My 13 favourite family travel hot spots

The One&Only, Cape Town

It’s a bigger resort than I’d often select, however its views of Table Mountain, wonderful eating places and swimming swimming pools make the One&Only my favourite place to stick with the youngsters in Cape Town.

The location is superb – an essential consideration provided that at busy occasions of 12 months site visitors can take away treasured hours. From the resort, you possibly can stroll proper into the center of the V&A Waterfront, with its bustling avenue leisure, eating places, bars and outlets. The V&A can be the bottom for a lot of of Cape Town’s most well-known excursions, such because the Robben Island ferry, the Jolly Roger Pirate Boat and helicopter journeys.

Breakfasts listed here are wonderful, their afternoon tea a should, and the selection of eating places contains Africa’s solely department of the world-famous Nobu Japanese restaurant. The swimming swimming pools are nice for the children, with snug solar loungers for folks to seize some downtime, and the casual poolside bistro restaurant is one other good place to chill out. There’s additionally a youngsters’ membership, providing actions and haunt rooms for teenagers, with all the most recent video games and consoles.

Boschendal Farm Wine Estate, Cape Winelands

We love the Cape Winelands, the place you possibly can really chill out and luxuriate in some correct family time within the sunshine with loads of house and plenty of out of doors adventures for all of the family. My youngsters love staying within the Orchard Cottages at Boschendal Farm Wine Estate; we desire the two-or three-bedroom choices, which have nice views over the valley and are near the farm reservoir-style swimming pool.

Boschendal Farm is totally self-sufficient – you possibly can keep right here for weeks. The property’s gratifying little farmers’ market has a deli promoting native farm produce together with milk, cheese, recent veg, salads and chutneys, and providing a stunning menu for breakfast, lunch or dinner. There’s additionally a butcher’s, promoting the property’s personal farm meat, which is helpful as every cottage has a stunning BBQ space with all the pieces supplied.

There is, after all, a wine store, the place you possibly can pattern the home-produced nectar after which take it as much as your personal verandah to savour while taking within the views.

The mountain bike trails listed here are wonderful, with tracks for freshmen in addition to one or two routes which is able to problem hardened mountain bikers. Wild swimming, horse using and connoisseur picnics below large Cape fir bushes all make this place really magical, pulling my family and I again 12 months after 12 months.

Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, Garden Route

We by no means move via Hermanus area with out staying at Grootbos, set excessive on the escarpment above Walker Bay with panoramic views of the whole shoreline.

There are two lodges: Garden and Forest. Garden Lodge is the best choice if travelling with youngsters, with its massive two-bedroom items providing sufficient house to swing a complete family of cats, whereas the view from the bathtub tub is arguably one of the best I’ve ever loved (with the added attraction of wonderful home-made rest room merchandise utilizing native fynbos flowers).

The space is known for its whales, sharks and fynbos, so it’s no shock that actions embody shark-cage diving, whale watching, land-based marine safaris, fynbos hikes and beachcombing, all accompanied by an knowledgeable information and included (with just a few exceptions) within the room fee.

The meals is superb – with three meals a day included – and there’s an excellent pool, massive inexperienced lawns and a video games room for the youngsters.

Buffelsdrift Private Game Lodge, Garden Route

Further up the coast we regularly cease at Buffelsdrift, a pleasant place to interrupt the journey from Hermanus to Knysna – plus you get to remain in a tent! The family choice is nice, with interconnecting tents plus two loos with roll-top baths.

The close by Cango Caves, certainly one of South Africa’s largest cave networks, provide some enjoyable tour choices, together with one which requires an infinite quantity of bravery and a headtorch! Other sights embody the lodge’s colony of meerkats, a small herd of orphaned elephants and a wonderful star-gazing programme.

 

Under Milkwood, Knysna

We love these self-catering chalets, that are proper on the Knysna Lagoon. It’s an excellent solar entice within the afternoons, and the tide goes out actually far, so the youngsters can spend hours beachcombing and relocating hermit crabs, and we are able to watch them from the bed room whereas having a day lie-down. Easy entry to kayaks and paddleboards means there may be all the time one thing to do.

The chalets are self-catering, though it’s solely a three-minute stroll to the East Head Café, trying proper over the water the place the lagoon meets the ocean. Come right here for the scrumptious breakfasts while watching the large rollers breaking beneath.

The Bungalow, Plettenberg Bay

I’ve two favourite locations in Plettenberg Bay, one proper on the seaside and the opposite excessive up on the fringe of a gorge above a pine-forest valley.

The Bungalow was a backpackers’ lodge, however was lately transformed right into a hippy-chic boutique getaway. The seaside is correct in entrance of the property, with kayaks, surf and boogie boards and stand-up paddleboards all supplied.

And when the youngsters tire of that they will retreat for some personal time into the family villa with its distinctive slide-shut picket pods. There’s additionally a small plunge pool, a cocktail bar, pizza oven and full-time sushi chef. In quick, it’s a bit slice of heaven.

 

Tsala Treetop Lodge, Plettenberg Bay

My different favourite in Plett is Tsala Treetop Lodge which, because the title suggests, offers a sense of being actually excessive up within the treetops. The spacious two-bedroom villas are all accessed by way of a raised walkway via the forest cover. There are a few eating places – one child-friendly, the opposite not a lot – plus an excellent pool and lawns which you’ll share with the numerous tame bushbuck that roam the property.

Kwandwe Ecca Lodge, Eastern Cape

Kwandwe is a favourite since you really feel like safari royalty, with an impressive suite, pool and personal recreation automobile, tracker and ranger. Meals are often served al fresco, and the property is wealthy in wildlife, together with the Big Five.

The employees listed here are extraordinarily good with youngsters, spending hours instructing them the best way to create rock artwork, do conventional African beading and play video games which are common in close by villages. My youngsters learnt to bake within the kitchen, which went down a deal with, and so they additionally beloved the superb ‘mini-rangers’ programme, full with certificates of accomplishment on the finish.

The temporary shuttle flight out and in of Kwandwe Reserve from Port Elizabeth can be very thrilling for the younger ones.

Oyster Box Hotel, Durban

Durban is a superb place to go to through the UK winter months. The common sea temperature is round 22°C and daytime temperatures round 24°C. We keep in Umhlanga as that is the place I holidayed as a baby, so the rock swimming pools, brightly painted lighthouse and wonderful bodysurfing deliver again nice reminiscences.

The complete family can dive with sharks on the metropolis’s fabulous aquarium – though it’s not for the fainthearted – whereas when you desire holding dry you can too accompany the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board on their early morning patrol of the shark nets alongside town’s many swimming seashores.

We keep on the Oyster Box Hotel, which is an establishment on this a part of the world. The resort has direct entry onto the promenade, which follows the coast for miles in every route – nice for runners like me.

We go for the usual sea-facing rooms, and at evening I throw the doorways of the balcony open as broad as doable to listen to the crashing of waves on the shore. The curry buffets, excessive teas and exceptionally pleasant employees are just some of the explanations we like to go to annually. That and the resident cat, Skabanga, who my youngsters adore.

The Cavern, Drakensberg Mountains

From Durban it is smart to go northeast to the Drakensberg Mountains. We have stayed in lots of locations round each the northern and southern sides of ‘The Berg’, however our go-to alternative now could be The Cavern, a cross between Dirty Dancing and Boutique Hotel within the mountains.

We like to remain within the newer a part of the property, because the rooms are brighter and trendy – and additional away from the place the troublesome monkeys hang around. Rates embody all meals, with mild lunches on the balcony below the bushes and supper served in a comfy eating room. The resort additionally shares an excellent number of wines, with personal tastings within the cellar.

Daily guided hikes are included, with beautiful family walks to waterfalls, horse using, quad biking and mountain-bike trails. Staff vs Guest soccer matches are one other common incidence, with a lot laughter and hilarity. There is an outside journey centre close by the place the courageous can zipline via the bushes.

 

Lion Sands Tinga Lodge, Sabi Sands Game Reserve, Greater Kruger

For a Greater Kruger safari, Lions Sands Tinga Lodge is my first alternative. Their new, personal two-bedroom villa sleeps as much as six and comes with a personal housekeeper, chef and butler, in addition to automobile, ranger and tracker.

The recreation rangers right here at Lion Sands are palms down essentially the most informative I’ve ever encountered – and I’ve performed lots of of safaris. The wildlife on this concession – certainly one of only a few which are truly contained in the Kruger National Park – is prolific, with resident leopards and a satisfaction of lions. The location subsequent to the river can be beautiful, whereas the lodge is conveniently located only a ten-minute drive from the airport.

 

And when you’re extending your journey to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe:

The Stanley & Livingstone, Victoria Falls

When we go to the Falls, we wish to be barely out of city, and The Stanley & Livingstone is just a 15-minute drive away, making it the perfect spot from which to get pleasure from all of the actions within the space. Staying right here permits Big Five safari outings within the mornings and evenings, mixed with a tour of the Falls, a bungee leap, gorge swing, gorge cover tour and even white-water rafting.

The lodging is gorgeous, with very spacious interconnecting rooms, and there’s additionally sensational meals. The solely factor lacking is a view of the Zambezi River.

Chundu Island, Victoria Falls

So, for dose of the river and its distinctive magnificence, we leap onto a speedboat and energy upstream for an hour to a personal island in the midst of the mighty Zambezi. Named after a neighborhood chief, Chundu Island has simply eight tented chalets. It is on no account five-star, however I’ve by no means had such attentive, fabulous service from employees. Days are spent on the water, fishing, canoeing or simply drifting on a game-viewing pontoon with a Zambezi lager in hand.

One of the highlights of Chundu is the big seaside space that seems at sure occasions of the 12 months. This permits for soccer and volleyball matches, suntanning, sand-castle competitions, picnic lunches and just a bit extra freedom for the youngsters to run round with out concern of huge cats. There are after all plenty of huge hungry crocs, however the seaside is massive sufficient to not have to fret an excessive amount of…