Intercape Bus Routes

With 294 departure locations, Intercape is the largest intercity bus operator in South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia. Select a departure location from the dropdown list to view all Intercape bus routes from that location, then select a route and date and you'll see the various ticket prices and schedules.

All Departure Locations

Click the map below of Intercape routes to see a larger version of it:

Intercape's major routes

All Intercape bus trips are composed of one or more parts of the following major routes (the short code Intercape uses for the route is in brackets):

Bloemfontein to Cape Town via Alice (BEL-ALICE-CA)
Bloemontein to Cape Town via Fort Beaufort (BLM-FORTB-CA)
Bloemfontein to Malelane via Johannesburg (BLM-JHB-MALE)
Bloemfontein to Pretoria va Kimberley (BLM-KIM-PTA)
Bloemfontein to Pretoria va Welkom (BLM-WLK-PTA)
Cape Town to Bloemfontein via Fort Beaufort (CA-FORTB-BLM)
Cape Town to Durban via Bloemfontein (CA-BLM-DBN)
Cape Town to Durban via Port Elizabeth (CA-PE-DBN or DCA-PE-DBN)
- On these very long routes Intercape uses 4 drivers; 2 from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, and a second two from PE to Durban.
Cape Town to Durban via Kimberley and Bloemfontein (CA-KIM-BLM-DBN)
Cape Town to Matatiele via Kokstad (CA-KOK-MAT)
Cape Town to Port Elizabeth (CA-CBS-PE)
Cape Town to Pretoria via Bloemfontein (CA-BLM-PTA)
Cape Town to Pretoria via Kimberley (CA-KIM-PTA)
Cape Town to Windhoek (CA-WHK)
Durban to Maputo (DUR-MAP)
Durban to Cape Town via Margate and Queenstown (DDBN-MAR-QT-CPT)
Durban to Cape Town via Port Elizabeth (DBN-PE-CA)
Durban to Port Elizabeth (DBN-PE)
East London to Cape Town via Queenstown (EL-QT-CA)
Gaborone to Pretoria (GAB-PTA)
Maputo to Durban (MAP-DUR)
Maputo to Pretoria (PTA-MAP)
Matatiele to Pretoria via Kokstad (MAT-KOK-PTA)
Margate to Pretoria (MARG-DBN-PTA or NMARG-DBN-PTA)
Mthatha to Cape Town via East London and Fort Beaufort (MMTH-EL-FORT-CA)
Mthatha to Cape Town via Kokstad (MAT-KOK-CA)
Mthatha to Cape Town via Port Elizabeth (MTH-PE-CA)
Mthatha to Cape Town via Queenstown (MTH-QT-CA)
Port Elizabeth to Cape Town vta Mossel Bay (PE-CBS-CA)
Pretoria to Cape Town via Bloemfontein (PTA-BLM-CA)
Pretoria to Cape Town via Upington (PTA-UPT-CA)
Pretoria to Cape Town via Kimberley (PTA-KIM-CA)
Pretoria to Durban (PTA-DBN)
Pretoria to Durban via Harrismith (PTA-HRS-DBN)
Pretoria to Durban via Kimberley (PTA-KIM-DBN or NPTA-KIM-DBN)
Pretoria to Durban via Ladysmith (PTA-LDY-DBN or NPTA-LDY-DBN)
Pretoria to Durban via Margate (PTA-DBN-MARG or NPTA-DBN-MARG)
Pretoria to Durban via Richmond (PTA-DBN-RICH or NPTA-DBN-RICH)
Pretoria to Durban via Vryburg (PTA-VRG-DBN)
Pretoria to Gaborone (PTA-GAB)
Pretoria to Maputo (PTA-MAP)
Pretoria to Margate via Durban (PTA-DBN-MARG or NPTA-DBN-MARG)
Pretoria to Musina (PTA-MUS)
Pretoria to Phalaborwa via Polokwane (DPTA-POL-PHW_
Pretoria to Richards Bay via Durban (PTA-DBN-RICH or NPTA-DBN-RICH)
Pretoria to Port Elizabeth via Bloemfontein (PTA-BLM-PE)
Pretoria to Port Elizabeth via Graaff Reinet (PTA-GRF-PE)
Pretoria to Port Elizabeth via Grahamstown (PTA-GRH-PE)
Pretoria to Port Elizabeth via Potchefstroom and Fort Beaufort (PTA-POT-FORT-PE)
Pretoria to Port Elizabeth via Queenstown (PTA-QT-PE)
Queenstown to Cape Town via Port Elizabeth (QT-PE-CA)
Richards Bay to Pretoria (RICH-DBN-PTA or NRICH-DBN-PTA)
Windhoek to Outapi via Oshataki (WHK-OSH-OUTA)

CBS stands for "Central Bus Station".

NPTA stands for "North Pretoria" - This Intercape stop in Pretoria is distinct from the general PTA code.

Intercape bus stops

Bellville

@thapelojankisi493 Intercape Sleepliner 🔥 🤌 #travel #traveltiktok #vlog #spotter #fyp #sama28 #marcopolog7 ♬ original sound - SA MUSIC EXCLUSIVES

Cape Town

Johannesburg

Intercape bus arriving at Johannesburg Park Station

Intercape to Africa outside SA

Intercape to Malawi

Intercape are researching the possibility of reopening its routes from Johannesburg to Bulawayo and Johannesburg to Harare; once this happens the next step is Malawi.

29 Nov 2019. Intercape launched a direct route from Cape Town to Malawi (once a week); the route was later cancelled. The route had stops at Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Mzimba. The bus had massive trailers for transporting commercial goods.

Intercape to Mozambique

Intercape offers a bus service from Pretoria to Maputo.

Intercape to Namibia

15 Dec 2021. A new stop is opened at Osakati open market, behind the Otango Complex.

intercape to Swaziland/eSwatini

Intercape doesn't currently operate any routes into eSwatni/Swaziland. The closest it gets, is Malelane, north of Swaziland, on the route from Nelspruit to Maputo.

intercape to Zimbabwe

Intercape are busy researching the various routes to Harare and Bulawayo; with an eye to portentially re opening them. Potential new routes include:

Johannesburg to Zimbabwe
- Johannesburg to Bulawayo
- Johannesburg to Harare
Cape Town to Zimbabwe
- Cape Town to Bulawayo
- Cape Town to Harare

Does the route map ever change?

Yes, Intercape's route map is regularly changing; here is what it looked like in November 2023:

Intercape bus route map

29 Sep 2025. Intercape opens the Durban to Maputo route; via Ballito, Stanger, Empangeni, Richards Bay, Hluhluwe, Manguze, Kosi Bay, Ponta do Ouro and Katembe.
22 April 2025. Intercape launches bus trips from Matatiele to Cape Town via Kokstad. Stops include Mount Ayliff, Mthatha, Queenstown, Cradock, Graaff-Reinet, Laingsburg, Worcester, Paarl and Steelenbosch.
15 April 2025. Johannesburg to Phalaborwa bus trips are launched, via Polokwane; stops include Midrand, Mokopane and Tzaneen.
17 March 2025. Intercape's Johannesburg to Mount Edgecombe via Pietermaritzburg bus route is launched.
7 March 2025. Express Budgetliner starts operating on the Cape Town to Mthatha via Queenstown (Komani) route; with stops including Paarl and Graaff-Reinet.
14 Apr 2024. Bus trips from Johannesburg to Pahalborwa via Polokwane are started; with stops including Pretoria and Mooketsi.
25 Mar 2021. A stop at Shelly Beach is added to the Intercape Margate to Pretoria bus route.
30 Aug 2019. Sleepliner coaches start operating for Intercape from Johannesburg to Cape Town via Kimberley route; with stops at Potchefstroom, Klerksdorp, Bloemhof, Christiana, Hopetown and Victoria West.
August 2017. Intercape relaunches its Cape Town to Harare bus service (note that the Harare to Cape Town route was subsequently withdrawn).
31 March 2025. Morning departures are launched from Windhoek to Outapi, via Oshataki and Oshikango.
1 February 2025. Launch of trips on Intercape's Sleepliner from East London to Pretoria via Bloemfontein; with popular stops at Queenstown and Welkom.
8 July 2015: Intercape's latest route is between Cape Town and Queenstown. They launched it at the end of last month with one-way tickets starting from R440*. The route has several major stops in Paarl, Worcester, Laingsburg, Beaufort West, Aberdeen, Graaf-Reinet, Cradock and Tarkastad. They will operate the route on Fridays and Saturdays.

Intercape Cape Town to Queenstown new route.

25 March 2013. Intercape introduces 3 weekly trips from Windhoek to Ondangwa, Oshakati & Oshikango; leaving in the early evening on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. Intercape's Namibia manager, Nezar Uys, says that "There is strong demand for a safe, dependable and affordable service between Windhoek and northern Namibia. We believe we have the right combination of product and service to meet this demand. Our coaches are the best available internationally, and our 25-year history and track record of safety and service speaks for itself.”

2010. Intercape begins operations in Malawi; employing some of the staff of the liquidated state-owned busline, Shire Bus Lines. (note that the Malawi route was subsequently withdrawn).
1986. Intercape begins offering bus trips between PE and Cape Town (PE is now now Gqeberha).

Route extortion & intimidation

There has been ongoing extortion particularly on the Eastern Cape to Western Cape routes; for example a service station being told that they must stop servicing Intercape or the service station will be burnt down. There have even been iissues in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In instances where the police have not been doing their job adequately, Intercape have hired private security.

Some bus operators went and sat with the taxi operators, whilst Intercape decided to report the extortion to the police.

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