13 Cape Town Hotels on the Sheltered Side When the Southeaster Blows

Cape Town has a wind with a name. The southeaster blows in through the summer months, sometimes for days at a time, and when it does it pours a flat white cloud over the top of Table Mountain that locals call the tablecloth. The cableway closes. Camps Bay's umbrellas go over. Restaurant terraces on the Atlantic seaboard become unusable.

Fifteen minutes away, on the other side of the mountain, it is still.

Why the mountain divides the city

Table Mountain and its ridge run down the peninsula and split the city into two weather systems that behave differently on the same afternoon.

The Atlantic seaboard, running from the V&A Waterfront through Sea Point, Bantry Bay, Clifton and Camps Bay, faces west. It has the beaches, the sunsets and the best hotels, and it takes the southeaster side-on.

The City Bowl, between the mountain and the harbour, is more sheltered but gets the wind funnelled down its streets on the worst days.

The Southern Suburbs and Constantia, on the eastern side of the ridge, sit in the lee. When the southeaster is up they are green, calm and warm, and they hold the wine estates and the botanical garden.

The practical answer is not to avoid one side. It is to stay somewhere with a car or a short transfer and to move to the sheltered side on the days the wind is up. Locals check the forecast and pick their beach accordingly, every day, all summer.

The thirteen below are grouped by which side.

The Atlantic seaboard

Beaches, sunsets and the highest rates. Exposed on windy days and magnificent otherwise.

The Silo Hotel occupies a converted grain silo above the waterfront, with faceted glass windows bulging out of the concrete and a contemporary art museum in the building below. It is the most striking hotel in Africa.

One&Only Cape Town sits on the water at the waterfront marina with a large pool, a spa and rooms facing the harbour and the mountain. It is the most complete luxury hotel in the city.

Cape Grace occupies a position on the waterfront quay with a residential feel, a very good restaurant and a long-standing reputation for service.

Ellerman House sits above Bantry Bay in a private house with thirteen rooms, a serious South African art collection and a wine cellar of real depth. It is the most personal stay in the country.

The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa occupies a position below Camps Bay against the mountain, with a spa, several pools and the Twelve Apostles ridge behind it. It is the pick for the Atlantic side proper.

The Marly sits directly on the Camps Bay strip with a rooftop pool over the beach and the liveliest position in the city.

Tintswalo Atlantic occupies a cliff site above Hout Bay, further round the peninsula, with suites over the water and the most dramatic setting of the group.

The City Bowl

Between the mountain and the harbour, with the museums, the restaurants and the historic centre.

Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel occupies nine acres of gardens below the mountain, pink, colonial and operating since 1899, with two pools and the best grounds in the city. It is a ten-minute walk into town.

Taj Cape Town sits in the old Reserve Bank building on Wale Street with a spa, a pool and a position between the Company's Garden and Bo-Kaap.

Gorgeous George occupies a restored building in the centre with a rooftop pool, a good bar and the most design-led interior in the City Bowl.

Constantia and the Southern Suburbs

The sheltered side, fifteen to twenty-five minutes over or around the mountain. Wine estates, oak trees and the botanical garden.

The Cellars-Hohenort occupies a manor house in nine acres of gardens in Constantia with two pools, a very good restaurant and complete quiet. It is the calmest hotel in the Cape.

Steenberg Hotel and Spa sits on a working wine farm dating to 1682, with vineyards around the rooms, a restaurant on the estate and the mountain behind. It is the best value of the group by a wide margin.

The Table Bay Hotel occupies a position at the waterfront with large rooms, a spa and reliable service at below seaboard rates.

What we have left off

The guesthouses of Sea Point and Green Point are excluded, and many of them are excellent value with the promenade at the door. They are guesthouses rather than hotels, which is the standard this list applies, and Sea Point is among the most exposed stretches of the seaboard on a windy day.

What to do

Go up Table Mountain on the first still morning rather than saving it. The cableway closes in wind and you may not get a second chance in a short trip.

Drive the peninsula: Chapman's Peak, Cape Point, Boulders Beach for the penguins and back through Simon's Town. It takes a full day and it is the best drive in Africa.

Kirstenbosch, on the sheltered eastern slope, is one of the great botanical gardens. The Constantia and Stellenbosch wine estates are twenty and forty-five minutes out.

Robben Island needs a booked ferry and half a day, and is worth it. The District Six Museum and Bo-Kaap explain the city's twentieth century.

Eat well and cheaply, because the exchange rate makes Cape Town among the best-value serious food cities in the world.

Practical notes

Cape Town International is 25 minutes from the City Bowl. Uber and Bolt operate widely and are inexpensive.

The seasons are inverted. November to March is summer: hot, dry and windy, with the longest days. April, May, September and October are the best months, with calmer air. June to August is the wet winter, much cheaper and often overlooked, and it is whale season along the coast.

Apply normal city awareness: use cars rather than walking at night, particularly between neighbourhoods.

Questions people actually ask

How bad is the southeaster?

It can blow for several days at a stretch in summer, strongly enough to close the cableway and clear the beaches. The eastern side of the mountain is calm on the same day.

Waterfront or Camps Bay?

Waterfront for convenience, restaurants and the museum. Camps Bay for the beach and the sunset, at the cost of a drive to everything else.

Is Constantia too far out?

Twenty minutes to the City Bowl and it is the sheltered side. For a longer stay or a wine-focused trip it is the better base.

How many nights?

Five. Three for the city and the peninsula, two for the winelands.

If you only book one

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