Drakensberg Sun Resort — Hotel in Okhahlamba Local Municipality

I am a frequent guest at the Drakensburg Sun Resort since 2016/2017 and have been there more approximately 8 or 9 times over the years. My family (and extended family on several occasions where we booked several rooms) have always enjoyed spending time in the Berg especially at this resort and have spoken very highly of the staff, accommodation, entertainment offerings and most importantly the food. ||So let me start with the food - unfortunately, the change in head chef was noticeable. Previously, we were served up delicious Indian cuisine that emulated tastes of Durban and India. The Indian/Asian style dishes this time, did not live up to those standards. Don't get me wrong, they were not bad, just not as great as we have always known them to be. Slight adjustments and they can be great again! ||The various options for dinner and breakfast were great as usual. I will highlight some very tasty, well prepared roast chicken and roast potatoes on a particular evening that provided a nostalgia of old Drakensburg Sun Resort (DSR). However, I was let down by the lack of a roast lamb/grill lamb chops offering for any particular evening and we stayed for four nights! Grilled beef was on the menu twice (for someone that does not eat beef, made me miss the old DSR days more). Post COVID-19 cost of living was evident. Too bad really...they were times when even a crab curry was on the menu and offerings of delicious wood-fired Margherita pizza's. ||The evenings deserts were rated the same (hit and miss), especially the puddings, which were mediocre to down right bad! I suppose a fresh serving of ice-cream helped make up for it. Of all the desserts at dinner, one stood out, it was a decadent, dense, chocolate cake that made up for all the previous bad desserts. Kudos are warranted for that cake however, that was the only highlight. Other highlights for meal times go to the staff, Wilson at breakfast, Patrick, and Selby, just to name a few and Chef Lucky as well! If I had a choice, I would bring back Sihle (the previous food and beverage manager who would recognize my family and I from the various conversations we had preciously). ||Entertainment - the entertainment offerings remained the same. Great as always, good fun. Michelle remembers us well from our previous visits. We were very saddened to know that Protas was fired (!). He is such a wonderful character and my kids enjoyed his company too. In fact, we drove to the Nest just to see him! (To the management - bring him on as a permanent employee instead of a contractor.) ||Also along the entertainment, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery on our hikes and walk about of the resort. Everything is still very well maintained in this regard. ||Accommodation - impressive as always and lives up to every expectation!||The fire places in and around the resort makes for a very cosy environment, especially in winter! Keep that up please! ||Poolside - the restaurant and bar offerings are great as always. Friendly staff and good food. Pizzas are so awesome!||The bar and lounge - cosy and fully stocked! I am very disappointed that they have stuck with a 10pm closure despite my previous complaints, especially on a Friday night!!! During this visit, as with some others previously, we met several people and were just about warming up to have a good time, when you shut down. It is very disappointing and a huge let down when all you want to do is 'let your hair down' while on holiday! For others reading this review - plan for an early night or book into a self-catering instead, should you wish to continue having fun. Besides buying drinks from the bar, I even offered to pay for an extra hour of the staff wages just so that we can continue mingling with our newly established friends. This was greeted by blank stares, and a 'we can't do anything' response from all the staff. It was such a let down and I am seriously considering other options for my...

We stayed for a week at the Drakensberg Sun and it was an overall good experience. The 4 star hotel is set in the beautiful Champagne Valley area. The property consists of Chalets, Timeshare Apartments and hotel rooms. They have a dining area, for Breakfast and Dinner with a small little Pub area called The Blue Grotto – named after the striking water hole at the end of the Blue Grotto trail starting from the Hotel. The hotel caters for all your needs, and has a little curio shop, a gaming area for playing cards and chess and a entertainment area that houses a Table tennis table and snooker table. You can hire fishing rods and sports equipment, as well as reserve the courts for match here. Service wasn’t too bad, though our room felt like it was on the other side of the Drakensberg (Lesotho)…room 301, which is a minor hike away from the front desk. The rooms are clean and tidy, and some of the rooms have recently undergone refurbishment. Take note, when booking for a family with kids under 18 – breakfast is included and free, whereas dinner is charged separately. Rather check out the buffet and then look at the menu, to see if this is preferred over the standard options. Dinner is rotated each night, as an example…..if Monday is Chicken on the Carving table, then you will find Beef skewers on the flat top grill, with Lamb curry being the other hot meat meal….Tuesday will be Beef carvery, with chicken skewers on the flat top grill, and another lamb assortment curry/casserole. They usually have pasta and a seafood option as well…..avoid the Paella, it is heavily spiced turmeric rice with a possible smidge of saffron which you will never taste. *At breakfast, they do not allow any meats on the flat top grill while they are frying eggs, or making omelettes….this is obviously done, so as not to mix bacon/pork on the grill to respect Halaal traditions….however, the same flattop grill is what they make Beef skewers on the night before, so how does that go down with hindus who don’t eat beef altogether….interesting dilemma, unless they wash and scrub the flattop with a pumice nightly. The room service was a bit worrying, as I often found plates/trays laying in the corridor hours after the meal was consumed….yes, the same tray that was outside a room at lunchtime, was laying there at dinner time. In any case, I must give a big shout out to Warren Bell and Pranesh for the excellent service rendered by themselves and the team during our stay...

We booked at the self catering apartments in the hotel itself. We were thankfully given a second floor apartment where with our 7mth old grandchild could wheel the stroller into the apartment. from all the years I have been visiting this hotel no attempts have been made to install a lift to at least take up your luggage and food to the self catering units 3 floors up and down it's very very sad this has not been planned and done with the refurbishments. I was given a refurb apartment but you can see management is not working with maintenance to sort and keep units up and running. We called and asked for the aircons to be sorted. You are literally trapped in your apartments and cannot enjoy that fresh mountain air because the monkey problem is clearly out of hand. They patrol in droves every single minute so no doors can ever be open. With the heat going up to 33 we were sweltering. Clearly, after maintenance which took 1 hr for this poor tech after hrs to get some of the fan to blow and cool the apartment remember we also cook in them there's a huge problem with the aircons not working properly at all.|Secondly, the new apartments have a stiff netted wooden chair that looks like for outdoors, how can you possibly sit at the table and eat. |A holiday is about being away from home and having a better situation of comfort and luxury which you are paying a premium price for. You cannot expect visiting a top resort to rough it out?|Guest relations and their guests comfort should be priority. This is lacking today and management hiding behind the old covid losses must wake up to provide the service in relation to the premium prices they charge. This midweek it was almost R4559 a night per room at the drak sun and as Dec approaches even higher prices will prevail.|When we visited the pool area our food on the table was snatched by the monkeys and we literally wrapped up our 7mth old onto her Stoller and left fearing her asleep near our bags and that would swoop down to riffle through our bags for snacks and food.|Basically you can't go out, stating indoors in the sweltering heat is another option. As visitors are we supposed to watch our luggage our doors and windows our goods and food at the outdoor areas???|This is not a holiday at all. I actually purchased a week at the chalets and at a huge levy now regret...