Cape Town Hotel Makes Telegraph’s Elite Top 50 List

The luxurious boutique hotel Ellerman House, overlooking Bantry Bay in Cape Town, has joined 49 illustrious other hotels around the world in the latest “50 Greatest Hotels” named by the British Telegraph newspaper.

The three other hotels in sub-Saharan Africa that made the list were designed, owned or managed by South Africans. They are Wilderness Safaris’ North Island in Seychelles, Mnemba Island Lodge belonging to andBeyond in Tanzania, and Singita’s Sasakwa Lodge near the Serengeti, also in Tanzania.

The Telegraph said about Ellerman, “Perched high above the Atlantic, in a 1.5-acre terraced garden carved out of the Bantry Bay cliffs, Ellerman House enjoys perhaps the most spectacular location in Cape Town, a city not short on views. With just 13 rooms and suites sharing the sprawling grounds, and outsiders welcome by prior arrangement or guest invitation only, Ellerman House is also the most private hotel in the city, a secluded retreat with the kind of hushed atmosphere that suits the many regular visitors who treat it as their Cape Town home.

“Urbane owner Paul Harris is also one of the foremost collectors of South African art: every wall here is testament to his great eye and deep pockets. Even Harris’s enormous wine collection, displayed in an innovative ‘wine gallery’ and described by many as a work of art in its own right, is – along with the 24-hour guest pantry (chock-full with delectable home-baked savoury and sweet treats), sumptuous rooms, Cape Riviera views and intuitive service – part of the sum that sets this house apart.”

The Telegraph noted in its introduction that many great hotels in the world – such as George V, Carlyle, Cipriani, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong – did not make the list, showing how “fabulous” the properties its numerous panelists had chosen.

The three other winners in sub-Saharan Africa were:

Singita Sasakwa, Tanzania

Wilderness Safaris’ North Island, Seychelles

andBeyond’s Mnemba Island, Tanzania