Birkenhead House

Birkenhead House stands on 11th Street, on a raised promontory above Walker Bay, set between two of Hermanus's best swimming beaches roughly 120 km from Cape Town along the Overberg coastline. Part of The Royal Portfolio and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, the villa-style property is built, as the group describes it, "at the scale of a private home — intimate, unhurried and deeply personal."

Its four room categories — Standard, Superior, Deluxe Superior and Luxury — all come with a king bed and private balcony, moving from mountain views up to sea-facing rooms and a Luxury category with a private plunge pool. Rates are all-inclusive: meals, local beverages and snacks, a full mini-bar, laundry and town-centre transfers are covered, alongside the clifftop pool, Birkenhead House Spa, and hotel-arranged whale watching and ocean safaris through the June-to-November season.

Booking.com guests rate Birkenhead House 9.0 out of 10 from 47 reviews, with staff scored 9.7 and location 9.6. One guest called it simply "my favourite hotel in the world," while another praised staff who were "attentive, friendly" throughout the stay.