A 17th-century farm estate on the Constantia Wine Route, fifteen minutes from the city centre — fifty-one rooms across two heritage manor houses, nine acres of garden, two restaurants, two pools, and the three-bedroom Madiba Villa.
"The Cape Town address that solves the family-holiday brief without leaving the metropolitan area. Cape Dutch bones, nine acres of garden, two pools, the Constantia winelands at the gate — and far enough from the V&A traffic that the children sleep through the night."
The Cellars-Hohenort sits on a 17th-century Constantia farm estate, fifteen minutes by road from central Cape Town and the V&A Waterfront. The two principal buildings are the Cellars Manor — the property's wine-cellar building from the original Klein Constantia farm, dating to the late 1600s — and the adjacent Hohenort House, a Victorian-era home added to the estate at the end of the 19th century. The combined estate runs to nine acres of formal garden — including the Liz McGrath Garden, named for the property's founding owner who developed the Cellars-Hohenort into one of the Cape's earliest country-house hotels in the 1990s. The hotel today is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World and operates as part of The Liz McGrath Collection alongside The Plettenberg in Plettenberg Bay and The Marine in Hermanus.
The 51 rooms and suites are distributed across the two heritage buildings. Standard Manor House Rooms in the Cellars building run smaller and look into the garden courtyard; Mountain View Rooms in the Hohenort House look up to Table Mountain's southern aspect; the Klein Constantia Suites and the named Mandela and Garden Suites are the larger units. The flagship is the standalone three-bedroom Madiba Villa — the suite Nelson Mandela used during his Cape Town visits, expanded to a full villa with a private pool, dining room, lounge with fireplace, and a service kitchen and bar. Madiba Villa is the property's only fully detached unit and the central booking for a multi-generational family or a small private-buyout group.
Dining runs across two restaurants. The Greenhouse, the property's fine-dining room, has consistently held a Top 10 South African restaurant ranking for the past decade and runs a tasting-menu format with extensive Constantia and Stellenbosch wine pairings. The Conservatory is the all-day, family-suitable venue — breakfast, lunch, and a less formal evening menu in the conservatory wing overlooking the lawn and the rose garden. The Fresh Wellness Spa is the two-room treatment facility; two heated outdoor pools sit in the lower garden; a tennis court and a small well-equipped gym round out the on-property facilities. Constantia's three principal wine estates — Klein Constantia, Groot Constantia, and Constantia Glen — are within a five- to ten-minute drive.
The position is the central proposition. Constantia is the historic Cape Town winelands suburb — old wealth, old gardens, old vines — and the Cellars-Hohenort is its anchor luxury address. The trade-off relative to a V&A Waterfront hotel is the 15-minute drive to the city; the trade-off relative to a Stellenbosch or Franschhoek estate is the absence of an in-property working vineyard. The compensating advantages are: proximity to both the city and the Cape Point peninsula loop; a fully residential garden setting that no V&A hotel can offer; the Madiba Villa for a family booking that wants a private compound with full hotel service; and the consistently best two restaurants of any Cape Town hotel south of the Mountain.
Cape Town family holidays at the level where the children need a garden, two pools, and room to spread out — but where the parents still want a hotel-grade restaurant and a serious wine cellar — are the Cellars-Hohenort's strongest brief. Two-bedroom suites in the Hohenort House handle a family of four; the Madiba Villa handles three generations. The Constantia setting puts beach, mountain, vineyards, and city all within a 30-minute radius without ever staying near downtown traffic.
For an anniversary that wants the Cape's wine country at the door but doesn't want to commit to a Stellenbosch or Franschhoek base, the Cellars-Hohenort is the answer. A Klein Constantia Suite, dinner at The Greenhouse, the morning Constantia wine route, and the city only fifteen minutes away if you want it. The Madiba Villa is the milestone-anniversary booking with extended family in residence.
93 Brommersvlei Road
Constantia, 7806
Cape Town, South Africa
15 minutes to V&A Waterfront and the CBD; 5 minutes to Klein Constantia, Groot Constantia, Buitenverwachting
51 rooms across two heritage buildings
Manor House Rooms from ZAR 7,500/night
Mountain View Rooms from ZAR 9,500/night
Klein Constantia Suites from ZAR 14,000/night
Madiba Villa from ZAR 60,000/night
Check-in: 2:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Cellars Manor c. 1690s; Hohenort House late 1800s; combined hotel since the 1990s
The Greenhouse fine-dining restaurant
The Conservatory all-day venue
Two heated outdoor pools
Fresh Wellness Spa
Tennis court and gym
Madiba Villa private compound
Small Luxury Hotels of the World
Free WiFi throughout
From ZAR 7,500/night. The Madiba Villa is on a separate contract and books six to nine months ahead for the December–January peak; suites in the Hohenort House book three to four months ahead for the February–April Constantia harvest window.
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