Looking for a two week Namibia itinerary? Then look no further! Here’s part one of our two week road trip in Namibia. Part two covers Swakopmund and Damaraland and stay tuned for part 3 for our two week Namibia itinerary!
Namibia is a huge country. Distances are long and unless you have 4-6 weeks you won’t see it all. So, there will be compromise. If you are exploring Namibia with kids, you will also need to slow down. They don’t want to be in the car every day for 3-6 hours! And if camping in Namibia then factor in the time it takes to erect and dismantle the roof tents and be packing and unpacking the car! Our full guide to driving in Namibia is available here.
Where to stay during your two week Namibia itinerary.
We spent a long time planning our two week Namibia itinerary and there is genuinely nothing we would change about it – other than to have had more time to explore even more of the country. So here’s the step by step route we took and highlights of our activities each day. You can find out more about each accommodation we booked here, so for this blog we will just reference it!
Day 1 in Namibia: Settling in
We landed at 1300 after 17 hours of flights and transit from the UK. After clearing immigration and customs, and sorted out our phone and data, it was 1530 in Namibia. We were met at the airport by a driver for our rental truck and then made the 40-minute drive to Windhoek.
We’ve got a whole page on truck rental and driving in Namibia, so we’ll skip over those details here, but factor into your planning that you’ll need an hour to go over the truck demo and be comfortable before driving away!
For this reason we opted to stay in Windhoek that evening. We arrived at Arebbusch Travel Lodge for our one night around 1730, bonus being it was only a 5-minute drive from Travel Namibia 4×4 truck rental.
After dinner and a play on the park for the kids, it was an early night after our long journey so we were ready to start our road trip adventure in the morning.
Day 2: Driving to Sesriem
After waking up and a leisurely breakfast, we headed to the nearest Super SPAR, just 10 minutes drive away to stock up on groceries and snacks for the coming days. This meant we didn’t really get on the road until nearly 12 and expected the drive to be 5 hours (Google said 4!).
We kept stopping along the way as we encountered ostriches and a tortoise on the road, spotted our first springbok, and the Tropic of Capricorn sign. The views from the Spreetshoogte Pass demanded a lunch stop (make sure you do go this way to Sesriem). This was around 2.5 hours into our drive!
There is a picnic site at the top of Spreetshoogte but as we arrived the heavens opened so it was sandwiches in the car!
We arrived into Sesriem and Sossus Oasis campsite around 1730, just in time for dinner, sunset and a swim in the pool – and it was our first night setting up the tents too so we were adamant we had to be here before dark!
Day 3: Sossusvlei and Deadvlei with kids
Most people aim to be at Sossuvlei for sunrise, but we didn’t push it! We were also staying outside the main gate so the earliest we could enter the park was 7am (if staying inside you can leave at 6am). We wanted to have breakfast and then had to pack up the tents and so ended up leaving at 9.30/10am.
We drove through the main park gate leaving our details and then you have to pay your park entrance fee – £40 for us all, with the kids half price of an adult. You have to show your payment receipt to leave the park.
It’s an hour drive from Sossus Oasis campsite to Sossuvlei, a strict 60km speed limit along a tarmac road. Along the drive we spotted warthogs, springbok and oryx. There is a river you have to drive through which was stream-like for us, but a few days later had turned into a raging river flood and people couldn’t pass.
You’ll also pass Dune 45 which can be climbed, before arriving at the parking lot. The Namibian Government has just this week (April 2026) announced that you can no longer self-drive in your 4×4 to Deadvlei. We chose not to anyway as we hadn’t driven in deep sand before, so we took the shuttle that everyone will have to take in the future.
The shuttle took 5-10 minutes and cost £25 for a family of 4 – the kids being half price of the adults. It was great fun, with the driver being a bit speedy in the sand!
On arrival, we then did the 25-minute (sand) walk to Deadvlei – by this time it was hot, 35+ degrees! And there was no way we were going to be climbing any of the dunes. Big Daddy takes 2 hours to climb and perhaps not something to do with smaller kids. I’m not sure I would have even done it without the kids – although I’m sure the views are amazing. The views of it from the bottom are impressive though.
Take lots of water, have factor 50 spf and maybe some snacks. There is no shade in Deadvlei itself.
Deadvlei is a valley that is the old river bed and contains the remains of 9000 year old petrified trees – or in Alicia’s words, ‘dead trees’. With the heat and lack of shade she was not impressed! But Stef and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The scenery and idea that these trees are 9000 years old is incredible.
Going later in the day does mean that the dunes aren’t the red colour you see on many ‘Instagram’ accounts, but I don’t feel we really missed out by not getting there for sunrise. If you want to climb the dunes, then of course the earlier the better!
We spent around 20 minutes there and then started the walk back so max time needed for just Deadvlei is 90 minutes. The shuttle then took us back to the car park where fresh water was very much welcomed! There are toilets (long drops) at the entrance to Deadvlei, and more normal toilets at the parking lot.
It was then the 60km drive back to the park entrance and here we messed up – although we didn’t know until the next day!
Top Tip: If you want to visit Sesriem canyon do this before leaving the park. We had planned to do it the next morning but then found out it was actually in the park and you’d have to pay the £40 again – we chose to skip it!
On arrival back at our campsite it was pool time, dinner, firepit and marshmellows – and watching an amazing storm in the distance.
Day 4: Sesriem towards Swakopmund via Solitaire
By the time we had enjoyed breakfast and fully packed up the tents, camping gear and truck, we set off around 10am with Solitaire in sight.
Solitaire is well worth visiting either on your way to or from Sesriem / Sossusvlei. It’s a small town with a church and shop, but more importantly when visiting Namibia with kids, it’s got an incredible bakery and a random host of rusty vintage cars! Nyle very much enjoyed exploring these and their inner workings!
The bakery claims to have the worlds best apple pie – either with cream or ice-cream. Alicia and Stef certainly had no complaints and at £2.50 a portion it was steal for such a tourist spot. They also did coffees, cold drinks, pizzas, sausage rolls, donuts and a host of cakes and biscuits.
We then drove another hour to Bushman’s Desert Camp which was our intended stop for a night to split up the drive to Swakopmund. Ordinarily this would have been a great place to camp. It was £25 per night for us all, but on arrival it was nearly 35degrees and Stef and Alicia weren’t feeling great.
The pool was more like a tortoise pond (they also had tortoises) and the owner confessed that most animals of his evening drive weren’t there as they had moved south for the rains! So all things considered we decided to hop back in the car and make Swakopmund out destination for cooler temps.
The drive from here to Swakopmund is one of the most amazing we have ever done. It is one of the best drives in Namibia. You pass another Tropic of Capricorn sign, and then weave through the Kuiseb Canyon and Guisab Pass. This stretch took 3.5 hours and it goes from arid desert, to green grasslands, to moon-like rock surfaces, and then back to sandy plains – it constantly changes! The road is a hard drive and the last 100km is a completely straight corrugated road to Walvis Bay before joining a new tarmac stretch to Swakopmund.
We arrived into Swakopmund just before 6 and pinched the last pitch on Tiger Reef site. It was Easter weekend so we were lucky. There was a communal shower and toilet block, a restaurant and bar on site and electric and a table, chairs and sink on the pitch. It served it purpose for a night! But in Swakopmund I would recommend booking an apartment and a bit more comfort and space than camping.
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