Cape Town holidays: a guide to the best areas and hotels
A neighbourhood guide to where to stay in Cape Town, as chosen by our resident expert, including the best hotels in locations including Camps Bay, the city centre (near Kloof Street and Higgovale), the V&A Waterfront, Table Mountain National Park and Franschhoek.
ATLANTIC SEABOARD
The Atlantic seaboard suburbs are clustered in pockets along the base of the Twelve Apostles, the mountain range that towers above the city’s best beaches. The topography – slopes drop at times perpendicularly to the shore – allows for plenty of elevated vantage points from which to watch the sun sink into the Atlantic, a spectacular daily show for which a front row seat on the beach is free, but real estate is the most expensive in the city. The best-known suburb is Camps Bay, with a small retail heart and several restaurants and bars across its pretty, palm-lined beach. It’s hugely popular, but be warned – the wind can pump here in the summer, and the relentless beating sun can have you living behind blinds.
Where to stay
Ellerman House
Cape Town, South Africa
9Telegraph expert rating
With a jaw-dropping cliffside location above Bantry Bay, this luxury Cape Town hotel offers low-key glamour, splendid isolation and spectacular sea views. There are only 11 rooms in this Edwardian mansion. You’ll need a car to get to restaurants and beaches - if you can tear yourself away from the poolside gardens. Read expert review From ￡624per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Cape View Clifton
Cape Town, South Africa
8Telegraph expert rating
With its mountainous spine Cape Town offers any number of splendid views, but none surpass those from this small, stylishly-furnished boutique hotel. Cantilevered high above Clifton’s crescent-shaped beaches, you'll see the towering Twelve Apostles, postcard-perfect bungalows and the rippling ocean. Read expert review From ￡611per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
South Beach Camps Bay
Cape Town, South Africa
8Telegraph expert rating
Nine spick, span and spacious self-catering apartments in Cape Town with a communal pool and excellent concierge services, 100 metres from the city’s popular Camps Bay beach. Ideal for couples who prefer apartment living, with all-day restaurants a stroll away, or families with kids aged 12 and over. Read expert review From ￡343per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best five-star hotels in Cape Town
CITY BOWL
Flanked by Devil's Peak to the east and Lion’s Head to the west, Table Mountain creates a natural amphitheatre the locals call the ‘city bowl’. For the most part the Central Business District is pretty quiet at night, but as you get closer to the residential suburbs that carpet the slopes, the vibe livens up, culminating in grungy Long Street, the city’s nightlife zone. Bree Street offers the densest concentration of hip bars and restaurants, followed by Kloof Street, the road running up through Gardens towards forested Higgovale; on either side lie Oranjezicht and Tamboerskloof, their streets lined with Victorian-era homes. With great views, buzzy streets, quick access to city sites and a great choice of boutique guesthouses, this district is my preferred launch pad.
Where to stay
Kensington Place
Cape Town, South Africa
9Telegraph expert rating
This has always featured in any line up of the city’s top boutique hotels. Kensington Place still ticks every box: classy yet comfortable womb-like rooms you’ll hardly ever want to leave; excellent service; small but sexy public spaces; and a great Higgovale location, overlooking the city and harbour. Read expert review From ￡281per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
More Quarters
Cape Town, South Africa
8Telegraph expert rating
A delightful collection of 19th-century neighbouring houses that have been artfully converted into 18 tasteful apartments. More Quarters offers the space and self-sufficiency of your own city pied-à-terre in a great central location, with all the benefits of a professionally managed boutique hotel. Read expert review From ￡288per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel
Cape Town, South Africa
9Telegraph expert rating
This historic Cape Town hotel, in large, beautifully manicured gardens, opened in 1899, and attracts a loyal and well-heeled mix of locals and guests. Service is impeccable, interiors are glamorous in English colonial style, and cooking is top notch. City-centre restaurants and sights are on the doorstep. Read expert review From ￡448per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best boutique hotels in Cape Town
WATERFRONT
The pedestrianised V&A Waterfront – a gentrification of the historical harbour and ongoing mixed-use developments – is popular with tourists wanting a safe, slightly sanitised experience of Cape Town. That said it’s still very much a working harbour, so there’s always something interesting happening on the water, and as a shopping or day outing is as popular with locals as it is with visitors exploring its distinctive precincts under wheeling seagulls. The latest precinct is centred on the Silo hotel, it’s newly iconic Heatherwick-designed fa?ade atop the new Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art; adjacent is the Nelson Mandela Gateway, where ferries depart to Robben Island three to four times daily.
Where to stay
The Silo
Cape Town, South Africa
8Telegraph expert rating
With a fa?ade remodelled by celebrated British designer Thomas Heatherwick, industrial concrete architecture offset by plush eclectic décor, and an unparalleled vantage point on top of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, The Silo is truly a destination hotel. Read expert review From ￡1,476per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Cape Grace
Cape Town, South Africa
9Telegraph expert rating
An exclusive Cape Town waterfront property on its own quay, with Table Mountain right behind. Popular with moneyed Americans – including the Clintons and Obamas – who like the secure location, a stroll from the V&A Waterfront restaurants. Dripping with antique character, yet families are made to feel very welcome. Read expert review From ￡615per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Queen Victoria Hotel & Manor House
Cape Town, South Africa
8Telegraph expert rating
The best-value five-star hotel in the Waterfront, a two-minute walk from its pedestrian pleasures, yet set back on peaceful Portswood Ridge. The atmosphere is stylish and intimate, interiors plush and comfortable; if you prefer cutting-edge contemporary, the new Manor House annexe is the ticket. Read expert review From ￡185per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best hotels on Cape Town's waterfront
SOUTH PENINSULA
With the knobbly spine of Table Mountain National Park running its length, the Cape peninsula curves like a finger into the Atlantic, arching around the warmer waters and surfer-friendly beaches of False Bay. Historically, this was the preserve of the early farmer colonialists who settled on the well-watered slopes of Constantia, and wealthy turn-of-the-century randlords who chose to build their mansions on this balmier coastline. Eating fish and chips in one of these coastal enclaves, sampling Constantia wines, discovering fynbos in Kirstenbosch gardens, Boulders’ penguins, the windswept southwestern tip of Africa – these are all de rigeur stops while touring the south peninsula, and many return visitors prefer to base themselves here for the more laid-back vibe and grandeur of the views.
Where to stay
The Last Word Long Beach
Cape Town, South Africa
8Telegraph expert rating
With nothing but a garden gate between you and a five-mile beach, and splendid views of mountains that rise like islands from the sea, this intimate, elegant boutique hotel will suit those wanting to really relax in a sleepy surfer village, while enjoying excellent concierge services. Read expert review From ￡149per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Tintswalo Atlantic
Cape Town, South Africa
9Telegraph expert rating
Tintswalo is the only luxury Cape Town hotel located within Table Mountain National Park: at the base of precipitous Chapman’s Peak, it is also one of the the only hotels in the city that is right on the beach and offers sublime ocean views, excellent food and authentic, warm service. Read expert review From ￡504per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
The Cellars-Hohenort
Constantia, South Africa
8Telegraph expert rating
This gorgeous country hotel is only 20 minutes from the city centre, yet the sprawling gardens and birdsong soundtrack will have you feeling as if you’ve escaped to a rural idyll – and you have. There's lots of character, plus classy rooms, two swimming pools, two restaurants, a spa and beautiful gardens. Read expert review From ￡292per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best luxury hotels in Cape Town
WINELANDS
I was once told that vines only grow where it’s beautiful, and that’s certainly true of the winelands that surround the city, particularly Franschhoek, where vineyard-carpeted mountain peaks surround a tiny valley with a dinky high street lined with galleries, restaurants and chi chi shops. You don’t have to be a wine lover to base yourself here (the city is 60 to 90 minutes away), but you’ll be bowled over if you are – hopping from historic Cape Dutch homesteads to contemporary tasting rooms, in extraordinary surrounds, you’ll be delighted by the variety of experiences and the quality of the wines. The Franschhoek wine tram is a fun way to do tastings, but if you want a more edifying experience, it’s definitely worth booking a private wine tour with an oenophile. It is also where some of the city’s most vaunted chefs are found.
Where to stay
Mont Rochelle
Franschhoek, South Africa
9Telegraph expert rating
The only bad thing about this great hotel is that it is so often fully booked. Perched on a vine-clad hillock with fabulous 360-degree mountain views, it has the most enviable position in Franschhoek, with beautiful gardens, décor that is both classy and hip, faultless service and generous extras. Read expert review From ￡210per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Babylonstoren
Simondium, Franschhoek, South Africa
9Telegraph expert rating
The most stylish hotel in the Winelands, with contemporary detailing offset against historic Cape Dutch architecture, and considered design that delights at every turn. The eight-acre kitchen garden and restaurant are destinations in their own right, but waking up here is the ultimate privilege. Read expert review From ￡761per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
Leeu House
Franschhoek, South Africa
8Telegraph expert rating
An amalgamation of three properties located directly on the most inviting high street in the Cape Winelands. The 12-room Leeu House is the most luxurious option within Franschhoek village, with an array of restaurants, boutiques and galleries a convenient stroll away. Read expert review From ￡368per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
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