Top 10: the best five-star hotels in Cape Town
An insider's guide to the best five-star hotels in Cape Town, featuring the top places to stay for stunning views of Table Mountain, stylish modern décor, historic charm, award-winning spas, top-notch restaurants and enticing pools, in locations including Downtown, the V&A Waterfront and Bantry Bay.
This historic Cape Town hotel, which opened in 1899, sits in large, beautifully manicured gardens and attracts a loyal and well-heeled mix of locals and guests. Service is impeccable and interiors are glamorous in English colonial style, with quality finishes throughout, many of them original period. The Planet Restaurant offers both romantic fine dining in double volume space and an excellent menu under the helm of Chef Rudi Liebenberg – a passionate proponent of locally sourced ingredients.
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On its own quay, a bridge walk away from the more heavily touristy parts of the V&A Waterfront, the Cape Grace manages to be both central and exclusive. Table Mountain towers as an impressive backdrop, and below is the marina with eye-candy boats. A lot of effort has gone into giving the hotel a historic naval character, with every corridor and room uniquely outfitted with a mix of antiques and reproductions, and flamboyant touches like chandeliers dripping with bits of what appear to be colonial-era artefacts.
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With a jaw-dropping cliffside location above Bantry Bay, this luxury Cape Town hotel offers low-key glamour in splendid isolation, and with spectacular sea views to boot. The gracious Edwardian mansion has been emboldened with a glamorous and contemporary feel – antiques and architectural detailing remain, but bold colours and textures have infused the classic structure with a contemporary edge. The extensive collection of South African art – on every wall throughout the house, including the bedrooms, as well as the purpose-built gallery in the garden – rivals that of the country's best art museums.
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With a façade 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. The property is decorated in magpie collector Liz Biden’s inimitable style: an eclectic mix of furniture, much of it made to her specifications, with button-down chesterfields under Egyptian chandeliers, shimmering Persian carpets and bold colour choices.
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One&Only Cape Town is a large luxury urban resort located in the Waterfront Marina, with excellent facilities and services that include a fittingly large pool, daily children’s programme, an award-winning spa, and views of Table Mountain from most rooms. There are three restaurants, of which Nobu, where Nobuyaki Matsushisa infuses his trademark Japanese dishes with South African flavours, is the destination of choice. The hotel is a mere five-minute walk from the popular V&A Waterfront, with its wide array of shopping experiences (don’t miss the Watershed) and dining choices.
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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. The hotel has a delightfully old-fashioned character. The late Liz McGrath was a passionate decorator and gardener, and clearly took great joy in creating each corner anew. This is particularly evident in the rooms in the Hohenhort, the original historic homestead. Facilities include a superb spa, and two huge pools, both heated, while the hotel’s nine-acre, award-winning gardens are a destination in their own right.
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Dwarfed as much by the mountain range after which it’s named as the blue ocean below it, the 12A hotel offers a dramatic seaside location, five-star service, a world-class restaurant and, in winter, unbelievable value for money. Guests can take advantage of two smallish swimming pools, an extensive award-winning spa, a 16-seat cinema, a sports buddy programme (whereby staff are on standby to train with guests who might be looking for a partner to play a round of golf, game of squash, attend a yoga class or take a hike) and on-the-ball concierge services.
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The Taj forms part of Cape Town's oldest precinct, opposite the Company Gardens (where the city’s roots were literally planted), St George’s Cathedral and the old Slave Lodge. Stay here and you are perfectly positioned to explore the city on foot. The historic aspect is wonderful, with a stern street façade embellished with bronze, apparently to symbolise the financial strength, stability and wealth of the Reserve Bank. The interiors are equally impressive, with part of the banking hall converted into the hotel lobby. The entire heritage wing is characterised by high ceilings and Neoclassical detailing.
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The Vineyard Hotel is a lush oasis in Newlands, a pretty chi-chi southern residential suburb that has a variety of restaurants, galleries, boutiques, delis as well as a popular mall (Cavendish) within walking distance. The sprawling 208-room family-owned hotel undergoes staggered upgrades every winter. As such it’s rather a hodge-podge of styles, which in itself is rather characterful. There is, for instance, a hipster-style bar-café in the lobby, with handmade Pierre Cronje table, antique chairs, Pierneef prints, blackboard menus, handblown glass pendant lights; right next door is the Square restaurant – which is well, a bit square – with 1970s-style potted plants and oversized highback dining chairs upholstered in sparkly fabrics.
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Steenberg is a delightful 17th-century farmhouse-turned-hotel on the very edge of the city: a part-urban, part-rural slice of history on the valley floor of South Africa's fecund, wine-producing Constantia Valley. The hotel comprises three original 1682 farmhouse buildings (Manor House, Jonkershuis and Barn) centered on a large tree-lined square and surrounded by manicured gardens, vineyards and a golf course and serviced by friendly, intelligent and efficient staff.
