May 2026

Through pain and rain, the Arniston Hotel still shines

As mentioned in an earlier post (read here), Berto and I celebrated our 30th anniversary at the 4-star Arniston Hotel & Spa in the lovely seaside village of Arniston.

Arniston Hotel & Spa

In our previous post (read here) I told you a little about this small village – it’s on the coast of the Overberg region and close to Cape Aghulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa and about 211km/131 miles from Cape Town.

The Arniston Hotel boasts awards such as ‘Best Country Hotel in South Africa’ and ‘Best Beach Hotel in South Africa’. I would therefore say, tongue-in-cheek, that we perhaps could not have chosen a better hotel where I had to spend time in one of their beautiful rooms while experiencing intense pain from a (*)pinched sciatic nerve.

(*) After more visits to the doctor and physio, the pain is getting better every day. I can now sleep for a few hours at night without waking up and I can also wash the dishes again – Berto is very happy about this. Many thanks for everyone’s good wishes, it’s much appreciated.

Entrance at Arniston Hotel & Spa

I don’t think I’m actually entitled to give a true reflection of our stay at the hotel (because I spent most of the time in our room), but I can confirm this must be a very popular hotel due to the many locals and foreign tourists who stayed here.

We were surprised to hear that, besides English and Afrikaans, there were also languages like German and French spoken. It is astonishing to think that foreign tourists come so far to stay in a small place like Arniston. But I suppose it can’t be otherwise, Arniston is picture-perfect, the Arniston Hotel & Spa is located in the perfect spot (those ocean views over the ocean are incredibly beautiful) and their staff is super friendly and makes you feel at ease right away.

So, if you ever consider visiting Arniston, book a room well in advance (especially if you are looking for one with a sea view). Let me show you what one of their luxury rooms with a sea view looks like.

Our room (with a king size bed)

Sliding doors leading to the balcony with stunning sea views

When we arrived at the hotel, it started drizzling lightly and it was quite cold. So, it was lovely to see a complimentary carafe sherry and glasses in our room.

Complimentary sherry

The coffee and tea station had everything we needed and was refilled every morning. It was also nice to find fresh milk and two bottles of water in the mini fridge. There were freshly baked rusks on the tray which were nice to enjoy with our first cup of coffee and tea in the morning.

Coffee and Tea station

The en-suite bathroom has both a shower and bathtub. (It was quite soothing to lie in the hot water in the bathtub to help relieve the pain in my back and leg).

En- suite bathroom

The hotel offers a turn-down service, where the staff prepared our room for the night by dimming the lights and arranging and placing chocolates on the pillows. Every evening we found a little card on the nightstand that informed us about the following day’s weather and specifically when low tide is. The reason why low tide is so important is that the best time to visit the (*)’Waenhuiskrans Cave’ is during low tide.

(*) Due to my injury, we unfortunately could not visit the cave. We had been there a previous time and it’s quite impressive to see the dramatic rock formations that is shaped by natural forces of erosion. We hope to visit Arniston and the cave again in the future to show this phenomenon to you.

Turn-down service in the evening

As I mentioned earlier, our room had a beautiful sea view. Our first few days were fairly cloudy and it also rained on and off, but the last day the sky was a beautiful blue (isn’t it always like that on the day you leave)? There were some really lovely sunrises and we often waited for the first light of day with a cup of coffee and tea on the balcony.

Our first early morning sunrise

Spectacular sunrise

Even during the day, the views were beautiful

On our last day at the hotel, Berto noticed in the late afternoon that fishing boats had returned from the sea. It turned out that they had not arrived in the harbour with empty boats, because there was quite a commotion with their arrival. Since I could barely walk at that time, we watched the fishing boats from our room. The harbour is conveniently close to the hotel. The sight of these fishing boats returning from their day at sea is so characteristic of Arniston and I was really glad we could experience it (even if it was from our hotel room’s balcony).

View of the sea before the arrival of the fishing boats

The first fishing boat arrives at the harbour

Another fishing boat entering the harbour

For generations, the fishermen of Kassiesbaai launched their small boats from the beach at Oubaai (now known as Roman Beach). It’s only in the last 100 years that they began to use the area below Kassiesbaai to launch their boats.

Small harbour at Arniston

Fishing boat back at the harbour

Last fishing boat

This village is one of the last working fishing villages on the coast of South Africa and is a Grade One Heritage Site. We will show more of Kassiesbaai in a later post.

Sunset with all the boats safely back at the harbour

Of course, we cannot write a post about our stay at the hotel without talking about the food. But unfortunately, it will only be a few paragraphs due to you know what!

There are two restaurants in the hotel, the Bistro and the Hotel Dining Room. On our first night, we were not very hungry (after having a big lunch at Berto’s aunt), and we therefore just enjoyed something light and a bottle of wine at the Bistro Restaurant.

The bar at The Bistro Restaurant

My Arniston Pickled Fish (left) and Berto’s fried calamari & chips (right)

Sauvignon Blanc from Arniston Bay

On our second day in Arniston, I (further) injured my back and after that incident we only ate once at the Bistro Restaurant. I wasn’t really hungry and just ordered soup, while Berto decided on a pizza.

Soup and pizza

The only morning that we ate breakfast; the food was really good. It was laid out in a buffet style in the Hotel Dining Room. We sat by a window and while it drizzled lightly, we enjoyed our food and admired the lovely view.

Latte and Breakfast

On our last evening at the hotel, Berto ordered food from the Bistro Restaurant. The hotel offers room service, and a waiter brought our food to the room. Despite not feeling well, my Cheese and Bacon Meatball Sub was tasty and Berto was very satisfied with his Chicken Burger.

Dinner (and room service)

I am very disappointed that we couldn’t enjoy the hotel’s delicious seafood dishes. There is such a big variety, and everything looked really delicious.

When we left, it was a beautiful sunny day. While I was waiting at the hotel’s reception for Berto to bring our ‘bakkie’ closer so that I wouldn’t have to walk too far, I knew we would have to come back someday – and I hope we don’t have to wait another 30 years for the opportunity to stay at the beautiful Arniston Hotel & Spa.

Sunrise on our last morning

A beautiful day

Last look at Arniston Hotel & Spa

Lovely last ocean view