The Cellars-Hohenort

The Cellars-Hohenort is a country-house hotel inside the city limits, set in nine acres of award-winning gardens in the Constantia wine valley with Table Mountain rising behind. It has 51 rooms and suites, two outdoor pools and one Michelin Key from the 2025 first South African selection, and the wine farms are its neighbours.

"A country house hotel on nine acres of celebrated gardens built around eighteenth century wine cellars, with the Constantia estates next door."

Aggregate 8.9/10 on our editorial scale (Room & Design, Service, Location). Independently scored; see our methodology. This is our opinion, not an aggregate of user reviews.

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission from bookings at no cost to you. We never accept payment for placement. Hotel status, room product and awards were verified against official sources in July 2026. Michelin does not operate a restaurant guide in Africa, so no restaurant listed here is starred; Michelin Keys are a separate award for hotels.

What makes The Cellars-Hohenort special?

The gardens are what you are buying. Nine acres of award-winning private grounds on the historic Klaasenbosch estate, built around 18th-century wine cellars, in the middle of the Constantia Valley, with Table Mountain's eastern slopes behind. It is the only hotel on this list where the working wine farms are the neighbours, and the only one that reads as a country house while remaining inside Cape Town's boundaries. The name is literal. The Cellars-Hohenort combines two historic buildings: the Cellars, the 18th-century wine cellars of the Klaasenbosch estate, and the Hohenort. Keep the hyphen. It is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, rated by Forbes Travel Guide, and it received one Michelin Key in the guide's first South African selection in 2025, cited for refined service, distinctive character and remarkable setting. A Key is Michelin's hotel distinction, not a restaurant star: Michelin does not operate a restaurant guide anywhere in Africa, so no restaurant here or elsewhere in South Africa is starred. General Manager Tanya Johnson runs the property. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and the Constantia wine estates are 5 to 10 minutes away.

Which room should you book?

The Cellars-Hohenort has 51 rooms and suites, plus two villas, and the style is English country house rather than contemporary design. The outlook throughout is the estate, meaning lawns, mature planting and the eastern slopes of Table Mountain rather than sea or city. The villas are the interesting end of the range. A two-bedroom Villa sits on the estate, and the three-bedroom Madiba Villa has its own dining room, a lounge with a fireplace, a private pool, a service kitchen and a bar, which makes it a self-contained house for a family or a group taking the property as a base for the Constantia wine estates. Be honest with yourself about the aesthetic before booking. Antiques, floral fabrics and traditional layouts are the point here, and this is the property on the list that most reliably divides opinion on decor. Guests who want a design hotel consistently call it dated; guests who want a country house call it the real thing.

Where should you eat and drink?

Check the names before you book, because this line-up has changed. The restaurant is The Conservatory, built around a glass atrium and a massive oak tree, serving an eclectic, light, seasonal, produce-led menu in a garden setting. Alongside it is The Conservatory Bar & Lounge. The third space is the Greenhouse Bar, in the Hohenort building, looking over the gardens. That last name is the trap. Greenhouse was for years the hotel's celebrated fine-dining tasting-menu restaurant, and dozens of third-party pages, guidebooks and older reviews still describe it that way. On the hotel's own current site, Greenhouse appears as a bar. Treat The Conservatory as the restaurant, treat Greenhouse as a bar, and confirm directly with the hotel if a tasting menu is what you are travelling for. On awards: Michelin does not operate a restaurant guide anywhere in Africa, so nothing here is starred. We have not verified an Eat Out Top 10 place or a World's 50 Best listing for any outlet at this hotel, so we do not claim one.

What is the spa and pool like?

Wellness at The Cellars-Hohenort is garden-based and unhurried. The Fresh Wellness Spa is on site, and it is joined by a gym and a tennis court, which is a combination none of the city-centre hotels on this list can match on their own footprint. Swimming means two outdoor pools set in the grounds. Both are outdoor, so the Cape winter matters: the low season here runs roughly May to August and is cool and wet, and neither pool is described by the hotel as heated, so treat pool weather as a summer proposition. Guests taking the three-bedroom Madiba Villa get an additional private pool of their own. The wider wellness case is the setting. Nine acres of gardens to walk, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden 5 to 10 minutes away and the Constantia wine estates on the doorstep make this the most restful base in Cape Town for people who want green rather than city.

Where is The Cellars-Hohenort, and how do you get there?

The address is 93 Brommersvlei Road in Constantia, which puts you in Cape Town's southern suburbs, inside the Constantia Valley wine region and on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. The neighbours are wine estates. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and the Constantia wine farms are 5 to 10 minutes away, which is closer to the vineyards than any city-centre address can manage. Approximate off-peak driving times: the V&A Waterfront is about 20 km, 25 to 30 minutes; the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway about 17 km, 25 minutes; Cape Town International Airport about 25 km, 30 minutes. Rush hour between 07:00 and 09:00 and from 16:00 to 18:30 can double the city runs, so treat all of these as approximate. Constantia is car-dependent by design. There is no walkable route to the city and no pavement culture on these residential lanes, so a car or a driver is effectively compulsory. Plan the stay as a countryside base with day trips rather than a walk-out-and-explore city hotel.

What do guests consistently say?

Guest feedback tracks the setting. The gardens are the most consistent source of praise: nine acres of award-winning grounds, mature trees, Table Mountain behind, and the sense of a country estate reached in half an hour from the Waterfront. The Michelin Key citation in 2025 named refined service, distinctive character and remarkable setting, which is close to what guests themselves say. Wine travellers rate the position highly, with Kirstenbosch and the Constantia estates minutes away. The criticism clusters in three places. Distance is first: Constantia is 20 to 25 km from the V&A Waterfront and the sea, so a car or driver is compulsory and spontaneous city evenings are not on offer. Decor is second, and reviews from guests expecting contemporary design are the most consistently critical of the antiques and floral fabrics. Third is dining uncertainty, since the fine-dining offer has changed and Greenhouse now reads as a bar rather than the destination restaurant it was.

Honest cons: who should skip it?

Three honest limitations. First, distance from the city and the sea. Constantia sits 20 to 25 km from the V&A Waterfront, so a car or a driver is effectively compulsory and every evening out is a planned drive. This is a countryside base with day trips, not a hotel you walk out of into a city. Second, the style is traditional and, to some guests, dated. English country house with antiques and floral fabrics is the deliberate register, and reviews from travellers expecting contemporary design are the most consistently critical on the property. Look at current photographs of your exact room category before committing. Third, dining uncertainty. The fine-dining offer has changed: The Conservatory is the restaurant, and Greenhouse, once the celebrated tasting-menu room, now appears on the hotel's own site as a bar. That matters more here than it would in town, because you are 20 km from Cape Town's restaurant scene and cannot easily walk to an alternative.