Sooner or later, you’re going to visit Cape Town. South Africa’s oldest city is also, arguably, its most stunning, with a climate that beckons visitors year-round.
When the city’s grand Table Bay Hotel opened 18 years ago, Nelson Mandela made it official, lending it a cachet that carries on today. With a recent $2-million dollar revamp, the hotel is at its gracious best again with new decor that retains the Victorian look and feel of the original design. Even the brand new brasserie Camissa looks old school with brass-tacked leather chairs, black leather banquette and red brick walls.
Location, location
There are other five-star hotels along Cape Town’s waterfront, but none that say “you’ve arrived” quite like Table Bay, a member of Leading Hotels of the World. Guests reach the stately eight-storey structure via a palm-lined driveway where uniformed doormen take your bags.
From there you walk through a glassed-in portico before entering a spacious lobby furnished with custom-made Persian rugs, wing back chairs and plush red sofas. But before you can sink into one of them, you’re drawn to the immense floor-to-ceiling window that frames Table Mountain so perfectly it leaves you momentarily speechless.
Besides the extraordinary view, Table Bay is ideally situated for strolls along the Victoria and Albert waterfront with its fashionable shops, restaurants and entertainment. The nearby jetty where Nelson Mandela and other prisoners departed for Robben Island is now a museum. Tours of the former prison leave from another pier close by.
Best amenity
Forget the cramped gym but be sure to enjoy high tea in the large, light-filled lounge. Fine teas are paired with three courses from savoury sandwiches and warm quiches, to scones with clotted cream and a diet-blowing array of desserts.
Eat in or eat out?
With talented Canadian Jocelyn Myers-Adams as the hotel’s executive chef, there’s no question you eat in. She puts a fresh spin on local ingredients at Camissa, such as num nums (a tart red fruit that grows wild) and dune spinach foraged from Cape Town’s surrounds. (She also hosts foraging expeditions for guests.) I particularly loved her crispy confit crocodile with chakalaka aioli. The hotel is also known for its substantial breakfast buffet, which takes up an entire wall. From cereals to sushi, and fresh-squeezed juices to fresh-shucked oysters, this is more brunch than breakfast. But because a continental breakfast is often included in the room rate, it can be hard to get a table. You can’t reserve, so give yourself plenty of time. With all that food, you’ll need it.
Whom you’ll meet
Guests vary with the seasons: You might meet wealthy Arab oil sheiks escaping the heat of the Middle Eastern summer, or South Africans down from Johannesburg for a weekend splurge in winter.
If I could change one thing
Rooms on the second floor look onto a raised roofline from another part of the hotel that is so hideous you’ll want to keep the curtains closed. Potted palms outside would give guests something to look at other than concrete and gravel.
Room with a view
Junior suites in each corner are your best bet for striking water and mountain views. The higher up, the better.
The Table Bay Hotel, 6, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town; suninternational.com/table-bay; 329 rooms from 5615 South African rand ($570) a night, including breakfast.
The writer was a guest of the hotel.
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