Hotels and restaurants in South African proudly announce when they've won TripAdvisor awards. These awards & Tripadvisor rankings can entice tourists who do not yet know where to stay or eat.
As a South African, one can be proud of the quality we have to offer. When TripAdvisor released the winners of the Top 25 Destinations in the World Cape Town was voted number 16. As a country, we should be very proud to have a city which is a top destination in the world. Below are tables showing Tripadvisor's collective view of top hotels (the Cape Grace hotel in the Waverfront in Cape Town tops the list), restaurants and beaches of South Africa. It is important to know that TripAdvisor is continuously updating their site with new restaurants or hotels. Therefore the list of top hotels, restaurants, guest house, attractions and things to do can be changed over night based on users reviews. Users are uploading reviews on a daily basis and this can affect the TripAdvisor rating of a hotel, restaurant or attraction.
Position |
Name |
Suburb |
City |
1 |
Cape Grace |
V&A Waterfront |
Cape Town |
2 |
The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa |
Camps Bay |
Cape Town |
3 |
Mount Nelson Hotel |
Central |
Cape Town |
4 |
The Oyster Box |
Umhlanga Rocks |
Durban |
5 |
One&Only |
V&A Waterfront |
Cape Town |
6 |
Kapama River Lodge |
Lynnwood Glen |
Pretoria |
7 |
The Table Bay Hotel |
V&A Waterfront |
Cape Town |
8 |
Taj Cape Town |
Central |
Cape Town |
9 |
Queen Victoria Hotel |
Central |
Cape Town |
10 |
Beverly Hills Hotel |
Umhlanga Rocks |
Durban |
11 |
Asara Wine Estate & Hotel |
Stellenbosch |
Cape Town |
12 |
Victoria & Alfred Hotel |
V&A Waterfront |
Cape Town |
13 |
The Hyde All-Suite Hotel |
Central |
Cape Town |
14 |
African Pride 15 on Orange Hotel |
Central |
Cape Town |
15 |
Saxon Boutique Hotel, Villas and Spa |
Sandhurst |
Johannesburg |
16 |
Vineyard Hotel & Spa |
Newlands |
Cape Town |
17 |
Winchester Mansions |
Green Point |
Cape Town |
18 |
The Westin Cape Town |
Central |
Cape Town |
19 |
Cape Royale Luxury Hotel & Spa |
Central |
Cape Town |
20 |
African Pride Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa |
Milnerton |
Cape Town |
21 |
Protea Hotel North Wharf |
Central |
Cape Town |
22 |
The Marine Hermanus |
Marine Drive |
Hermanus |
23 |
The Westcliff |
Westcliff |
Johannesburg |
24 |
The Palace of the Lost City |
Sun City |
Johannesburg |
25 |
The Benjamin Hotel |
Morningside |
Durban |
Position |
Name |
Location |
Cuisine |
1 |
La Colombe |
Constantia |
French |
2 |
Codfather Seafood & Sushi |
Camps Bay |
Sushi, Seafood |
3 |
Constantia Uitsig |
Constantia |
Mediterranean |
4 |
Il Leone Mastrantonio |
Central |
Italian |
5 |
La Boheme |
Central |
Eclectic |
6 |
Miller's Thumb |
Central |
Contemporary |
7 |
Catharina's |
Steenberg |
African, Continental, Contemporary, International |
8 |
Myoga |
Central |
Fusion |
9 |
Willoughby & Co |
V&A Waterfront |
Asian fusion |
10 |
Carne |
Central |
Italian |
11 |
Gold Restaurant |
Central |
African |
12 |
La Mouette |
Central |
French, Mediterranean, Vegetarian, Contemporary |
13 |
Aubergine |
Central |
Seafood, Vegetarian |
14 |
The Roundhouse Restaurant |
Central |
French, Contemporary |
15 |
95 Keerom |
Central |
Italian |
16 |
Signal Restaurant Waterfront |
V&A Waterfront |
Cape cuisine |
17 |
Bizerca Bistro |
Central |
French |
18 |
Magica Roma |
Central |
Italian |
19 |
Societi Bistro |
Central |
French, Italian, Vegetarian |
20 |
Planet Restaurant |
Central |
Contemporary, British |
21 |
Royale Eatery |
Central |
Burgers |
22 |
Kitima at the Kronendal |
Hout Bay |
Asian |
23 |
Savoy Cabbage |
Central |
African, Contemporary, International |
24 |
Fork |
Central |
Tapas |
25 |
Beluga |
Green Point |
Pacific Rim |
Position |
Name |
City |
1 |
Clifton Beach |
Cape Town |
2 |
Camp's Bay Beach |
Cape Town |
3 |
Boulders Beach |
Cape Town |
4 |
Bloubergstrand Beach |
Cape Town |
5 |
Buffalo Bay |
Knysna |
6 |
Bollard Bay |
Knysna |
7 |
Grotto Beach |
Hermanus |
South Africa is such a diverse country and it has numerous activities to offer locals as well as tourists. Whether it is going up the cable car to Table Mountain, taking a ferry to Robben Island, swinging across the Moses Mabhida Stadium or taking a 4x4 through the Kruger National Park, South Africa will always keep you entertained. TripAdvisor offers a list of attractions for Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, Plettenberg Bay and many more. Below are a few of the attractions ranging from different parts of South Africa.
Attraction |
Location |
Table Mountain |
Cape Town |
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens |
Cape Town |
Cape of Good Hope |
Cape Town |
Township Tour |
Cape Town |
Robben Island |
Cape Town |
Signal Hill and Lions Head |
Cape Town |
Beaches including Clifton, Llandudno, Boulders |
Cape Town |
Old Biscuit Mill Market |
Cape Town |
Two Oceans Aquarium |
Cape Town |
World of Birds |
Cape Town |
Rhodes Memorial |
Cape Town |
Castle of Good Hope |
Cape Town |
Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Constantia and Paarl wine routes |
Cape Town |
Gautrain |
Johannesburg |
South Western Townships |
Johannesburg |
Lion Park |
Johannesburg |
Bush Babies Monkey Sanctuary |
Johannesburg |
Emmarentia Dam |
Johannesburg |
Gold Reef City |
Johannesburg |
Adventure Golf Park |
Johannesburg |
Carnival City & Entertainment World |
Johannesburg |
Sun City |
Johannesburg |
Ushaka Marine World & Wet n Wild |
Durban |
Moses Mabhida Stadium |
Durban |
The Valley of 1000 Hills |
Durban |
Umhlanga Rocks |
Durban |
Phezulu Safari Park |
Durban |
Cheetah Research and Breeding Centre |
Pretoria |
Voortrekker Monument and Heritage Site |
Pretoria |
Union Buildings |
Pretoria |
Reitvlei Nature Reserve |
Pretoria |
Fort Schanskop |
Pretoria |
Birds of Eden |
Plettenberg Bay |
Radical Raptors |
Plettenberg Bay |
Goose Valley Golf Club |
Plettenberg Bay |
Old Timber Shed |
Plettenberg Bay |
Adventure Land |
Plettenberg Bay |
You can search and compare flights prices on TripAdvisor by making use of either Travelstart, Expedia or Skytours. Expedia and Skytours make use of South African Airways and British Airways only, whereas Travelstart shows low cost airlines such as Mango and Kulula as well as British Airways and South African Airways. The price is shown in Dollars on Expedia and Skytours and in Rands on Travelstart.
Users on TripAdvisor have the ability to rate airlines according to their value, comfort, baggage handling, punctuality as well as others. British Airways has so far received 843 ratings and has a star rating of 3 (out of 5). The airline is 74% recommended. South African Airways has so far received 77 ratings and has a star rating of 3 (out of 5). The airline is 53% recommended. TripAdvisor offers an Air Travel forum where you can see a a list of discussions between users about air travel. If you have a question or comment, you can post it in the forum and anyone will be able to resond. Please see below a table showing the travelers ratings for each airline in South Africa.
Airline |
Service offered |
Rating out of 5 |
British Airways |
Value |
3 |
|
Check-in Experience |
4 |
|
Punctuality |
3 |
|
Baggage Handling |
3 |
|
Seat Comfort |
3 |
|
In-flight Service |
3 |
|
In-flight Amenities |
3 |
|
Reasonableness of fees |
3 |
South African Airways |
Value |
3 |
|
Check-in Experience |
3 |
|
Punctuality |
3 |
|
Baggage Handling |
3 |
|
Seat Comfort |
3 |
|
In-flight Service |
3 |
|
In-flight Amenities |
3 |
|
Reasonableness of fees |
3 |
TripAdvisor is a website (tripadvisor.com) aimed at the travel enthusiasts. You can find all things travel related including where to stay, where to eat, where to go and what to do in the city/country of your choice. This interactive site allows users to post reviews and photos about hotels, restaurants, transport or even services they experienced. This information gives great insight about a place as people will decide where to stay/eat/go depending on how good or bad a review is.
In February 2000, Stephen Kaufer founded TripAdvisor and received financing from Flagship Ventures, the Bollard Group and private investors.
In 2004, InterActive Corporation purchased TripAdvisor and then in 2005 proceeded to divide the travel group businesses under the Expedia, Inc name.
TripAdvisor gained five new travel communities in 2007: SmarterTravel.com, BookingBuddy.com, SeatGuru.com, TravelPod.com and Travel-Library.com. After this but also in 2007, the company gained The Independent Traveler, Inc which is responsible for Cruise Critic.com and IndependentTraveler.com.
In 2008, Holiday Watchdog, Virtualtourist and OneTime.com were added to TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor introduced vacation-rentals to their site as they gained a majority stake in FlipKey.com.
In 2009, TripAdvisor set up a new site in China called daodao.com and later on in 2009 continued to purchase the second-largest travel site and hotel and flight search engine, Kuxun.cn.
An announcement was made in 2011 that Expedia would separate into two companies by dividing the TripAdvisor travel sites.
The latest trend to hit TripAdvisor in 2012 was to connect to Facebook. Users can now see where their friends on Facebook have been and the reviews they have written.
Written by Natasha Hardy on 2013-06-06 (and of course Tripadvisor is all about ratings, so we had to ask her what her rating of the Tripadvisor experience is - Natasha gave them a rating of 4/ 5