▤ Cape TownDestinations
★★★★★ V&A Waterfront · Cape Town ★ 4.7 · 1395
Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel
Reception
Exterior
Miscellaneous
Room +1 photos

Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel

West Quay Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
from R17377

Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel brings 5-star standards to V&A Waterfront: a considered choice for a special trip to Cape Town, moments from central V&A Waterfront.

Guests typically choose V&A Waterfront for its balance of location and price; Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel is a good fit if you want to be near the action in Cape Town.

Because pricing is set live by the hotel and its suppliers, the figure shown here is a recent snapshot; check the current rate for your exact dates before booking.

Key facts

Class
5-star
Area
V&A Waterfront
Guest rating
4.7 (1395)
from
R17377
Address
West Quay Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa

What’s included

24 Hour Front Desk 24H. Security ATM Air conditioning Alarm clock Babysitting service Balcony Banquet Bars Bath Bathrobe Bathroom Beach nearby Breakfast Breakfast in room Buffet Business Center Car rental service Cleaning Coffee Complimentary Concierge Copy Cot Currency exchange Desk Dry cleaning service Express check in Family rooms First aid Fitness Center Free car parking Garage Hairdryer Housekeeping Internet access Iron and board Jacuzzi Kitchen Laundry Service Lifts Luggage storage Lunch Massage Minibar Non smoking rooms Outdoor pool Oven Parking Pool bar Public transport Restaurant(s) Room Service Safe Sauna Sea Security Features Sheets Shower Shuttle service Slippers Smoke detector Spa Special diets Steam room Swimming pool TV Telephone Terrace Toiletries Towels Valet parking WC Wake-Up service Water Wheelchair accessible

How many nights in Cape Town, and what a first trip looks like

Seven nights is the right number for a first visit; five is workable and three means you will miss either the Peninsula or the Winelands. Table Mountain has to float — the cableway closes in high wind, tickets run around R440 return for an adult, and you want two or three flexible days to catch a clear, still morning. A sensible shape: day one at the V&A Waterfront with the Robben Island ferry, day two the full Peninsula loop through Hout Bay, Chapman’s Peak, Cape Point and Boulders at Simon’s Town, day three a beach day at Clifton or Camps Bay. That loop is about 150 km and takes a full day if you stop properly.

Days four to seven fill themselves: Kirstenbosch and the Constantia wine farms, a surf lesson at Muizenberg’s Surfers Corner followed by lunch in Kalk Bay, and one long day or an overnight in Stellenbosch or Franschhoek. If you add a night in the Winelands, book it midweek — Franschhoek fills on Saturdays. Between June and November, swap a day for Hermanus, 1 hour 45 minutes each way on the R43, where you can watch whales from the cliff path without a boat. Ten nights lets you base twice: five on the Atlantic side, five in Simon’s Town or Kalk Bay, which removes an hour of driving a day.

What hotels actually cost in Cape Town

In winter, a backpacker dorm bed in Observatory or Green Point runs R300-R550, a decent three-star guesthouse double in Sea Point, Muizenberg or Woodstock is R900-R1,600, and a solid four-star in the City Bowl or Green Point is R1,800-R3,000. The same rooms in February and March move to roughly R1,600-R2,600 and R2,800-R4,500. Five-star properties at the V&A Waterfront, in Camps Bay or on the Constantia wine estates sit at R5,000-R12,000 through the shoulder months. Most guesthouse rates include breakfast; many bills add the 1% TOMSA tourism levy, which is normal and not a scam.

The spike is sharp and short. From about 15 December to 10 January, Camps Bay and Clifton four- and five-star rooms commonly ask R12,000-R30,000 a night with minimum stays attached, and mid-range Sea Point guesthouses that charge R1,200 in July will quote R4,000. Hermanus follows a different curve, peaking in September and early October at R1,800-R3,500 for a whale-view room. Franschhoek’s top country-house rooms clear R6,000 year round and more over harvest in February. If your dates are fixed over Christmas, look at Muizenberg, Kalk Bay, Simon’s Town or Somerset West, where the same money buys two star ratings more.

The wind, the water and the mistakes people make booking Cape Town beaches

The thing no one tells you is that Cape Town has two coasts with opposite weather, and booking only one of them is the classic error. The south-easter — the Cape Doctor — blows from November to February and is offshore at Clifton and Camps Bay, which is why those four coves stay calm on a day when Muizenberg and Fish Hoek are being sandblasted; in winter the north-wester reverses it and False Bay becomes the sheltered side. Sea temperature works the other way: Clifton and Camps Bay sit at 13-16°C, while Muizenberg, St James and Seaforth run 18-21°C. Whichever side you book, stay somewhere you can reach the other coast in 35 minutes, which means either a car or a base in the City Bowl or Sea Point. Also check what backup power a property has — load shedding is intermittent rather than constant now, but an inverter or generator is worth asking about before you pay.

Two areas get wrongly skipped. Simon’s Town and Kalk Bay are treated as day trips when they are perfectly good bases, with the Southern Line train at the door, Boulders penguins ten minutes away and rooms at half the Atlantic Seaboard price. Woodstock and Salt River are dismissed as industrial, yet they sit 6 km from the Waterfront with the Old Biscuit Mill and the cheapest good coffee in the city. Two other traps: "beachfront" in Sea Point means the promenade, not sand, and December bookings in Camps Bay are usually non-refundable with a minimum stay, so confirm both before paying a deposit.

Questions, answered

Where is Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel located?
Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel is in V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (West Quay Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa), close to central V&A Waterfront.
How much does Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel cost per night?
Recent rates started around R17377 per night, but prices are set live — check the booking page for your exact dates.
How many stars is Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel?
Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Cape Town.
Is Cape Grace A Fairmont Managed Hotel a good hotel?
Guests rate it 4.7 across 1395 reviews. It’s a luxury choice for Cape Town.
Is Cape Town better for families or couples, and which areas suit each?
Families do better on the False Bay side, where Muizenberg’s Surfers Corner has gentle beach breaks and surf schools, St James and Dalebrook have walled tidal pools, and Boulders at Simon’s Town has penguins and shallow water. Couples generally prefer Camps Bay, Clifton or the Constantia wine estates, where rooms are adult-quiet and dinner is walkable. The V&A Waterfront works for both, with the Two Oceans Aquarium and the Robben Island ferry on site. Guesthouses in Kalk Bay and Muizenberg are often two-bedroom self-catering units for around R1,200-R2,200 in winter, which beats paying for two hotel rooms on the Atlantic side.
What should I book early for a Cape Town trip?
Accommodation for 15 December to 10 January should be booked six months out, because Camps Bay and Clifton apply five- and seven-night minimums and non-refundable rates over that window. Also lock in the Robben Island ferry, which sells out days ahead in summer, and any table at a Franschhoek or Constantia estate on a Saturday. Table Mountain cableway tickets at around R440 return can be bought online to skip the queue, but do not commit to a fixed date — it shuts in high wind. If your dates fall on the second Sunday in March, book well ahead: the Cape Town Cycle Tour fills the Atlantic Seaboard and closes the coastal roads.
What is a typical nightly hotel rate in Cape Town?
A mid-range four-star double in the City Bowl or Green Point typically runs R1,800-R3,000 in winter and R2,800-R4,500 in February and March. Three-star guesthouses in Sea Point, Woodstock or Muizenberg sit at R900-R1,600 in the off season, and backpacker dorms at R300-R550. Five-star rooms at the V&A Waterfront or in Camps Bay are R5,000-R12,000 through the shoulder months. Over the Christmas peak, the same Camps Bay rooms are quoted at R12,000-R30,000, and most bills add the 1% TOMSA tourism levy.
Is Cape Town walkable, or do you need transport everywhere?
Individual areas are walkable and the city as a whole is not, because Table Mountain and Signal Hill sit between them. The 3 km Sea Point Promenade to Mouille Point and the V&A Waterfront is a genuine walk, and the City Bowl around Kloof Street, Long Street and Bo-Kaap is compact enough on foot. But City Bowl to Camps Bay is 8 km over Kloof Nek, and Muizenberg is 27 km down the M3, so both need wheels. After dark, use Uber or Bolt rather than walking between neighbourhoods, particularly around the station end of the CBD.
Can you actually swim in the sea in Cape Town, or is it too cold?
You can, but it depends entirely on which coast you choose. The Atlantic side at Clifton, Camps Bay, Llandudno and Hout Bay runs 13-16°C in summer because of the Benguela upwelling, and most people last a few minutes. False Bay — Muizenberg, St James, Fish Hoek, Seaforth at Simon’s Town — sits at 18-21°C from December to March and is comfortable for a proper swim. If neither appeals, the Sea Point Pavilion has a heated-by-sun 50 m saltwater pool on the promenade, the tidal pools at St James and Dalebrook warm up on a still day, and the Langebaan lagoon 120 km north on the R27 is the warmest flat water within reach of the city.

From the blog

Pick your side of the mountain
Compare rooms from Woodstock to Camps Bay, pay the same price as anywhere else, and remove a tonne of CO2 in the process.
Search hotels