There was a time not long ago, when Kwa Zulu Natal ranked as the poor third cousin in the eyes of international travellers in particular. That’s changed in recent years, and if the outcome of the Visa/House & Leisure Best of SA competition is anything to judge our province by, it seems the world has finally awakened to the beauty and diversity of this spectacular region.

Within the walls of the province, there has long existed an intimate collection of hospitality properties known as the Land Of Legends, whose common glue is their celebration of culture, tradition and history, and their outstanding records of social upliftment and environmental preservation. These establishments include Hartford House, Phinda Private Game Reserve, Fordoun Hotel and Spa, the Beverley Hills and Rocktail Beach Camp, and the first three of these recently made the final five in each of their respective categories in the Visa/House & Leisure competition.

Given that the best names in South African hospitality were among the finalists in each category, its not only a wonderful tribute to the Land Of Legends in general and these properties specifically, but it’s a compliment to the depth and diversity of Kwa Zulu Natal’s offerings, that all three were voted national winners by the readers of South Africa’s most popular lifestyle magazine, for the second consecutive year.

Hartford House topped the podium as the nation’s best restaurant in that category, which included the Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francaise and Le Colombe at Constantia Uitsig, both of which rank in the World Top Fifty. Some achievement for celebrity chef, Jackie Cameron, and her team, considering the remoteness of their locality, 10kms on the Giants Castle side of Mooi River.


Hardly surprising, for their well established reputation for excellence, was the Phinda’s Homestead Lodge’s top spot in the Best Of SA Lodge category, and here again, we should be mindful that the finalists included Ivory Lodge, Singita Sweni and Makanyane Safari Lodge.

In the Spa category, there were two Kwa Zulu Natal-based properties among the finalists, Fordoun Hotel and Spa and the Karkloof Spa, with the outstanding Nottingham Road-based Fordoun the voter’s favourite for a second time.

While the voting was not confined to South African readers alone, the outcomes were probably as much a statement about the excellence of these Kwa Zulu Natal establishments, as they were for the values South Africans treasure most: excellent quality, great dependability and outstanding value, and the fact that increasingly, modern travellers have originality, authenticity and genuine hospitality at the top of their shopping lists, in the choice of where they eat and where they choose to stay.

Everyone needs the chance to feel appreciated

Package includes:

Two nights Bed and Breakfast
Sparkling wine or fruit juice on arrival
A two course dinner
A back neck and shoulder massage
An Africology facial

Package Rate

Midweek Sunday to Thursday

R2 060.00 per person

Weekend

R2 460.00 per person

This package is subject to availability. The rate for a partner sharing will be R600 per person sharing per night midweek and R800 per person sharing per night on a weekend, this includes breakfast. Weekend is considered as Friday and Saturday night.

The Specials are not available over the 2010 World Cup period.