Brian Berkman discovers the Peninsula All Suite Hotel, a South African seaside hotel flourishing during lockdown where others failed – here’s why.

Brian Berkman stays at The Gorgeous George, Cape town’s newest luxury hotel and finds it totally gorgeous.

If there is a South African hotel that brings you nearer to Table Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean then the 12 Apostles I can’t think of one.

The differentiator at the top end of the luxury travel market is the opportunity to have a captivating story to tell that with which to engage your friends and colleagues when you return.
Since its high-profile opening in 2009 when A-lister global celebrities flitted in to launch The One&Only Cape Town, this resort-style hotel in the epicentre of Cape Town’s Waterfront development has matured like a good wine.

Like any grande dame, nips and tucks over the years have substantially altered this luxury hotel but the 119 year-old Cape Town, South African institution, the pink-hued Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel, still feels as historic and yet as contemporary as ever. 

The grain silos and adjoining lift were once the tallest buildings in Africa apart from the Pyramids at Giza. Although no longer so, the price point of The Silo Hotel may still well be as the hotel positions itself as Cape Town’s most desired bed.

Andy Mossack stays at the Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront, right in the middle of Cape Town’s trendiest neighbourhood.

“Okay Andy, just stand there with your back to the ocean and throw it!” I’m taking part in Tintswalo’s traditional farewell ceremony and General Manager Ryno is making sure I don’t mess it up. After all, throwing a stone over your shoulder and making a wish at the same time is a complicated business.

Staring out of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of my extraordinary Black and White room at MannaBay I was having a moment. Not quite an epiphany you understand, but mighty close to one.