The ideal accommodation for visiting Cape Town's hip Kloof Street

The Mother City’s Kloof Street has become famous for its casual eating and ultra-cool atmosphere. Brian Berkman recommends the nearby Hippo Boutique Hotel if you want to explore this neighbourhood

- Brian Berkman

The Hippo Boutique Hotel is the only city-based member of Cape Country Routes, a collection of more than 20 privately owned hotels, lodges and guest houses dotted along scenic and historic routes in the Western and Eastern Cape.

Graded four stars, the 25-key Hippo Boutique Hotel provides standard rooms with views of either Signal Hill or the city, as well as loft suites.

Located in Park Road, just a few steps away from Kloof Street, the hotel offers easy walking access to the hottest places to eat and hang out. If you’d prefer to self-cater, the rooms are well equipped to do so, and there’s a Woolworths Food and an expanded Wellness Warehouse in the adjacent Lifestyle on Kloof Centre.

But, with the vibey Fat Cactus delivering affordable and delicious Tex-Mex on the ground floor of the Hippo, and the acclaimed Thali, an outpost of the Chefs Warehouse group, as a direct neighbour, cuisine options are plentiful even before reaching Kloof Street.

According to hotel owner Kevin King, a new tenant called Therapy, a hip all-day restaurant with great food, cocktails and music operated by the team from Jarryds of Sea Point, will soon open adjacent to Fat Cactus and be directly accessible from the hotel.

As the hotel has no food and beverage department, breakfast vouchers are offered at three nearby eateries: Mugg & Bean in the Lifestyle on Kloof Centre, Nu on the corner of Kloof and Rheede streets, and Egghead, directly opposite Nu.