South Africa is becoming a more popular holiday destination, helped by the strength of the UK Pound against the Rand. In February 2015, together with my wife, I flew to Cape Town for a 3 week holiday there before cruising back to Europe aboard the “MSC Opera”. We spent 3 nights in Cape Town in the ‘Breakwater Lodge Hotel’, a hotel that we had used on previous visits.
The hotel was originally a 19th century prison and is situated just a couple of hundred metres from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront development. This 300 acre site, originally part of the old docks built in 1860, has now been redeveloped into an entertainment and residential complex, with restaurants, bars, cinemas, museums and shopping arcades etc.
Just across a road from the hotel is the ‘Two Oceans Aquarium’ (the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet at the Cape) which has a substantial collection of sea life, including some huge tanks of local fish and predator fish. The museum also has a small colony of jackass penguins, so named after the call they make.
Outside the Aquarium is the main terminus for the Hop On/Hop Off double decked tourist buses that run on four routes, on a schedule of a bus every 15 or 20 minutes. The Yellow bus runs around the City centre, the Red bus runs around greater Cape Town, the Blue bus runs around the Cape peninsular and the Purple bus runs around the wineries for tastings. A two day ticket covering all four routes costs just R270 (£12.50) and includes a boat ride around the city’s beautiful canals.
Therefore, as you will see from the above, the ‘Breakwater Lodge Hotel’ is an ideal base for a stay in Cape Town. Last year we paid £237 for a superior double room with breakfast for 3 nights and considered it excellent value in view of its ideal location. We had a king sized bed, plenty of wardrobe and storage space, a writing desk, a large screen TV, tea and coffee making equipment, an easy chair and the bathroom had a large separate shower as well as a bath. From our window we had excellent views of the waterfront complex, Table Mountain and Signal Hill. The hot and cold buffet breakfasts were excellent and we ate most of our evening meals in some really good restaurants in the Waterfront.
I would heartily recommend this hotel to anybody visiting Cape Town.
