Cape Grace, Cape Town, South Africa

The Cape Grace has a wonderful position, right on the harbour in Cape Town. The luxury hotel is close enough to the touristy V&A Waterfront to walk to and far enough to keep its dignity. Seals swim lazily through the harbour, upon which floats the equivalent GDP of neighbouring Namibia in the form of fancy yachts.

The facilities

As an experience, the Cape Grace is somehow much more than the sum of its parts, although the parts add up very nicely indeed. The luxury hotel's small pool is surrounded by bottle-green sun loungers and there's a bijou gem of a spa.

What really defines the Cape Grace, though, and elevates it from a pleasant stay to an unforgettable experience, is the excellent service. The staff have charm, personality and style. The people on the travel desk are so efficient they should probably be running the country. This luxury hotel is lauded for its excellent employment and recruitment policies, so important in South Africa. It won a well-deserved Conde Nast Traveller Reader Award for service in 2007.

Then there is the famous Cape Grace bar, Bascule, with its huge whiskey menu, including rare single malts bought at auction – still fashionable, and worth an evening. The restaurant, one.waterfront, is excellent even by Cape Town standards.

This luxury hotel has imagination, too. At breakfast, it offers South African fruits – mulberries and prickly pear – as well as bottles of local sparkling wine. I wonder how many Cape Town property deals have been concluded here – out by the pool, on a bright day, with the African sun on the water and a view of Table Mountain.

The rooms

All the rooms at the luxury hotel have incredibly comfortable beds and huge marble bathrooms with separate showers, stocked with local South African products. The rooms that open out onto the water are the best.