Hippo Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Gardens

Not knowing the area, we didn't realise we had booked a room above what seems to be the place to be on a Friday night.

Luckily, we had a room which was not facing the main road and was surprisingly sheltered from the action. Unless you want to feel like you are in a bar on a Friday night for your entire stay, make sure you get a room facing away from the action.

There are three bars/cafes\restaurants immediately below the hotel. We went to the fat cactus- mexican- and had a late lunch and a drink after hiking up table mountain in the morning. It was fantastic and great prices. About $3 a drink, and $8-$12 for a fantastic meal. Loved it. There is a Thai restaurant aswel.

The complementary continental breakfast is served at 'mano a mano' which is the other restaurant downstairs.

The room was very nice. Spacious with fridge, good flat screen and cable. A modern design, with comfortable furniture.

We drove, so the secure off-street parking was great. I am not sure if we were supposed to get the pass code but the staff seem to be busy sometimes and getting buzzed in took more than five minutes on one occasion- I ended up calling by phone to get them to open the gate to the parking- but I consider this a rare slip from otherwise dedicated staff.

Good wifi, and good room service from any of the restaurants downstairs.

I would definitely stay here again, but I would absolutely male sure I got a room facing away from the street. The other side of the building...

Stayed here for 4 nights with my wife. Location is excellent in the buzzy Kloof St area with lots of bars and restaurants. Felt safe to walk around both daytime and evening. The breakfast in a local cafe concept is good but there are only 2 choices, not the 4 on the website. Egghead was our favourite.

Hotel is generally good but some details stop it quite being the boutique experience it's trying to sell itself as. Service was a bit mixed, mostly lovely helpful people, some a bit too busy to actually do serving customers. Our executive suite was a lovely duplex space with huge windows, giant comfy bed and great amenities like the coffee machine, fridge, dishwasher, TV with dstv etc. Great to have a seating area as well as the kitchen and their were nice pieces of art as well. Cheap secure parking was a bonus too. However it only has a view of the Lions Head if you lean out and look left (other rooms may be better), the key card failed twice, the safe constantly showed low battery signs even after the battery was changed and the shower is straight out of a council leisure centre changing room. Really needs an upgrade to something more in keeping with their ambitions. The open plan bathroom is ok as a thing but replace the bath with a big shower space with frosted glass surrounds and a rainwater shower head or it just looks unfinished.

Temper your expectations and you'll have a...

A nice hotel in the thick of the hip & happening area of Gardens in Cape Town.

The hotel is nicely positioned and makes walking the area really easy. The hotel does offer parking, but you will probably only use your car for arriving and leaving. Uber's are readily accessible too.

We had a corner room so had a lovely big room overlooking the mountain. Very functional room with comfy large bed and a lounging area. A little kitchen area inside a cupboard is a welcome addition.

Downside is the noise that comes from the area below ... which I think is Jerry's kitchen. This was the weekend so it was busy so maybe this isn't an issue during the week.

Access to the hotel, rooms etc is via a security card ... and then the irony is that the restaurants toilets have access to the bottom area and straight up the stairs to the reception area.

Breakfasts are taken using vouchers at a choice of 3 restaurants. We had breakfast at Knead Bakery on Sunday morning and Molten Toffee on Monday morning. Both were superb!!!

Recommended and will stay here again in a...