'In South Africa, when you've made your money, you move to Cape Town,' my Capetonian friend told me, a faint trace of smugness lighting up his features as we watched the sun setting behind the squeaky white sands of Camps Bay. If that was the view from my pool deck, I'd be feeling pretty smug too.
While the flashiest villas and hotels are concentrated in the coastal suburbs and surrounding winelands, downtown Cape Town is now enjoying a renaissance. That's partly thanks to the Cape Town Partnership, which has championed a regeneration of the inner city in the past decade. And it's partly down to the Taj Cape Town, which bills itself as the city's 'oldest new hotel'.
Taj Hotels have a 100-year-old reputation for restoring historic landmarks, so it's fitting that they chose to merge two heritage buildings for their first African property: the former South African Reserve Bank, which was inspired by the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and the adjacent Temple Chambers, built in 1896. Behind the austere granite façade is a calm cocoon of understated opulence. The barrel-vaulted banking hall is now the lobby. As you take afternoon tea, look up and imagine the minstrels who once serenaded customers from the balconies.
The 177 rooms are divided into Heritage Rooms (with giant beds that swallow you up and bathtubs the size of plunge pools) and modern Tower Rooms with stunning views of Table Mountain. Paris Hilton and Angela Merkel have both commandeered the Presidential Suite, which commands the most dazzling vistas: Company Gardens, the Houses of Parliament, and St George's Cathedral, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu campaigned to end apartheid. Across the street is the Slave Lodge, a chilling reminder of the nation's deep scars. 'We're not just in the heart of Cape Town, but the heart of South Africa,' says Theo Cromhout, the hotel's marketing director — and he's right.
But traditional Indian hospitality is a hallmark of Taj hotels, and this one is no different. The soothing Jiva Grande spa has a resident Ayurvedic doctor, who prescribed me an energising massage with Jemina. Her healing hands coaxed every trace of tension from body and mind. The treatment began with a rose petal footbath and ended with a pot of detoxifying holy basil, lime and jaggery tea. Even a refined five-course feast at the Bombay Brasserie did not ruffle that feeling of perfect harmony — although I did my best to realign my chakras with a selection of the Cape's finest Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc. Apparently a panel of tasters tested 700 local wines before finalising the wine list - another indication of the perfectionism that defines this modern classic.
Taj Cape Town, Wale Street, 2001 Cape Town, South Africa ( +27 (0) 21 819 2000; tajhotels.com/capetown). Doubles from 3500 ZAR (£320). Africa Travel (0845 450 1535; africatravel.co.uk) can arrange seven nights at the Taj Cape Town, including breakfast, return British Airways flights, departure taxes and private airport transfers from £2,095 per person.
