October 20

A Seaside Soiree – The Twelve Apostles Hotel

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By Tamlin Wightman on October 20, 2011

The place where earth, sea and sky meet

We bunked off early yesterday and made our way to The Twelve Apostles Hotel for sundowners and canapés. We often forget that we have this little thing called the ocean in Cape Town since we spend so much of the day in our office. But there it was – as pretty as ever – as we drove along the coastal road from Camps Bay to those twelve peaks called the Apostles.

Through the butler-attended entrance we slipped and picked up flutes of Champers before setting off on a short tour of the picnic spots and the newly-renovated Spa.

The picnic spots are dotted on the mountainside; you can choose where you’d like to dine – higher or lower, depending on your fitness level. The views over the Atlantic Ocean and Table Mountain National Park are out of this world. For guests staying here, it’s a must. The hotel’s location is quite remote compared to Cape Town’s other accommodation options and it feels as though it’s just you up there in the hills.

Treatment room with elevated views of the ocean
Treatment room with amazing views in Cape Town, Photo Credit: Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa

The award-winning Spa, with its seven superbly-equipped treatment rooms, shares that feeling of being away from it all. It has an intimate, sanctuary-like feel with white walls, gentle coves and soft, calming blue lights. It has recently undergone a makeover and boasts so many treatment options that your body, mind and soul should be cleansed, exfoliated and invigorated for life.

A table set with tea and cakes by a fireplace
Enjoy High Tea with views of the sea at Twelve Apostles, Photo Credit: Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa

The best wellness equipment

There are hydrotherapy pools, a sauna, flotation tank, rain showers, a Rasul Chamber for traditional cleansing rituals using steam and mud, a manicure and pedicure salon and a Tranquillity Lounge. There are even magazines, iPods and snacks and drinks for your pleasure. Designed by Toni Tollman, family member of the family-owned Red Carnation Hotel Collection of boutique hotels, the interiors use natural stone, marble, granite and glass to create a textured feeling throughout, with Buddha statues and oil burners to add to the serenity of it all.

Presidential Suite at Twelve Apostles
Presidential Suite, Image Credit: Twelve Apostles, Photo Credit: Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa

We took over the sofas in the corner of the Leopard Room Bar – a place I should frequent. We featured it in our Top 5 Restaurants/Bars with Sea Views List for 2011. Their bar definitely cuts no corners, with exquisite Martinis and a great selection of vodkas, cognacs and port, as well as several wines and cocktails. Heck – the bartenders will even throw together a cocktail of your choice – just name the ingredients! We snacked on gourmet treats like beef medallions, chicken skewers, cucumber sandwiches, chocolate-dipped strawberries, and more. They offer great snack platters, oysters, biltong and “Tea by the Sea” (from 2-6 pm), with macaroons and eclairs and other sweet temptations.

Depuis le sommet de Lion’s Had profitez d’une vue à couper le souffle sur Table Mountain et Twelve Apostles, Photo Credit: Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa

The evening wound down as we watched the sun set from the balcony outside. Inside, on a stool on the leopard-print carpet, a man played guitar and sang to his audience – the main member being a pig-tailed little girl hardly able to walk, but clapping louder than everyone else, as though she was the one knocking back the Jägermeisters.

Discover the Twelve Apostles

Yep, the Twelve Apostles Hotel is a favourite of many.

  • For more information or to book a stay at the Twelve Apostles Hotel, included in an itinerary of many other Cape Town delights, contact us. The hotel is part of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection, which also includes The Oyster Box Hotel in KwaZulu Natal and Bushmans Kloof in the Cederberg Mountains of the Western Cape.
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Camp's Bay, Cape Town Hotels


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About the author 

Tamlin Wightman

Tamlin has been exploring, writing about and photographing Africa ever since her first job as a photojournalist for Getaway Magazine. She's lived on an island, eaten with lions, sailed catamarans in the Indian Ocean, tracked wild dogs with Kinglsey Holgate, and white water rafted down the Zambezi and has kept just about every airplane ticket that has crossed her hands.

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