Cape Town’s Cape Grace hotel joins Accor Live Limitless

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• SkiSunday says:

  30 Jul30 July 05:59

  There are even more stadium based Hilton’s, don’t forget the Doubletree by Hilton at Milton Keynes MK Dons stadium, the Hilton at St Georges Park Burton upon Trent and the Doubletree by Hilton at Coventry Building Society Arena home of the Wasps. And they all provide excellent value when there’s not a match taking place

  • WillPS says:

    30 Jul30 July 11:47

    St George’s Park is a training facility, not a stadium. It is great tho.

  • Craig says:

    30 Jul30 July 15:15

    Stuff the (London) Wasps egg chasers…more importantly: Coventry City Football Club.

• DevonDiamond says:

  30 Jul30 July 06:55

  There’s a Hilton Garden Inn next to the stadium of light in Sunderland too

• Mouse says:

  30 Jul30 July 06:58

  If I can be todays pedant of the day, it’s the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, not Albert.

  • Mark says:

    30 Jul30 July 07:49

    Indeed, the son rather than the husband. A nice part of Cape Town, with a lot of dining options.

    • JDB says:

      30 Jul30 July 08:20

      The waterfront (and the Cape Grace) used to be quite nice some years ago, but having been in April/May this year, it has now been so overdeveloped that you are just staying inside a shopping centre full of tourists. It’s noisy and busy. Yes, there are lots of restaurants in the development to walk to but they are expensive, not that good and aimed purely at tourists. You can’t easily walk to the many good downtown restaurants. Staying along the coast eg Camp’s Bay, still with lots of good restaurants,very quick easy access to Cape Town and the sights or Constantia is infinitely preferable.

      • Harry T says:

        30 Jul30 July 08:43

        @JDB thanks, any recommendations for accommodation in Camp’s Bay? We are visiting Cape Town for the first time this year.

        • JDB says:

          30 Jul30 July 09:18

          We stayed at the 12 Apostles which is a few minutes beyond Camp’s Bay itself. It’s not cheap, but it is a unique place with excellent service, very good breakfast on the terrace overlooking the sea. Incredible artworks all around the hotel. There’s an hourly shuttle to Camp’s Bay and the Waterfront. Slight caveat is that not all rooms/suites are renovated, but if you ask you can be fairly certain to get a renovated one and to the extent the rooms say sea facing/mountain facing that isn’t necessarily the same as ‘view’ although most do have one. Note also, that the coast road road is between the hotel and the sea, but isn’t busy. None of these put us off, but as well to be aware of them – we will be returning next year. Haven’t stayed there, but people say the Bay Hotel, in the centre of Camp’s Bay is good. From either hotel, not much more than 5 mins to the cable car to Table Mountain; go early if weather good! In Camp’s Bay, if you like fish, The Codfather is a must – they have a spectacular array of fresh fish that you choose and they cook how you want it. It’s quite reasonable, but gets pricier if you choose the crayfish or lobster; they weigh it and tell you the price before you are committed! Fresh fish is surprisingly hard to come by as Jo’Burg pays much more for the catches, but this place has its own boats. At the end of the trip we stayed at the Lion Retreat in Constantia – incredible value and what the pictures on the website show are the reality. Great breakfast, wonderful staff and the best stocked honesty bar I have ever seen. You need a car there. Don’t stay at The Cellars Hohenhort!

        • JDB says:

          30 Jul30 July 09:28

          @Harry T – if you like good food, you can eat what is two star Michelin equivalent (in nicer less poncy atmosphere than in UK) for a fraction of the price of UK. The two Chef’s Warehouse places – Beau Constantia overlooking vineyards towards the sea and the one at Tintswalo, right on the water’s edge with spectacular views at the start of the Chapman’s Peak Drive are both mind blowing, nice relaxed atmosphere and better than you will find anywhere in London. I paid £220 for lunch for four people at BC with two cocktails + two glasses of wine, then two bottles of wine, water, coffee, service. Tintswalo was £150 for two, but we did have a bit of a blowout on the wine. Also, La Colombe in Constantia, but it’s a bit more serious in atmosphere and the dining room is dull. They have a second restaurant Foxcroft – not a very beautiful location, but the exceptional food is less expensive, and it’s more relaxed.

          If you go up to the West Coast, Langebaan or Paternoster, a whole new world of food awaits!

        • Harry T says:

          30 Jul30 July 12:34

          @JDB thank you, very much appreciate the accommodation and dining recommendations.

        • Tazzy says:

          30 Jul30 July 15:20

          I second the 12 apostles. We also have stayed in the Pod which is very central, but quite small. I’ve eaten in the restaurants mentioned below and they don’t disappoint. I also enjoyed The pot luck club and the black Sheep. I wasn’t overly sold on the Codfather. Mantra was great for sundowners on the balcony.

      • Nick says:

        30 Jul30 July 10:15

        The original bit of the V&A doesn’t have great access but the newer section (towards the radisson red) does have very easy walking access to the downtown area.

        • JDB says:

          30 Jul30 July 10:38

          Yes, I saw the Radisson Red by the new Contemporary Art museum/hotel but it’s still a ½ hour walk to say Church Square and means walking along some not very nice and rather busy roads. Obviously being at the V&A suits many, as long as you know what you are getting.

        • Freddy says:

          30 Jul30 July 10:44

          There is the raddison blu just up from the v&a waterfront. Stayed there 10 years ago, was a nice base

        • Rob says:

          30 Jul30 July 12:38

          Do they still give the top suites on points as ‘family redemptions’?

        • Nick says:

          30 Jul30 July 14:09

          I’ve stayed at the Red, was very impressed (for what it is, and of course the price) and would definitely do so again. If you go the right way the walk into town is nowhere near half an hour, and while it crosses a main road (safely, at a crossing) you don’t need to actually walk along it. I appreciate that’s not for everyone, and do tend to walk in most places anyway.

  • rj24 says:

    30 Jul30 July 07:54

    Came here to be a pedant and not disappointed that you beat me to it.

  • AJA says:

    30 Jul30 July 07:58

    Well spotted. I read Alfred for Albert.

  • WaynedP says:

    30 Jul30 July 08:46

    Always been a common mistake ever since it opened, not helped by mostly being referred to as “the V&A” so the Albert part isn’t widely emphasised.

    • Rob says:

      30 Jul30 July 08:59

      Fixed!

    • Lady London says:

      30 Jul30 July 15:47

      ..or even the Alfred part 🙂

      • WaynedP says:

        30 Jul30 July 19:54

        Touché 🤦🏻‍♂️

        Can’t even claim auto-correct.

        Maybe I can get away with morning grogginess after resuming the Night Nurse regime after a little unanticipated Covid bounce back.

        First ten days after diagnosis saw symptom improvements and fainter Red test lines, but last week has seen a reversal of both.

        Very strange illness. After testing negative for over two years, I’m now struggling to get a clear test after three weeks.

        And yes, testing is still a thing for some of us – OH was a WFH civil servant during Covid and sent truckloads of tests to take and report, and we still have a dwindling stock left over.

        • Mike says:

          30 Jul30 July 22:47

          Lucky you for having tests left over – I am having to buy them by the basket full and also currently have covid (for the first time !!) and it’s not very nice !!!

• Leo says:

  30 Jul30 July 07:57

  How safe is Cape Town these days? It wasn’t very when I went 10 years ago. Never been the victim of an attempted car-jack before or since. Maybe just bad luck….

  • AJA says:

    30 Jul30 July 08:01

    Oh no that’s not good. Where in CT were you and what time of day?

    It used to be the case that if you were driving at night anywhere in Johannesburg that you treated red traffic lights as give way signs and just drove straight through rather than stopping. Not sure whether that situation improved.

    • Rob says:

      30 Jul30 July 09:03

      I remember those days. Did a month working in Joburg in 1997.

    • WaynedP says:

      30 Jul30 July 09:20

      While it’s best to avoid or minimise late night driving in SA urban areas, it’s more about location than time of day.

      Google “Cape Town carjacking hotspots” and avoid or be extra vigilant when driving through locations that opportunistic criminals know have quick, easy egress back to their areas of control.

      Otherwise you just have to be a more mindful driver than when in UK, like not having any bags on seats visible to outside observers (always tuck these under seats or conceal with blanket-like covers), try to slow down when approaching stopped traffic at lights to avoid coming to a dead stop, and always be aware of how you might make a quick getaway like leaving a half car space between you and the car in front when stopping.

      Always keep your doors locked and open windows with just a tiny crack in towns and cities as this makes it more difficult to smash from the outside.

      Try to avoid broadcasting the fact that you’re a foreigner. Criminals will identify you as a soft target as majority of the locals are armed and more likely to fire back.

      If you stick to the main tourist routes in daylight hours without straying off the beaten track, you will be fine.

  • Richard B says:

    30 Jul30 July 09:30

    The crime rates vary so much across different parts of the city it’s hard to say whether you were unlucky or just driving somewhere that you should have known not to.

    The main areas tourists go to have never felt any materially less safe to me than in the UK.

    • JDB says:

      30 Jul30 July 09:58

      I would agree with @Richard B. People get mugged in London and Paris and crime in the South of France vs tourists is terrible. We took the same basic precautions that we might take anywhere but never felt at all unsafe in the three weeks we were in the Cape. We did ask locally in various places such as Hermanus and Paarl whether it was safe to walk around at night and they said it was.

      • Nick says:

        30 Jul30 July 10:13

        I’ve never felt unsafe in Cape Town. Look at crime rates against tourists in Barcelona if you really want to feel scared.

• WaynedP says:

  30 Jul30 July 10:26

  My brother now lives in Brisbane and whenever we meet back in CT he insists on at least one day of coffee and rusks watching the sun rise over False Bay and ending the same day with sundowners watching the sun set over the Atlantic.

  We achieved this in 2017 with a couple of nights in Kalk Bay (there are some nice Guesthouses with stunning views, a chilled village feel, close to the beach, plus great restaurants that get their fish fresh from the boats every day like Harbour House and Brass Bell) before transferring to the Western side of the Peninsula with its host of great spots (see JDB’s excellent suggestions).

  Cape Town is a great destination that won’t disappoint.

  • WaynedP says:

    30 Jul30 July 11:56

    Should have caveated earlier that if staying in upper Kalk Bay you need to be able-bodied enough to negotiate around a hundred or so steps if walking down into the village and back.

• Richie says:

  30 Jul30 July 10:46

  The water is warmest at the Clifton beaches.

  • Radiata says:

    30 Jul30 July 11:37

    Is that a joke?

  • WaynedP says:

    30 Jul30 July 11:47

    Clifton is still on the colder Atlantic coast, whose sea temp very rarely exceeds 18 deg C.

    The False Bay sea temp around CT is only slightly warmer, achieving a reliable max of around 20 deg C in Jan/Feb.

    But unless you’re a seasoned year-round open water swimmer, or you’re wearing a wet suit, the difference is entirely academic.

    Not even I can sell CT as a casual beach swimmers dream destination with a straight face, knowing as I do that you can’t feel your toes after 5 minutes immersed in the sea without a wet suit.

• WillPS says:

  30 Jul30 July 11:46

  Hopefully there will be some potential for outsized points value on British GP weekends. Could be a really nice way to enjoy the weekend.

  • babyg says:

    30 Jul30 July 12:23

    when i contacted them they will only be “selling” the track view rooms as corporate suites for the race weekends, so i don’t see any outsized points value at this hilton… could be handy if you have seats and maybe they might do non track view rooms on points… but best you look at w hotel Abu Dhabi… probably one of the best outsized point value to bad had via hotel points IMHO.

• Ports says:

  31 Jul31 July 11:51

  We’re planning a trip to Cape Town in the New Year. Does anyone have any recommendations for where to go/stay over two weeks?

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