Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plett,[2] is the primary town of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

Long before Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape, Portuguese explorers charted the bay in the 15th and 16th centuries, the first being Bartolomeu Dias in 1487.

Ninety years later Manuel de Perestrelo aptly called it Bahia Formosa or the Beautiful Bay.

The original was a square block of stinkwood, inscribed with the latitude and longitude of Plettenberg Bay and erected to enable mariners to check their location.

[5] Today it is the privately owned Old Rectory hotel & spa In 1787/88 Johann Jerling erected a timber shed commissioned by the Dutch East India Company; the remains can still be seen and are preserved as a provincial heritage site.

[6] As of 1833, the population of Plettenberg Bay was estimated around 400, with half being white, according to diplomat Edmund Roberts who visited the area.

This building, designed by André Hoffe, has a layered atrium which pays tribute to the Guggenheim Museum of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Between 1960 and 1990 Plettenberg Bay holiday resort expanded dramatically, extending along Robberg Beach ('Millionaire's Row'), and back towards the N2.

As the 1980s progressed informal settlements of Xhosa people grew up around the edges of New Horizons and in the area of KwaNokuthula which became a town.

The best examples of the original indigenous forest are to be found in the gully of the Keurbooms River, home to Knysna Loerie and Fish Eagles.

There has been a long history of sport fishing from the rocks, ski boats launched from Central Beach, or in Keurbooms estuary.

Popular with domestic and foreign tourists alike, many make it a stop along the garden route to visit local attractions such as Robberg Peninsula Nature Reserve,[10] the world's largest free-flight aviary Birds of Eden,[11] Sea Kayaking and Whale Watching,[12] as a base to start the coastal Otter Trail, Monkeyland Primate Sanctuary or a host of other outdoor activities on offer.