Thanks to a landmark hotel, groundbreaking art spaces, and some rather exceptional pani puri ceviche.
No matter where you settle, you’re surrounded by Cape Town’s beguilingly motley skyline of Victorian, Edwardian, Cape Dutch, and Art Deco buildings—and the buzziest restaurants and bars are just a few steps away in any direction.
It’s not that Cape Town’s Central Business District didn’t have its share of hotels before.
There’s the business-friendly Taj, on a prime corner opposite the Company’s Garden, and the quirky Grand Daddy Hotel. There’s also no shortage of divey backpackers occupying cake-like Victorian buildings.
But the CBD never had the right kind of hotel: a plush, design-centric hideaway that channels the city’s creative energy, and places discerning travelers squarely within striking distance of the neighbourhood’s vibey cafés, galleries, and bars, growing stronger by the week.
With the April opening of the Gorgeous George, with 32 rooms spanning two adjacent buildings on the pedestrian St. George’s Mall in the heart of the CBD, travelers no longer need to Uber back to hotels in Camps Bay or the Waterfront after a night on the town.
Read about the ace South African furniture designers involved.
And how, if cities were romances, Cape Town would be the love-at-first-sight kind.
That first glimpse of Table Mountain from the sky, presiding over a gently curving coastline lapped by brilliant blue waters, is an image that leaves you instantly hooked.
But there’s plenty to pull you in long after landing, from its chic hotels, world-class restaurants, and thriving art scene, to its dazzling cultural diversity and rich, if complex, history.
Each day in the Mother City will see you unearthing new details that will have you falling in love all over again.
The business-friendly Taj, on a prime corner opposite the Company’s Garden, looking up to Table Mountain.
Courtesy of Conde Nast Traveler