One&Only

One&Only Cape Town is the only true resort-format luxury hotel in the city centre, built around two private islands in its own waterways at the V&A Waterfront. It holds one Michelin Key from the 2025 first South African selection, and its 131 rooms and suites face Table Mountain across a heated infinity pool.

"A resort of two private islands inside the city, with a heated infinity pool, an island spa and the only Nobu in southern Africa."

Aggregate 9.4/10 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 One&Only special?

What makes One&Only Cape Town different is format: it is a resort, not a city hotel, and it sits inside the V&A Waterfront. The property is arranged around two private islands in its own marina waterways, reached across footbridges, with a large heated infinity-edge pool at the centre and the One&Only Spa occupying an island of its own. Opened in 2009 and operated by Kerzner International, it is the only address on this list that gives you resort scale and near-universal Table Mountain frontage in the middle of the city. The hotel received one Michelin Key in the guide's first South African selection in 2025, and General Manager Anne Scott is on record accepting it. A Key is a hotel award: Michelin does not run a restaurant guide anywhere in Africa, so no restaurant here or elsewhere in Cape Town holds a star, and any page telling you otherwise is wrong. It is also the only hotel in southern Africa with a Nobu. Add a 24-hour fitness centre and KidsOnly, a supervised club for ages 4 to 11 in a 100 square metre clubhouse with its own garden, and the resort logic is complete.

Which room should you book?

One&Only Cape Town has 131 rooms and suites, and where yours sits matters more than the category name. Ninety-one of them are in the Marina Rise building, and each one has a private balcony facing Table Mountain, which is the single most reliable view in the hotel. The remaining 40 are on the resort's two private islands, reached across footbridges, arranged around the heated infinity pool and closer to the spa island and the water. Island accommodation trades the elevated mountain frontage for immediacy: you step out into the resort rather than looking down on it, which suits families and long stays. Marina Rise suits couples who want the balcony and the panorama. Be clear-eyed about the aesthetic. The interiors are 2009-era resort contemporary rather than the singular design statement you get at a converted-silo or heritage-house property, and guests who prize idiosyncrasy over consistency say so. What you gain is space, private balconies in the Marina Rise wing, and a room product built to international group standards.

Where should you eat and drink?

Four outlets, and one of them has changed name recently, so check what you read elsewhere. Nobu Cape Town is the anchor and the only Nobu in southern Africa, serving Japanese-Peruvian cooking in a room redesigned by Nobu Matsuhisa with Rockwell Group to blend Japanese ideas of harmony with the African philosophy of ubuntu; a relaxed Friday, Saturday and Sunday lunch service was added on 13 March 2026. ROOI is the South African grillroom, fire-based cooking across land and sea, under Executive Chef Terrence Ford. Isola is poolside, Mediterranean and Capetonian. Vista Bar & Lounge is the lobby bar, with Table Mountain views, light dining, afternoon tea and cocktails. Two corrections. Reuben's, the Reuben Riffel outlet, no longer appears in the dining line-up and has been replaced by ROOI, though older guidebooks still list it. And One&Only's own site calls Nobu Matsuhisa a Michelin-starred chef: those stars belong to his restaurants outside Africa. Michelin does not award restaurant stars anywhere in Africa, so Nobu Cape Town has no star.

What is the spa and pool like?

The One&Only Spa sits on its own private island inside the resort, which is the most unusual wellness address in Cape Town. It has 10 treatment rooms, two vitality pools and a salon, and reaching it means crossing water rather than taking a lift, so the separation from the hotel is physical rather than decorative. The swimming is a large heated outdoor infinity-edge pool that the island rooms are arranged around; it is heated, which matters in a Cape winter, and it is at ground level rather than on a roof. A 24-hour fitness centre covers training at any hour. Families get KidsOnly, a supervised club for ages 4 to 11 in a 100 square metre clubhouse with its own garden, which is what separates this property from the adults-leaning small houses elsewhere on the list. There is no beach and no sea swimming here; the water outside is a working harbour.

Where is One&Only, and how do you get there?

The address is Dock Road on the marina canal, at the edge of the working harbour inside the V&A Waterfront, which buys you the easiest walking in luxury Cape Town. The Waterfront shopping centre and its restaurants are 5 to 10 minutes on foot, and the precinct is privately managed and secured 24 hours, so evening walks within it are routine rather than a calculation. That is a real advantage over Bantry Bay, Oudekraal and Constantia, where every dinner is a drive. Beyond the precinct you are driving. The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway lower station is roughly 8 km away, about 15 to 20 minutes off-peak, and Cape Town International Airport is about 22 km, roughly 25 to 30 minutes. Cape Town traffic between 07:00 and 09:00 and again from 16:00 to 18:30 can double both figures, so treat them as approximate. Understand what the setting is not. This is a commercial precinct built around a working harbour and a shopping centre, not a residential neighbourhood, and there is water everywhere but no beach.

What do guests consistently say?

Guest feedback splits along a single line: people who want a resort love it, and people who want a house do not. The recurring praise is for the format, the balconies facing Table Mountain from the Marina Rise wing, the heated pool, the spa island and the fact that families are genuinely catered for rather than tolerated. Travellers who value being able to walk to dinner inside a secured precinct rate it above the Atlantic Seaboard properties. The recurring criticism is that a 131-room international-brand resort feels polished but generic next to a 13-room house or a converted grain silo, and that the 2009-era design has not aged into character. The second theme is money, and it is consistent: Nobu, the island spa and the marina-facing suites push the real cost of a stay well above the room rate, and the gap between the headline number and the final bill is what guests complain about most. The third is the setting, which is commercial water rather than sea.

Honest cons: who should skip it?

Three honest limitations. First, corporate resort feel. This is a 131-room international-brand resort, and guests who came to Cape Town for the intimacy of a 13-room house or the singularity of The Silo consistently describe it as polished but generic by comparison. The design is 2009-era resort contemporary and reads that way. Second, the cost of extras. Nobu, the island spa and the marina-facing suites push the real cost of a stay well above the room rate, and the gap between headline rate and final bill is a recurring complaint. Budget for the additions, not just the room. The hotel does not publish a verified low-season rate card we can quote, so ask for a rate on application and get the inclusions in writing. Third, the setting is a working harbour and a shopping precinct. There is water in every direction and no beach and no sea swimming, and the immediate surroundings are commercial rather than residential. If you want sand and fynbos, Oudekraal or the Atlantic Seaboard serve better.