Rhodes

The tucked-away village of Rhodes is the perfect weekend hideaway and a travel base for adventurers taking on the many mountain passes in the area. Winters are all about deep snow, and summers mean a riot of mountain colours.

This charming hamlet was proclaimed as a National Monument in 1997 and is surrounded by hundreds of kilometres of high altitude mountain streams and rivers. Rhodes, with its turn of the last century architecture and shady, tree-lined streets has retained its Victorian charm that is an attraction in itself. The village is more than 1800m above sea level and the highest nearby peak, Ben McDhui, soars to 3001m above sea level. Barkly East is 60km away on a narrow and winding gravel road that must be driven with care. Rhodes is central to 8 popular mountain passes. The nearby Naudesnek Pass, the highest in South Africa and many other mountain passes in the area allow one to "Stitch the Dragon's Tail", an exhilarating experience of note! There are fantastic 4x4 trails in the area and Rhodes is a good starting and end point for a number of these 4x4 routes in the area.

Three significant sporting events happen annually, namely the the Rhodes Trail Run, the Rhodes Mountain Bike Challenge and the Wild Trout Festival. The Tiffindell Ski Resort, where winter skiing events take place, is only 23.8km away from town. Other attractions in the area include spectacular walks between the alpine flowers in summer, mountain-biking, birding, fly-fishing, rock art visits or simply "chilling" and going nowhere slowly…

How to get there

Follow the R56 from Middelburg through to Elliot then take the R393 to De Wet St. in Rhodes, (Odometer 408km).
Or follow R56 through to Steynsburg then take the R58 up to Aliwal North and through to Rhodes, (Odometer 388km).
Follow the R56 and R396 from Pietermaritzburg through to Maclear and then up to Rhodes, (Odometer 491km).

Getting Around

Self-drive would be best.
Please note there are no petrol/diesel stations in Rhodes. Make sure you fill up beforehand.

Where to Stay

For such a small village, travellers have a wide variety of accommodation establishments to choose from. Try out Tenahead Guest House and Tenahead Mountain Lodge, Walkerbouts Country Inn and Tiffindell Ski Resort.