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Author: BazBus Editorial Team
Quick Summary: Coffee Bay is the most accessible village on the rural Wild Coast and the base for one of South Africa’s great coastal walks — the cliff-top route to the Hole in the Wall, a sea-carved rock arch the Xhosa call esiKhaleni. It is 75km of tarred but heavily potholed road off the N2, roughly two and a half hours from Mthatha. BazBus served the Mthatha connection for years and knows this route well. It is not on our 2026 schedule, and this guide is upfront about that before covering the hikes, the hostels and the practicalities.
Coffee Bay is not on the active BazBus network in 2026, and neither is Mthatha.
Our scheduled hop-on hop-off service runs one corridor — Cape Town to Port Elizabeth along the Garden Route, in both directions, with 14 stops and daily departures between October and February. We also run day trips from either end city and standalone Kruger safari packages. The Wild Coast, Durban, the Drakensberg and Johannesburg are not part of the regular schedule.
Historically this was different, and it is the reason so much of the Coffee Bay travel writing online mentions us. Our old network stopped at Mthatha, inland, and hostels in Coffee Bay ran daily shuttles to meet the bus. Those hostel shuttles still operate; the bus they used to meet does not come any more.
What we do offer is the southern half of the journey. A Cape Town to Port Elizabeth pass has no time limit and delivers you to Gqeberha, from which the Wild Coast is an onward leg you arrange independently. If Coffee Bay returns to our schedule, this page will say so.
Coffee Bay sits where the Nenga River meets the Indian Ocean in the former Transkei, in a landscape of rolling green hills scattered with painted rondavels. It is roughly two and a half hours from Mthatha and around eight hours from Durban by road.
The access route deserves its own paragraph because it shapes every itinerary. From the N2 you take the Coffee Bay turn-off and follow a 75km stretch of tarred road down to the coast. Tarred, but potholed to a degree that surprises people, and shared with cattle, goats and children walking to school. Nobody drives it fast. A local rule of thumb: whatever your map application predicts, add an hour, and never plan to arrive after dark.
There is a fuel station roughly 15km from the turn-off and another at Ngcwanguba about 55km along, which is also where the only proper grocery shop in the area is, some 20km short of Coffee Bay. If you are self-driving, those two stations are your fuel plan — not a suggestion.
This is why most people come, and the version in most listicles undersells it badly.
The Hole in the Wall is a detached cliff of dolerite-capped sandstone with a sea-carved opening straight through it, formed over millions of years by swell pounding a weakness in the rock. The Xhosa name, esiKhaleni, translates roughly as “the place of noise” — on a big southerly swell, water forcing through the gap is audible before you see it. That detail alone is worth timing your visit around a swell forecast.
The walk itself. From Coffee Bay it is around 9km one way along clifftop and grassy footpaths, taking about three hours at a sensible pace, and it includes a river mouth crossing usually made by rowboat or canoe ferried by a local. Hiking there and back is roughly 18km; most people walk one way and arrange a lift back, which is the sensible call.
Practical points our passengers consistently wished they had known:
You can also drive to the Hole in the Wall and walk short sections, which is a reasonable compromise on a tight schedule or in poor weather. It is a fine photograph either way. It is a considerably better day on foot.
Reducing Coffee Bay to one rock arch is the most common mistake visitors make. The area rewards three or four days.
North of the village, reached by a walk up through a hillside settlement, the Mapuzi area offers sea caves, natural rock pools and cliff jumping into deep water at the right tide. Go with someone who knows the jump spots and the water depth — this is a place where local knowledge is a safety measure, not a nicety.
About an hour away and a different proposition — a long right-hand point break that is genuinely world-class on its day, a beautiful lagoon for paddling and birding, and a quieter, more community-run atmosphere. Surfers who came for Coffee Bay often end up staying at Mdumbi instead.
The stretch of coast between Bulungula, Wild Lubanzi, Coffee Bay and Mdumbi supports one of South Africa’s best slackpacking routes. Daily distances are modest — often under 12km — with nights in rondavels or community lodges, luggage transfers available, and river mouths crossed by rowboat. The section from Wild Lubanzi to Coffee Bay is around 14km and takes four to five hours with a stop at the Hole in the Wall, and is the leg most hikers name as the highlight.
The longer Port St Johns to Coffee Bay traverse is a serious five-day undertaking through remote terrain and should be done with a guide.
Coffee Bay is not a resort with a village attached. It is a working rural community in a region with real poverty, and the quality of your visit depends almost entirely on how you approach that.
The things that work: book cultural visits through your accommodation, which routes money into the community rather than around it; go with a local guide; ask before photographing people or homesteads; buy seafood through your hostel rather than directly off the beach, so you are not landing something out of season; and greet people. A “molo” goes a long way.
Travellers repeatedly report feeling safer here than they expected, and the reputation the wider Transkei carries is mostly held by people who have never been. That said, the ordinary precautions apply: do not flash valuables, do not walk isolated stretches alone after dark, and use common sense you would use anywhere.
Coffee Bay’s backpacker scene is small, long-established and central to the village’s character.
Booking ahead matters more here than the village’s sleepy appearance suggests, because bed numbers are genuinely low and hiking groups fill them. December, Easter and the whole of the peak hiking season need advance arrangement.
Summer thunderstorms can make the access road significantly worse in a matter of hours, which is a real consideration if your onward flight is non-negotiable.
An honest side-by-side, because a lot of travellers are choosing between the two rather than doing both.
| Coffee Bay and the Wild Coast | Garden Route corridor | |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled hop-on hop-off service | Not currently | Yes, 14 stops, daily October to February |
| Getting between towns | Pre-booked hostel shuttles or self-drive | Door-to-door, hostel to hostel |
| Road conditions | 75km of potholed tar off the N2 | Tarred N2 throughout |
| Mobile signal and ATMs | Patchy; carry cash | Reliable |
| Crowds | Very low | Moderate to high |
| Cultural immersion | Deep, community-based | Present but lighter |
| Planning effort required | High | Low |
| Realistic minimum stay | 3 to 4 nights | 8 days for the full corridor |
Neither is a substitute for the other. The Wild Coast asks considerably more of you in planning and delivers something the Garden Route cannot; the Garden Route packs more variety into less logistical effort. Travellers with three weeks should think about doing both, in that order — Garden Route first while you find your feet in the country, Wild Coast second when you have.
There is no single scheduled service. The workable routes:
Whichever route you take, book the final leg before you arrive in Mthatha. Mthatha is a working regional city rather than a tourist town, and improvising transport there with luggage is the part of this journey that most often goes wrong.
“I travelled with bazbus for 3 months. Absolutely loved it! Great way to see the country, get from a to b, and meet other travellers. Busses are comfortable, drivers are safe and very nice, online-service is great and all the stops are worth it!” — Pascale B, New York
That describes travel on our current corridor. The Wild Coast portion is the section you assemble yourself in 2026, and we would rather draw that line clearly than blur it.
Does the BazBus still stop at Mthatha for Coffee Bay?
No. Our older coastal network ran from Cape Town up to Durban and inland to Johannesburg, with Mthatha as the inland stop where Coffee Bay hostels met passengers with a shuttle. That arrangement is why so many guides still describe reaching Coffee Bay “on the Baz Bus.” The 2026 network is the Cape Town to Port Elizabeth Garden Route corridor, plus day trips and standalone Kruger packages. The hostel shuttles from Mthatha do still run and remain the standard way in — you just need to arrive in Mthatha by other means, most commonly a flight or a long-distance coach.
Is the Hole in the Wall hike difficult?
Moderate rather than hard, but longer and more exposed than people expect. It is around 9km one way over roughly three hours, on undulating clifftop and grassland paths with several climbs and descents and a river mouth crossing usually made by small boat. There is no shade, no water and no shop en route, and the ground is uneven under long grass. Anyone reasonably fit will manage it comfortably with an early start, adequate water, sun protection and proper shoes. Walking one direction and arranging a lift back is the option most people are glad they chose. Take a local guide — the route is unmarked and braids through grazing land and homesteads.
Can I visit Coffee Bay without a car?
Yes, and a large share of visitors do. The standard approach is to reach Mthatha by air or long-distance coach and then take a pre-booked hostel shuttle for the final two and a half hours. Once in Coffee Bay you do not need a vehicle at all: the village is walkable, the hikes start on foot, and hostels arrange guides, transfers to the Hole in the Wall and trips to Mapuzi or Mdumbi. What you must do is book that final shuttle in advance rather than assuming you can sort it on arrival, because departures are limited and Mthatha is not a place to be stuck with a rucksack at dusk.
How many nights do I need?
Three to four is the honest answer for a place this hard to reach. One full day for the Hole in the Wall, one for Mapuzi caves or a day trip to Mdumbi, and at least one for doing very little, which is arguably the point of the Wild Coast. Two nights is possible but means a long travel day either side of a single big hike, and you will feel short-changed. If you are considering the multi-day slackpacking route between Bulungula, Wild Lubanzi, Coffee Bay and Mdumbi, budget five to seven nights and treat Coffee Bay as one stop along it rather than your base.
Is it safe, and do I need cash?
Travellers consistently report feeling safe here, often more so than they anticipated, and the region’s reputation is largely held by people who have not visited. The sensible precautions are the ordinary ones: keep valuables out of sight, avoid isolated walks alone after dark, and go with a guide on the longer hikes. On money, yes — bring cash. Card acceptance is limited, mobile signal is patchy, ATMs are effectively absent in the village, and you will want small notes for guides, the river ferry and local purchases. Draw what you need in Mthatha or before, and budget fuel carefully if driving, since there are only two filling stations along the access road.
Coffee Bay is not on our current network, so this guide draws on our historical experience of the Mthatha connection, published tourism sources and current operator information rather than live route knowledge — confirm shuttle schedules, guide arrangements and road conditions directly with your accommodation shortly before travelling, since all three change quickly and hostels hold the most accurate picture. Hiking distances and times vary with tide, weather and river levels and should be treated as estimates rather than fixed figures; if the Garden Route corridor forms part of your trip, check current timetables and pricing on our pass pages before booking connecting flights.
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