Alta Bay Hotel

Class: First

Style: Modern design

Rooms: 6

Half the story is the location. Alta Bay, though it may sound like a maritime sort of place, finds itself in the upscale suburb of Higgovale, between Cape Town proper and the foot of Table Mountain. Here you’re close enough that the best of the city is within easy reach, yet far enough away (and surrounded by enough natural splendor) that it’s practically a resort experience, if you want it to be. The other half, of course, is the hotel — if you can even call seven rooms a hotel. That’s no criticism; what’s remarkable about Alta Bay is the combination of guest-house scale and boutique-hotel style and comforts. Suites are minimal without being grim, neutral yet still sunny, subtly African but far from kitschy, and they lack for nothing — flat-screen TVs with built in CD/DVD players, well-equipped bathrooms, and private terraces or courtyards, some with pretty impressive city views. As for public spaces, there’s a plunge pool, a garden, and a second-floor terrace with a view — perfect for a cocktail, but for much more you’ll want to venture forth into town. Luckily here town doesn’t mean a taxi ride all the way into Cape Town — Higgovale is an attraction unto itself, in its own slightly reserved way, with a bar and restaurant scene all its own.