If you are of the road-tripping ilk, then the Sunday Times has an idea for you: head out on the N1, into the cold, desolate Karoo, and spend a night or two on a farm in - well, where, exactly? The writer doesn’t mention the name of her destination until the last sentence of her piece.
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Grahamstown’s National Arts Festival hits full stride this week - it’s South Africa’s biggest theatre, dance and music extravaganza, which literally takes over the otherwise sleepy little village, and offers endless chances for arts lovers to see what the arts in South Africa are all about.
Gotta get to Grahamstown, in other words! Here’s how:
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Shiluvari Lakeside Lodge
Albasini Dam
off the R578 from Makhado (Louis Trichardt)
Limpopo Province | Map
Shiluvari Chalet
Accommodation type: Bed & Breakfast
Number of stars: N/A
Rooms starting from (per person sharing): R300
SA Blog recommends? Definitely
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The Lodge is deeply supportive of local Craft Routes, which guests can follow to discover a plethora of multi-talented Shangaan and Venda traditional artists. There’s also the community-linked Venda Legends Trail, which visits the mystical Phidiphidi Falls, and the Baobab Meander, which takes guests to the largest baobab tree in the country (girth: 43 meters!).
(See full review below.)
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Kopanong
C 329, Velani Crescent
Village 4, Town 1
Khayelitsha, Cape Town | Map
Accommodation type: Bed & Breakfast
Number of stars: 3
Rooms starting from (per person sharing): R250
SA Blog recommends? Enthusiastically!
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Kopanong has an informal “cooperative marketing” arrangement with other B&Bs and home-stays in Khayelitsha, so if you’re stuck for a place to sleep there - phone Thope! She’ll make sure you are taken care of.
(See full review below.)
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Klippe Rivier Country House
Outskirts of Swellendam, off the R60
Western Cape | Map
Klippe Rivier in Mist
Accommodation type: Country Guest House (Bed & Breakfast)
Number of stars: 5
Rooms starting from (per person sharing): R895
SA Blog recommends? Enthusiastically!
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The guest house, situated on a farm which dates back to 1725, carries its original, be-gabled Cape Dutch beauty with timeless grace - and meanwhile the large rooms, complete with both fireplace and A/C, offer decidedly contemporary levels of luxury.
(See full review below.)
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Koornhoop Manor House
cnr., Wrensch & Nuttall Roads
Observatory, Cape Town | Map
Accommodation type: Bed & Breakfast, Self Catering
Number of stars: N/A
Rooms starting from (per person sharing): R235
SA Blog recommends? Enthusiastically!
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Koornhoop’s popularity is partially due to the rates - which seem to have got stuck in the late-90s, avoiding inflation altogether - but also because Vic and Trish are rock-solid when it comes to guests’ needs. Their tourism industry network is second to none - Vic is himself a SATOUR-cerfitied guide - and they always steer Cape Town first timers in the right direction. If Koornhoop is full, for instance, they’ll help you find alternate lodging; and don’t be shy to ask for recommendations on day trips.
(See full review below.)
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A B&B that caters to the gay travel market in Cape Town’s leafy suburb of Oranjezicht has been allowed to keep its “men only” status.
This after a challenge to the Amsterdam Guest House’s exclusionary accommodation policy was brought before South Africa’s Commission for Gender Equality, by - in a move that engenders new degrees of befuddlement in matters of political correctness - an organization purporting to represent gay interests, and going by the name of the GLA, or the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Party.
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Majoro’s Bed & Breakfast
69 Helena Crescent, Graceland
Khayelitsha, Cape Town | Map
Majoro’s B&B
Accommodation type: Bed & Breakfast
Number of stars: 2
Rooms starting from (per person sharing): R250
SA Blog recommends? It’s Perfectly Suitable
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At Majoro’s, you get a genuine feel for the way South Africans are living today. You don’t have your own TV, you watch TV with the family - in fact you do everything together except share the bedroom and bathroom! When you go back home, you will certainly have stories to tell about culture and life in South Africa.
(See full review below.)
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Tranquility
25 Peak Road
Fish Hoek, Cape Town | Map
Tranquility Guest House
Accommodation type: Bed & Breakfast
Number of stars: Not yet rated
Rooms starting from (per person sharing): R375
SA Blog recommends? Enthusiastically!
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In my book, B&Bs live and die by the breakfasts they serve; this one, with its American-style flapjacks, pepper-stuffed musrooms, perfectly-poached eggs, bacon, cheeses, toast and great heaps of fresh fruit, showed excellent form indeed.
(See full review below.)
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Ma Neo’s B&B
Zone 7 No 30 (off Sandile Avenue)
Langa, Cape Town | Map
Ma Neo’s Main Suite
Accommodation type: Bed & Breakfast
Number of stars: 2
Rooms starting from (per person sharing): R180
SA Blog recommends? It’s Perfectly Suitable
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Many original features of the house have been kept intact, to create the atmosphere of a typical black township home, which survived the political upheavals of the 1980s up to the present time.
(See full review below.)
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