari Travel Guide page.
Day 13:
Etosha National Park –> Outjo
Relatively uneventful and short drive for a change. After a final morning exploring Etosha, we spend the afternoon at Sasa Safari Camp just relaxing by the pool with a view.
Surrounded by lush vegetation the Sâsa Safari Camp offers rustic bungalows built with local stone. A freshly prepared breakfast is served every day at the camp. Dinner and lunch are prepared upon request and served buffet style with delicious local specialties. Common barbecue facilities and a shared kitchen are also available.
The next morning, before we hit the road, we took a short hike up a 3km (one-way) hiking trail on the property that takes you up a rocky hillside with splendid panoramic views.
Day 14:
Outjo –> Windhoek Game Camp
Another pretty straightforward drive on a paved road. Once we arrived at Windhoek Game Camp, we just relaxed in our luxury self-catering tent lodge and explored the grounds. This game farm, located just 20 min outside Windhoek, has free-roaming antelopes and giraffes. One evening they were eating leaves right next to our outdoor deck while we ourselves were having dinner.
And the sunset here was just gorgeous.
Day 15:
Windhoek Game Camp –> Airport
Au revoir Namibia.
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Well, that wraps it up! We hope you enjoyed our Two-week Namibia self-drive road trip itinerary and that it will prove useful for planning your trip to Namibia!
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