Don't choose too good a hotel, as you want to be able to tear yourself away to see Cape Town's attractions! (Johannesburg has the money, but Cape Town has the treasure).
Latest News
8 April 2013: The PepperClub, which is situated on the beachfront in Camps Bay, announces that it is being revamped into a luxury hotel.
4 April 2013. Drive by shooting at the Mount Nelson Hotel - using a camera, not a gun, and taking this photo! Note the vehicle driving out of the Nelly - this is the typical type of customer the hotel attracts.
The 30 rooms in the Oasis wing of the Mount Nelson have been refurbished and were reopened at the start of March 2013. The wing has a view of the swimming pool.
The Nellie offers the classic luxury Cape Colonial experience, within walking distance of Kloof and Long Street. Often frequented by celebrities. The afternoon tea is worth going to. Decide whether you prefer the view overlooking the gardens or Table Mountain.
Try the Clarendon Hotel for its breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, from its perch above Bantry Bay.
Compass House, Bantry Bay (Stunning pool, ocean views make for fantastic photos). Room tip - go for one with direct access onto the pool deck.
52 De Wet (pool which seems to drop off a cliff into the ocean). Room tip - book the penthouse suite which has a full width balcony (not all rooms have balconies and sea views). It's about an hour's walk to Clifton Beach or to the V&A Waterfront.
O On Kloof, Bantry Bay (Big Balcony, indoor pool). Room tip - choose room 1 with a jacuzzi & hammock.
Top hotels close to Cape Town City
We recommend staying at Derwent House, Tamboerskloof (Fantastic bar, pool/jacuzzi, well-sized rooms, rooms have views of the pool or Table Mountain). Be sure to go for a walk from the hotel to the city centre, passing through the Mount Nelson Hotel's grounds and enjoying the Company Gardens.
Cape Heritage Hotel, Bree Street (Excellent Service, short walk to Long Street and its nightlife, rooms filled with local art). Room tip - rooms not on the street are quieter. Do use the rooftop jacuzzi.
An African Villa, Tamboerskloof (Excellent Service, from the location you can walk to various restaurants & the city centre, view of Table Mountain).
Liberty Lodge B&B, Tamboerskloof (Views, service). Room tips - Ghandi & Madiba have good views and lead onto the terrace.
Abbey Manor, Oranjezicht (Excellent service, views of Table Mountain). Room tip - go for room 1, with its corner terrace looking over the city and side view of Table Mountain.
Kensington Place, Higgovale (Views, 10 m taxi ride from the V&A Waterfront). Room tips - Ask for a view of Table Mountain & a covered balcony.
How to decide on an area to stay in
Cape Town is large and diverse, so in order to decide where you want to stay you need to decide what's most important to you:
Seeing the City Centre & the Waterfront : Cape Town City, V&A Waterfront, Green Point, Sea Point, Gardens and Tamboerskloof.
Party Party Party : City Centre, Camps Bay & V&A Waterfront.
Being a beach bum : Clifton or Camps Bay for tanning & seeing pretty people; Fish Hoek, Simonstown, Gordons Bay, Muizenberg or Strand for swimming; Muizenberg, Kommetjie or Scarborough for surfing; Blouberg for kitesurfing.
Fine cuisine and wine taste : Stellenbosch & Franschoek
List of hotels & guest houses
Scroll down to see a list of hotels in Cape Town. We have software which checks that links are still active, and we endeavour to keep it up to date, but if you spot something which needs to be updated let us know at cheapflights@southafrica.to
De Waterkant, Fresnaye, Greenpoint & Three Anchor Bay
This photo of the Rockwell Hotel was taken from the deck of the MSC Sinfonia cruise ship as it cruised into E-Berth in Table Bay Harbour in the early morning of the 14th December 2012. If the views of the Rockwell Hotel from there are so good, I'm sure the Rockwell Hotel must have good views of the harbour too & V&A Waterfront too, and some of the rooms of Table Mountain & Lion's Head; and there are large balconies from which to enjoy it. The hotel is within walking distance of the V&A Waterfront. Eat at nearby Beluga Restaurant, or one of the other plethora of restaurants in the vicinity. There's a lot of nightlife in this area - pubs & bars. Book a room on a higher floor for better views and to avoid the street-level noise.
The House on the Hill in Green Point offers the option of a bed and breakfast or self-catering accommodation. Choose the self-catering unit which has 2 large beds, a kitchen, TV & a washing machine - perfect for families. It's in a quiet cul de sac, a couple of minutes drive from the Waterfront. There are a few restaurants around the corner.
Jambo Guest House
1 Grove Road
Green Point,
Cape Town
Western Cape
South Africa
The One & Only is situated about 200m from the Two Oceans Aquarium. If you're travelling with your partner try a couples spa treatment. Ruebens is a top notch restaurant. Ask for a room on the upper floors in the main building with a view of Table Mountain (preferably a corner suite). Here's what the Wall Street Journal had to say about the One & Only's sommelier: 'Eight years ago, Ntezo was working as a dishwasher at a hotel in Cape Town, trying to earn a little money to help continue his studies. One Friday afternoon, as the waiters gathered for their weekly wine tasting, the hotel's sommelier opened a bottle, poured sips for the staff and asked what they thought of the vintage. "Hints of mocha," a barman said. "Notes of apricot," a waiter ventured, which was followed by more earnest proclamations from wine-tasting amateurs. The sommelier spotted Ntezo hand-polishing glasses and, as an afterthought, graciously poured him a taste. Ntezo sniffed the wine and couldn't stop himself from smirking. He was no expert but had learned a little something about wine at his previous job working as a pool boy at a winemaker-run hotel. He took a small sip. "But it's corked," he said. The assistant manager of the hotel turned to his head sommelier, who took another sip and nodded that it was, indeed, a bad bottle.'
Make sure you get a room at the Victoria & Alfred Hotel facing the harbour and Table Mountain. The rooms facing the plaza not only have a worse view, but can be noisier. The hotel is situated in the heart of the Waterfront, close to a plethora of shops and restaurants. Your biggest risk staying here is that you find it difficult to tear yourself away from the Waterfront!
On the Waterfront Pierhead,
Cape Town
Western Cape
8002
South Africa
Jan van Riebeeck recorded in his diary the appointment of the first inn-keepers: "We have daily a large number of people who come and fill at the Castle and these people, including officers of ships, ministers of the church, sailors, soldiers, families and even barbers take with them knives, forks and dishes thinking it belonged to the honourable company and that they could, therefore, help themselves." Van Riebeeck allowed Annetje Boom to open a tavern to provide accommodation to men from passing ships.
"Within 2 decades there were so many taverns in the settlement that the directors in Holland ordered all but nine to be closed. Guests were not allowed to carry knives but they drank Peter Visagie's local beer (regarded as a cure for scurvy) and they could watch cock-flights...Menus at the early taverns were not luxurious. Fish was often plentiful and there were penguin eggs from the islands. Seals and dassies provided some of the meat; other meat was usually salted. Smoked porcupine was a delicacy. Bacon, rice, flour and beans were not to be enjoyed every day. The meat shortage was so acute that even a lion was salted down. Cakes and biscuits were baked by 2 freemen 'for those who wish to live more daintily'. Tea and coffee were unobtainable - hence the strong demand for alcohol." Lawrence Green.
"The lodgings were private houses varying greatly in amenities. One of the best at the end of the eighteenth century was the widow Van den Bergh's inn at the lower end of Longmarket Street near the Castle and the company's stables. It was described as 'one of the most handsome and largest inns in the town'. Distinguished visitors stayed there and spoke of the courtyard with vines on a trellis."
And to get business Innkeepers would send out runners in rowing-boats to "meet ships entering Table Bay & to persuade the passengers to accompany them on shore...When they came alongside a vessel the runners stood up and shouted the merits of their establishments; some had dancehalls with slave musicians; harp & violin, flute and drum."
"Samuel Hudson & his brother Thomas appear to have been the English hotel pioneers in Cape Town. They had a 'family hotel' facing the Parade in 1802; and the following year they applied to the government for another private hotel permit, making it clear that they did not intend to run a tavern or gaming house. This was granted and Hudson's Hotel in the Heerengracht soon gained a good reputation. They advertised their meals, offering dressed ham, brawn, collared beef, potted venison and tongues and Colyn's red and white Constantia wines."
"The honour of opening the first licensed hotel must go to Edward George, a Londoner, whose George Hotel in Hout Street was regarded in 1817 as the best hotel in the town. George moved to the Heerengracht 12 years later & all agreed that his new establishment was 'smart & expensive'. Meanwhile a formidable rival had appeared, the St George's Hotel at the corner of St. George's & Church Street. The first St George's Hotel was a typical handsome old Cape Town mansion with 1 storey and a wide verandah. The 2nd St George's was built in 1872 & in the early 20th century was famous for its cocktail bar, presided over by Hildebrand; the longest bar in Cape Town...The St George's Hotel was pulled down a few years before WWII to make way for an extension to an insurance building."
"Back to the Heerengracht of the 1840s. William Parke, a confectioner who also ran buses to Wynberg, decided to enter the hotel trade. He had been running Papenboom, the old brewery in Newlands Avenue, as a boarding-house; now he opened Parke's Hotel at the corner of Heerengracht & Strand Street (later to change to the Grand Hotel site)...'Warm & cold baths are available at any hour of the day', Parkes announced - a novelty at that period."
"Another comfortable hotel was the Imperial in the Keizersgracht, facing the parade...The hotel moved to Shortmarket Street and then changed to the Green Hansom. For many years there was a Masonic Hotel near the Parade, a hostelry noted for gargantuan meals."
"Parliamentarians also patronised Poole's Hotel in Queen Victoria Street, an old double-storied, flat-roofed building. It was nearly a century old when it was demolished in the 1930s."
"Plein Street had a Hotel d'Europe in the 1860s, a grand old mansion with a high, broad stoep along the full length of the building...This hotel became the Royal, the famous Royal."
"When the International Hotel, Mill Street, opened in the 1880s, T.W.O'Callaghan the proprietor advertised the first hotel tennis court in SA."
"You may have noticed the number of Cape Town bars & hotels that came into the possession of seafarers. Nicholas Adelain, for example, was a Greek who exchanged the deck of a sailing-ship in 1890 for the hotel trade. He became proprietor of the Good Hope Hotel in Loop Street."
"The original Grand Hotel in Strand Street was bought by the Union SS Company & rebuilt in the 1890s in a style 'equal to London & Paris'. There were electric lights on the tables, Axminster carpets, a grand piano and a balcony promenade three hundred and fifty feet long and twelve feet wide. The site had cost the company 26,000 and the building about the same amount. Shop tenants were informed that "the front of the hotel is a popular Cape Town promenade where youth and beauty meet". Lunch at the official opening, prepared by the French chef, started with turtle soup and sherry and went on luxuriously to Scotch salmon, boiled turbot, lobster patties, cutlets, quenelles, pigeon, a claret sorbet, punch, capons braised in champagne, roast saddle of mutton, larded fillet of beef, grand special champagne, grouse, diplomat pudding and five other sweets. French apple tarts were offered, followed by caviar as a savoury and an iced pudding. It was a point of honour in those days, I gather, to serve only imported delicacies. What time, I wonder, did the lunch end"
"Hotel grading has killed many picturesque hotels in the Cape districts, those romantic old coaching inns of the transport roads. Among the survivors is the Houw Hoek Hotel, said to be the oldest of them all. It stands in a wooded hollow close to the giant Bluegum tree. This was once a famous halt for travellers bound from Cape Town to Caledon. Lady Anne Barnard enjoyed boiled chicken "fit for an emperor" at this inn. Lady Duff Gordon commented favourably on the absence of fleas. She paid nine shillings for dinner, bed and breakfast. When the railway came to Houw Hoek the innkeeper served meals to passengers on the platform. Inevitably the absurd story was told of the soup being so hot that the customers had no time to eat the rest of the meal. They were not such fools! Many country hotels of the transport days started as thatched, wattle and daub winkels; corrugated iron and matchboard lining came later. Only the more prosperous owners had a piano or billiard table. Light was supplied by enormous paraffin lamps. Floors were of mis or stamped earth. You might find such a place almost hidden in the mountains beside a willow lined stream. The barman would sell you anything from a mouse-trap to a pair of sheep-shears. If you looked into the stables you realised that for years the guests had arrived in Cape carts or on horseback. The combined hotel, shop and post office has not disappeared, though the furnishings are probably more luxurious than they were in the days of my youth. How well I remember the gin bottles serving as water carafes, the little thread-bare towels, the enormous carved sideboard in the dining-room. Now and again, close to a modern hotel, you can see the old place still serving as an annex".
"A homestead on the Van der Byl farm at Woodstock became the Lord Milner Hotel. It stood in a vineyard and between the hotel and the sea were only the bushes and the dunes. Lord Milner and "Onze Jan" Hofmeyr stayed at this hotel. The farm dairy is now used as a wine cellar and the bar was the room where the Van der Byl children had their lessons. Woodstock has another celebrated hotel, the Altona, named after an old farm in the area. Jimmy Weight, a seaman from the cable steamer Great Northern, held the lease in the early years of this century. His son Bob gave up the lease fifty years later. On the last night Bob Weight received a gold watch from his regular customers. Drinks were on the house and more than three hundred "free loaders" attended the ceremony. Bottles of beer, whisky, gin and brandy were handed over the counter. Bob Weight and two friends who were with him at Delville Wood were escorted from the bar by Caledonian Society pipers. The hotel was then taken over by a brewery. It was the end of a long day's march for Bob Weight."
Featured accommodation : Mouille Point Village
Instead of spending a fortune to stay at a hotel in the Waterfront, the Mouille Point Village - what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts (literally!). It's a 30 minute walk to the Waterfront, you can get sea views, it's close to the Mouille Point Promenade, close to the Green Point Common (and its play areas for kids) and to Three Anchor Bay (where you can hire kayaks and go out into the bay). Get a 2 bedroom apartment for the family, with a kitchen to cook your meals. There are a couple of restaurants within walking distance. For views, we advise booking a top floor room - decide whether you prefer (1) a view over the sea and Robben Island or (2) of Signal Hill, Green Point golf course and the Cape Town Stadium.
According to guest ratings on Hotelscombined & Tripadvisor & our own thoughts, the following are the top hotels in Cape Town.
Camps Bay, views of Atlantic & Table Mountain
Atlanticview (20m walk to beach, views of the Atlantic & Table Mountain). Room tip - choose the Pineapple Suite. Do join the evening sundowners.
Sea Point
Blackheath Lodge (10m walk from the sea, close to bars & restaurants)
Cascades on the Promenade, Sea Point (Service). Room tip - ask for a room with a balcony & a view of the promenade.
V&A Waterfront, views of Waterfront & Table Mountain
Cape Grace. Room tip - choose a room at the back of the hotel facing Table Mountain.
On a Golf Course
Steeberg Hotel, Constantia (Good golf course, good food, good spa). Do walk the vineyards.
Constantia
Dongola House, Constantia (Mountain views)
Simonstown
Simonstown Guest House (Ocean views). Good spot from which to go see the Cape of Good Hope and the penguin colony.
Moonglow Guest House, Glencairn (on a hill overlooking the ocean, sea views)
Gordon's Bay
Berg en Zee, Gordon's Bay (Excellent Service
City
A directory/list of the official contact details of hotels in Cape Town (email address, website, phone number and fax number). If your establishment is not listed, email us with your details and a suitable date to come and review it.
Southern Sun The Cullinan Hotel
1 Cullinan Street
Cape Town
Western Cape
South Africa
15 on Orange is very easy to get to from the airport, it's very easy to get from it to the restaurants & pubs in Long Street & Kloof Street, as well as the Company Gardens & the South African Museum; but you'll need to hire a car/taxi to get to the V&A Waterfront (there are also chauffeur services). It's near to a stop for City Sightseeing's hop-on hop-off bus (walk towards the Mount Nelson Hotel). Chose a day when it's not windy to use the roof top pool, from which to enjoy the top view of Table Mountain (if it is windy take a walk to Cape Town's historic Long Street Baths!). Ask for a room as high as possible and facing Table Mountain. Definitely worth a visit.
Stellenbosch, located along the outer rim of Cape Town, is well known, for its wineries and towering bergs. Travel into this area, and instantaneously you will be drawn to the fine wines, of which many are internationally acclaimed to suit the discerning connoisseurs. If however wine is not your particular drink of choice, travel further down to experience the Cape Town lifestyle. Known as the windy city, Cape Town plays host to such marvels as Table Mountain, which is one of the national landscape markers of this region. Other, elements of Cape Town that is sure to wet the taste buds of tourists is the local food. Sit down at the waterfront located along cape Towns coastal area, and enjoy a trademark meal of fish, calamari or prawns caught and prepared freshly. Bask in the ambience and breathe in the salty coastal air as you indulge in the sensational foods on offer.
Constantia hotels
The Alphen Country House Hotel
Alphen Drive
Constantia
Cape Town
Western Cape
South Africa
Situated in Constantia, the Steenberg Hotel is about a 20 minute drive from Cape town, and set on a lovely golf course amongst vineyards. Use the spa and enjoy their restaurant. It made the Conde Nast 2013 Gold list. The Champagne Bar is popular, and you can do wine tasting.
One street in Cape Town that epitomizes the notion that Cape Town is home to everybody is lower Main Road in Observatory. Sitting on the balcony at Stones and peering down onto the street you see every kind of person walking past in harmony. From the blond poppie to the Rastafarian, to the Goth or the jock, everyone and anyone can be found in this street.
Stellenbosch
Protea Hotel Stellenbosch
Techno Avenue
Stellenbosch
Western Cape
7613
South Africa