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★★★ City Bowl · Cape Town
Fountain Suites 901 by CTHA
Room
Room
Private kitchen
Living area +1 photos

Fountain Suites 901 by CTHA

901 Fountains Suites Hotel 1St St. George S Mall City Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

Looking for a straightforward base in Cape Town? Fountain Suites 901 by CTHA in City Bowl covers the essentials and sits near central City Bowl.

From here, Cape Town’s main attractions — including central City Bowl — are an easy walk or short ride away, so you spend less time in transit and more time exploring.

Key facts

Class
3-star
Area
City Bowl
Address
901 Fountains Suites Hotel 1St St. George S Mall City Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

What’s included

Bath Bathroom Coffee Cot Dishwasher Fan Free Wifi Internet access Iron and board Kitchen Microwave Non smoking rooms Oven Refrigerator Safe Toaster Toiletries Towels Wifi

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 Fountain Suites 901 by CTHA located?
Fountain Suites 901 by CTHA is in City Bowl, Cape Town (901 Fountains Suites Hotel 1St St. George S Mall City Centre, Cape Town, South Africa), close to central City Bowl.
How much does Fountain Suites 901 by CTHA cost per night?
Prices are set live by the hotel — check the booking page for a real rate for your dates.
How many stars is Fountain Suites 901 by CTHA?
Fountain Suites 901 by CTHA is a 3-star hotel in Cape Town.
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.
Which is the best area to stay in Cape Town for beaches?
Camps Bay is the best all-round beach base, because the sand, the restaurants and the bus route are all on the same 1 km strip of Victoria Road. Clifton is quieter and more sheltered from the summer south-easter, but every one of its four beaches involves a long stair climb from the road. If you want warm water rather than scenery, stay at Muizenberg or Simon’s Town on False Bay, where the sea sits at 18-21°C instead of the Atlantic’s 13-16°C. Sea Point is the value pick — the 3 km promenade and the Pavilion pools, with Clifton a 10-minute drive away.
What is the cheapest month to visit Cape Town?
June and July are the cheapest, with mid-range rooms 40-50% below their February rates and Sea Point guesthouses commonly under R1,200 a night. They are also the wettest, averaging around 90-100 mm of rain each and highs near 18°C, so plan for indoor days. The trade-off is real value elsewhere: southern right whales are already in Walker Bay off Hermanus from June, and Table Mountain is at its clearest between cold fronts. May and August are only marginally more expensive and slightly drier.
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.
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