Coot Club

Style

Hit play

Setting

Knockabout Klein riverside

Eco-friendly South African retreat Coot Club's name nods to the prolific birdlife in the surroundings, but that's not the only area in which nature has excelled herself, with the wildlife-rich Klein River lagoon, flowering fynbos, moss-flocked Maanschynkop mountains, and acres of milkwood forest providing both panoramic scenery and wide-open playgrounds. Stone cottages and Scandi-esque Boathouses (ideal for cross-generation getaways) put you at the heart of the action, be it kayaking, playing volleyball, fat-biking about, or whooshing along a Slip N Slide. And after all that excitement, it’s to the Clubhouse for freshly paddled pizzas, or the beach for sundowners.

Facilities

Rooms

Four boathouses and four standalone cottages.

Checkout

10.30am. Earliest check-in, 3pm. There is more flexibility with timings in the quieter months.

More Details

Rates include breakfast and dinner.

Also

The surrounding terrain may be quite wild, but Coot Club’s stone cottages (which are set closer to the main building than the boathouses) and Clubhouse (which has a wheelchair-accessible bathroom) are suitable for guests with mobility issues.

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

At the Hotel

Access to the lagoon; fynbos; free-to-borrow kayaks, fat bikes, volleyball kit, boules, and stand-up paddleboards; lawn games; table tennis and table foosball; library of board games; charged laundry service, and free WiFi. In rooms: stove, fridge, crockery and cutlery, toaster, tea- and coffee-making kit (plus sugar and milk), free bottled water and rusks, books, lawn games, life jackets, firewood and lighters, and Kalahari Lifestyle bath products. The Stone Cottages have barbecues too.

Our Favourite Rooms

Choose between a cottage or boathouse. The former are older, stone-built and cosy as can be (even if they’re family-sized), tucked into the woods, and come with a furnished veranda and built-in barbecue and braai pit (staff can give you marshmallows for making s'mores). The boathouses are more modern in style, with a nautical, wood-lined Scandi look (wicker, oars on the wall, coastal yellows and blues), and a spectacular setting by the lagoon, which kicks sundowners up a gear. All come with a full kitchen and are secluded across the nature reserve’s 1,150 acres, so there’s a degree of self-sufficiency, but with staff on call as needed. And, you’ll spy botanics-inspired works by the likes of Lucie de Moyencourt, Lisa Ringwood and Gemma Orkin.

Poolside

You could swim in the lagoon or the Atlantic (be warned, the latter can be bracing at times), but there’s also a solar-heated pool set into the lawns with blue-green views which is child-friendly, with loungers around the sides. A second adults-only pool is set in a more secluded part of the grounds.

Spa

There’s no spa onsite, but in-room treatments can be arranged on request and with advanced notice.

Packing Tips

Bring romp-around wear, notebooks to jot down your observations on guided hikes, binoculars, and plenty of swimwear.

Also

The Spookhuis isn’t as eerie as its name suggests, it’s the nickname it was given when it stood abandoned for years, but now this 1892 limestone structure is filled with joy as the hotel’s event venue.

Children

Very welcome, with hideaways that feel like your own family home in the wild and plenty of play to keep little ones busy. Plus the focus on nature and conservation will make budding naturalists of enthralled little ones.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

Sitting under milkwood trees has a poetic ring to it, don’t you think?

Dress Code

We know it’s nautical here, but no need to go overboard: think a Breton stripe and deck shoes rather than the full Naval.

Hotel Restaurant

Chicken barbecued on the Weber grill, pizzas paddled from the wood-fired oven, homemade burgers, toasties, refreshing salads – and the likes of steak in red-wine jus, rainbow trout with lemon and dill risotto, slow-cooked brisket with onion confit – are served in the Clubhouse – which continues the nautical theme with sailcloth lashed to the ceiling, framed flags and jaunty stripes – or alfresco in the shade of 400-year-old milkwood trees. Dinners are a communal affair here with home-style feasting and sharing plates, and communal braai events. And come winter, the fires are lit in the historic Spookhuis (built in 1892) and heartier comfort food is dished up. If you want to use your hideaway's kitchen, groceries can be ordered in advance of your stay.

Hotel Bar

You’ll start to get a Pavlovian response to the sound of the ship’s bell being rung an hour before sundown, when guests gather on the lawn or jetty for frosty local beers and chilled chenin blancs alongside other wines from the Overberg’s cellars, and to see what’s being served for dinner that night. Walker Bay Beach is also a wondrous sundowner spot, and on cooler days, or for a cosy nook, head to the Clubhouse.

Last Orders

Breakfast orders are from 8am to 11am, then an à la carte menu runs in the Clubhouse. Orders are taken from 6.30pm to 8pm in the winter or 6.30pm to 8.30pm in summer.

Room Service

Staff can bring food to you, or you could whip it up yourself in your residence’s kitchen.

Planes

Cape Town International is the closest hub, around a two-hour drive away. You’ll know you’re on the right route when you hit the Peregrine Farm Stall or the Farm Deli at Beaumont Wines at the halfway point.

Automobiles

A car will be essential – there’s no public transport to speak of and hotel excursions are strictly local. A four-wheel drive or SUV is best for tackling the terrain, and there’s a main carpark and a space for each cottage or boathouse. If you’re road-tripping, the hotel is a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, and 40 minutes from Hermanus.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Coot Club is named for the predominant bird species on the lagoon and denotes the hotel's immense respect for nature. Who could look out over its tangle of milkwood forest, still waters of the Klein River lagoon, flowering fynbos, and mossy Maanschynkop mountains and not feel moved. The Coot Club now offers sailing, water skiing, wakeboarding and tubing for an additional cost. The possibilities for free-roaming are legion, both indoor and out; borrow lawn games, volleyball kit, footballs, or board games; play table tennis or foosball, kayaks and life-jackets (paddling alongside crested coots and yellow-billed ducks, or visiting flamingoes), stand-up paddleboards and fat bikes, all the better for pedalling to Walker Bay Beach (which whale pods pass through from July to November) for sand-boarding, or to charming Stanford Village. Sailing lessons can be arranged with Hermanus Yacht Club, or guided walks through the fynbos, keeping an eye out for the tracks of caracals, leopards, porcupines, honey badgers, or bush pigs (if you don’t see one, the overnight camera traps might capture them, and staff are happy to take you through the footage). And, the lagoon isn’t just a top spot for sundowner wine flights – it’s a prime twitching perch too, with up to 230 species to spot. Otherwise, staff can arrange for you to sail down the Klein River, take foraging trips, play tennis nearby, go quad-biking, visit the Overberg’s wine cellars and organic farms, partake in an art workshop, or cage-dive with sharks at Gansbaai.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .