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South Africa
The Experience
In 1996, brothers Michael and Tertius Lutzeyer turned 1,700 hectares of farmland between the coastal towns of Hermanus and Gansbaai, an hour's drive southeast of Cape Town, into a cozy bed and breakfast. A decade later, Grootbos is a five-star beach retreat and nature reserve with two sumptuous lodges -- one traditional-rustic, the other contemporary-sleek -- overlooking the protected waters of Walker Bay. Penguins, Cape fur seals and Southern right whales come to play in the bay, you can do horse rides and nature walks on trails in the reserve and you could bump into sometime guest Brad Pitt down on the beach.
The RoomsThe two lodges are only minutes apart but offer distinctly different styles. Garden Lodge, the original property, has a classic African stone-and-thatch main building with 11 stand-alone suites set in gardens around it. Huge, at between 900 and 1,000 square feet, they each have wide wood decks, rooms with king or twin beds and separate earth-textured living spaces filled with African art. Forest Lodge, set under a canopy of ancient milkwood trees and only reopened in October after a devastating fire, is its modern opposite: clean-lined, glassy and minimalist, with 16 stand-alone suites each done in crisp red and blue tones reflecting the colors of the sunset and sea beyond. Living spaces with glass slide doors, pine floors and designer sofas front an airy, light-filled bedroom with en suite bath, an ideal retreat for romantic couples.
The ServiceIt's a luxury lodge but it's also a wilderness retreat, so don't expect 24-hour room service and a newspaper in the morning. You'll still get pampered -- staff greet arrivals with the cry "New Guests!" and have a welcome glass of champagne in your hand before your bags are out of the car -- but they're just as interested in telling you about the marine life in the bay and the 790 varieties of flora in the surrounding fynbos vegetation as they are about the specials on the five-course dinner menu.
The HighlightsGrootbos is still a working farm, and all herbs, vegetables and eggs used in the restaurants at each lodge are homegrown. Three-course lunches and five-course dinners of organic New World cuisine, with plenty of fresh seafood from Gansbaai, are served every day, but while Garden Lodge's dining area has a rustic safari-lodge feel (its open-air deck has a sunken fireplace), Forest's restaurant resembles a swish New York supper club, all polished wood floors and deep red and blue walls and chairs. At the Champagne Bar outside you can sample Knysna oysters over cocktails and glasses of South African wine, or take advantage of the intimacy of the inn and ask the kitchen to prepare you a picnic of homegrown fruit, focaccia sandwiches and sparkling Cape wine for a day on the beach.
-- Douglas Rogers
