Two years had passed with the wonderful man in my life, and to celebrate he decided to plan a secret getaway to celebrate our anniversary. I spent weeks trying to convince him to sell out and tell me what he had planned, but his lips remained sealed. It was only until our anniversary weekend when we pulled up in front of Place on the Bay in Camps Bay that I realised all my dreams were about to come true.
After a good couple of minutes of jumping for joy and ‘thank you hugs’, I regained my composure and stepped inside the reception. We were greeted by a very friendly young man behind a long desk who welcomed us and informed us about all of the hotel facilities, before handing us our key and directing us to the elevator. I felt like a bit of a diva when I entered the elevator as it had mirrors on all sides – the kind of ones that make you unable to resist checking your appearance at least twice, and as I wasn’t expecting staying at a fancy hotel, I hadn’t exactly dressed for the occasion. We got off on the third floor and lugged our bags down a long window-lit passageway until we reached room 306, which was to be our home for the next two days.
I grabbed the key card in excitement and swiped our entry into the palatial “Luxury One-Bedroom Apartment.” I didn’t know where to focus my energy first – the size of the apartment, the lavish furnishings, the commanding sea views, or my favourite flowers that stood waiting patiently on the dining room table as per the request of my loving boyfriend and the friendly and eager-to-please staff.
The apartment was truly magnificent with understated splendour. Designed purely for self-catering, it was fitted with a spacious open plan kitchen, living space, and dining area. A furnished double balcony led off the living area and with its glass sliding door, you could revel in spectacular sea views from almost anywhere in the apartment. Tearing myself away from the sea views, I entered the bedroom where an inviting king-sized bed beckoned, but that wasn’t all. The en-suite bathroom had a spa bath! A spa bath that was mine to use, provided I abided by the strict “no use between 10pm and 10am” policy to consider the other guests. I realised the necessity for this when I eagerly started running my first bath and discovered just how noisy it was. Three bottles of complimentary toiletries awaited my use beside the bath.
After I had done a second inspection of the apartment, I found that there was another bathroom and shower off the living room and that my bedroom had sliding doors that opened right onto the full-frontal sea view. Once I had gotten over my excitement (or at least tried to remain a little more normal), we headed down to the beachfront to find a shop to stock up our kitchen with food for the weekend. We found a very conveniently situated Pick n Pay and filled up our baskets with bread, cheese, bacon, eggs, and whatever else took our fancy, before spending a leisurely evening watching movies on the flat screen television and sipping bubbly.
The next morning we woke early to pouring rain and (after my second bubble bath), we headed to the nearby V&A Waterfront to do some shopping. After an eventful day out exploring the nearby attractions and beaches, we took a stroll along the beach road until we could decide on a suitable spot to celebrate our anniversary. We had initially considered dining at the hotel restaurant, but soon changed our minds when we saw how busy it was (even during the middle of winter). So off to the beachfront it was. Amusingly, we didn’t get very far as Col Cacchios’ views and inviting smells beckoned us before we could reach the 5-star restaurants that would perhaps have made a more suitable anniversary dinner. That didn’t stop us though as we chose a window seat, overlooking the palm tree lined beach and keenly inspected the menu for our favourite pizzas. The view from the restaurant was magical, as was the dinner that followed. Before we headed back to our room at Place on the Bay, we took a slight detour to sink our toes into the soft sand of the beach. The sun was just setting and the Camp’s Bay coastline was truly magical – definitely an evening well spent.
On Sunday morning, we made the most of our last few hours as we had to check out by 10am. We explored the hotel, stopping beside the swimming pool area to admire the fact that even though it was winter, the pool was still sparkling blue! Even though we headed to Place on the Bay during the coldest time of year, we still had one of the best weekends of our lives, well looked after by friendly staff and superb in-room facilities. I definitely recommend staying at Place on the Bay, be it for an anniversary, family weekend, or a business function. Find out more.
Have you been to Place on the Bay? If so, let us know what you thought!
