Last updated on January 17th, 2025

Finally the day had come, it was my time to visit South Africa for the first time ever! The first stop on my trip was the famous city of Cape Town. Over the last 10 years of travel, I’ve always wanted to visit this glorious country, but it always seemed a bit out of the way for my travel plans. It wasn’t until May of 2022 when I was offered a free one-way air ticket anywhere in the world by a client of mine that it finally gave me the push I needed to make the dream come true!

While staying in Cape Town, I tried various types of accommodation including Airbnbs and hotels. My first luxury hotel of the visit was the Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront, Cape Town.

The property is located near to The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront which includes a large complex with shops and restaurants. The hotel actually offered a complimentary shuttle service every hour which was very convenient. The first day, I arrived in the morning and my room wasn’t quite ready so I spent some time exploring around the lobby and getting some work finished.

The interior of the hotel felt a lot like a cruise ship, which honestly was quite suitable for the location right on the ocean. A large open air space with a comfortable seating area in the center. After about an hour and a half, my room was ready, so it was up to the second floor to have a look. Let’s get this hotel review started!

Click HERE to get a special rate at the Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront!

Premium Room with Balcony – Sea View

For my Cape Town stay, I secured room 208 which was a Premium Room with Balcony – Sea View. The room was incredibly spacious at 55 square meters. The room featured a king-size bed which could be closed off from the rest of the room with a sliding door, a large sofa, lounge chair, desk with chair, coffee table, sizable closet with iron, safe, minibar, multiple USB wall ports, capsule coffee machine, tea, and balcony with a gorgeous sea view! Seriously, stop and look at this balcony 🙂

A large glass bottle of filtered water was supplied daily. I did research and it’s perfectly safe to drink tap water in Cape Town but the filtered water tastes much better. The bed and bedding were super comfortable and I slept great.

This luxury hotel bathroom was quite grand as well and featured a dual sink vanity, bathtub, shower stall, and toiletries made by Radisson Blu. I love the fact that the towels were very thick and fluffy! So comfortable.

I want to thank the Radisson Blu Waterfront for the lovely welcome amenity. I gobbled everything up like I was ravenous 🙂

Service

After spending the last few months in Asia, I was having a bit of reverse culture shock being back in a Western country. Everyone was direct with their communication and I must say it was refreshing. Throughout my stay the room was serviced twice a day. I noticed during the normal housekeeping service that the staff really did a thorough job cleaning and evened mopped the floors every single day. In the evening, the turndown service was also lovely and each night brought me a tasty sweet treat. I loved the toffee!

Tobago Restaurant

The Radisson Blu’s main restaurant is known as Tobago and is located next to the sea on the ground floor. The ambience of the space is glorious, mostly due to the fact that it is right next to the water. It has high ceilings in the center, a large outdoor seating area, and loads of friendly staff. During my stay, I ate the hotel breakfast there and had the chance to have a dinner as well.

Breakfast

Each and every morning breakfast was in Tobago in a buffet format. It’s been a while since I stayed at a Radisson Blu, but once I saw this impressive variety of food in the morning, I started to have flashbacks of other Radisson Blu Hotels I’ve enjoyed around the globe. If I’m being honest, this brand really knows how to do food correctly. They even had sparkling wine and oysters. I am now definitely a fan of breakfast oysters!

All items were very fresh and of the highest quality. When I dream of the perfect breakfast buffet, this is the type of spread I imagine. Eating tasty food and enjoying the ocean was simply magnificent. Overall, the service at breakfast was great, although there was one forgotten coffee during my visit. In the end, they corrected the mistake and the remaining days had zero hiccups. Breakfast was a success!

Dinner

As the food was great in the morning I was looking forward to what the dinner experience would be like. When the weather is good, sitting on the patio at Tobago is absolutely stunning. That being said, for the evening of my dinner, we were forced to sit inside because we didn’t want to freeze outdoor.

For the dinner I had a chance to try several dishes so I could write a thorough restaurant review for you, my valuable readers. Before the food came however, I did have the opportunity to order a Long Island Ice Tea. It was a great start to the meal and showed me right away that we were in good hands because this and the mojito were well balanced cocktails.

My food premonition turned out to be right because nearly everything we ate was fairly tasty. The flavors were great and the portion size of the seafood platter for one turned out to be massive! This could easily have been for two people. I heard that the two person version was twice as large. If my calculations are right, the larger one could easily serve four people!

We finished the evening off with a pair of gluten free desserts. These were fairly decent but nothing that shocked me to my core. All in all, it was a very pleasant and enjoyable evening at Tobago. The staff were super friendly and attentive, the food was enjoyable, and even though we had to sit inside, the atmosphere was delightful.

Amani Spa and Wellness

Looking for a place to relax or get fit? Check out the Amani spa at the Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront. The spa had all the treatments you would hope for as well as an indoor relaxation pool and gym.

The fitness center was accessible 24/7 simply by using a room key. I love working out in this sizable gym because it was filled to the brim with quality equipment. Not only was it one of my favorite brands Technogym, but everything was also incredibly new. They had all the equipment and then some that anyone could possibly need for a great workout. Not to mention the gym looked out over the marina. What a fantastic place!

During my stay, I also had a chance to enjoy a Rasul Treatment at the spa. For those of you that know me, you know that I love a good steam or sauna. My self-treatment combined this with a scrub, mask, and balm. Basically, it starts off like any other spa treatment, enjoy a tea and relax, and then you are escorted to a treatment room to execute your self-treatment.

The treatment room in this case, was a large steam room. The staff then supplied the products to exfoliate and moisturize my skin as well as give a brief explanation of how to use them. The whole Rasul Treatment lasted about 45 minutes and to be honest, I felt great afterward with my soft skin. When complete, I then went back to the relaxation pool and enjoyed some snacks and took photos. All in all, I enjoyed this way more than I expected. It was very simple but very therapeutic and relaxing!

Outdoor Pool

In addition to the gorgeous indoor pool located inside the spa of this hotel, they also have an impressive outdoor pool just near the sea. Although it looked great, I did not swim because it was quite cold during my stay. Burrrrrr!

Conclusion

There you have it, my luxury hotel review of my first stay in Cape Town! Overall, my time at the Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel was splendid. What struck me most about this property the most was the fantastic service level. It seemed like there were always numerous staff floating around attending to all of my needs. Not only were they attentive, but they were friendly, and this was very admirable.

Everything at the property it was of high quality and this accompanied with the great service was a recipe for success. This is definitely one of the top hotels in the city and gets my stamp of approval!

Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront, Cape Town

Hotel

100 Beach Rd, Granger Bay, Cape Town, 8001

Phone: +27 21 441 3000