The Bay Hotel enjoys an unrivalled position directly on a beachfront promenade. This stylish hotel is at home in the affluent suburb of Camps Bay, 9,5km away from the V&A Waterfront and Cape Town city centre.


The hotel’s 78 rooms have a selection of sea view, pool view and mountain view rooms, which every way you look it’s impressive. The Twelve Apostles rise majestically behind the hotel for mountain views, pool view rooms on the side of the hotel also look directly at Lion’s Head, and sea view rooms have a prime view of Camps Bay beach.

We had booked a standard Mountain View room, but as the weather wasn’t great and the Twelve Apostles were hidden by low cloud, we upgraded to a Premier Pool Room on arrival (Room 422). We had a magnificent direct view over the swimming pool to Lion’s Head and a side view of the beach.

We really liked the split level floor, so that you step down into the living area and balcony. The room was beautifully furnished and equipped, another large king sized bed with Egyptian cotton and a pillow menu, Nespresso machine, bottled water and tea making facilities, plus a mini bar. The en-suite bathroom had a walk in shower as well as a bath and nice toiletries.

The only disappointment was that we were told the free WiFi was limited to 500mb daily, which was only suitable for reading emails and updating social media. Actually we connected without the need to log in and found the speed fine for what we needed for our stay, this may not be the case during the summer when the hotel is at maximum occupancy.

Breakfast is included in the room rate. On our first morning this was served in the Tides restaurant which has lovely views over the beach. There was a good selection of cereals, fruit, pastries and hot buffet, plus an a la carte menu. There is a tip tin on your table, for the waiting staff, we hadn’t realised so took our wallet with us on the second day. On day two breakfast was served at the Bistro. It wasn’t very clear if the a la carte breakfast menu was chargeable, however instead of a hot buffet, hot food in the Bistro was available only from the a la carte menu, so we ordered eggs benedict which were delicious.

The Bay Hotel oozes a chic cosmopolitan atmosphere, it’s stylish with thoughtful comfortable touches, and not afraid to be distinctive. There’s a fascinating collection of motorbikes to be found around the hotel, just casually parked up in the corridors.

We enjoyed a pre dinner drink in Traders Bar, where barman Caamil made us feel right at home, sitting us in front of a roaring fire to enjoy one of his famous cocktails. We also dined at the Bistro on our first evening. Mike ordered ostrich which had been on our list of foods to try, he declared it very tasty meat, although a little tough.

The hotel has four swimming pools, tennis and squash courts, a gym and wellness spa including steam & sauna on site, which are free for guests to use. There’s a good selection of shops, cafe bars and restaurants along the front by the hotel.

In summary, The Bay Hotel is the perfect place for anyone seeking a relaxed beach location in Cape Town. Camps Bay is only a 10 minute drive along the coast road or up over the top, to the city centre.