When our flat rental plans fell through at the last minute, I was forced to get on TripAdvisor to find a nice affordable hotel in Cape Town. This was my second trip to this beautiful city, and I wanted accommodations near the waterfront, but not too pricey. I was traveling with a colleague from Turkey who had never been to South Africa and was concerned about security, comfort, and cost.

I read all the Hotel Graeme reviews, and based on those, I took a leap of faith and called the hotel directly to book our two-room, three-day weekend. I also arranged for a pick-up from the airport, and an all-day tour to the Cape of Good Hope. We paid 450 Rand per room.

Well, all the reviews were right! No surprises, no disappointments, and great service! Our airport pick-up was there without a problem. The hotel arranged an excellent tour for us with a charming ex-pat American named Bobby Brodemus. The seaport was indeed a brisk 10 minute walk, BUT make sure you get good directions. And on Sunday, there was a huge African market in the park across the street. You have to bargain and most of the stuff you’ve seen elsewhere, but it was fun. Personally, I prefer the traditional shops all over the city.

Final note: We stayed for two weeks at the 5 star Park Hyatt Hotel in Johannesburg, and the service there was awful. For more than 7 times the cost of the Graeme, we got nothing but attitude and indifference. Buyer beware.

Stayed at the Hotel Graeme for a few nights in April, wonderful place, excellent location and best of all...the service. Great personal service, they arrange for taxis, tours (at pretty short notice) and just overall, everyone was very friendly and attentive. Would def. go back and recommend this place to everyone. Location wise - it's about 10mins walk or short taxi ride from the waterfront and there is a very good restaurant next door. Taxis to Long Street, Table Mountain or anywhere else you wish to go can be arranged for through the hotel. Very reasonably priced. Really enjoyed our stay there.

we booked the hotel greame after reading this site, and were not disappointed, it does not look to grand from the street, but once inside, it had every thing we needed. the rooms were clean and the a/c was very handy, there is a small pool and a gym, but we never used them as we were out all day and only came back to change before going out in the evening. a R20 taxi ride to the waterfront or a 10 minute walk, R30 into town.
they have private parking and internet service. the breakfast that is included in the room rate is not the best we have had, but all the basics were there, including a hot option.

I think if you are going to spend most of the day in and around your hotel, and want big fluffy bath robes, then you have to pay for these in the bigger hotels, but value for money, and location the graeme suited us .R650 per night for a double room, booked direct.

next door is a ATM machine, a great coffee shop, thai restaurant and a steak house, if you stay there over a weekend, there is a big open air market on sunday morning just over the road, great for all things african.

the hotel staff were evey so helpful, they always booked out taxi for us when we needed one, and made all our reservations for us various restaurants, no charge.
it was full when we were there, and we booked a further 3 nights when we got back to CPT,as it was so convenient.

in life you only get what you pay for, but this wasa bit above the norm for the money

My fiance and I actually flew in to Cape Town with no reservation, and found Hotel Graeme through a review in a tour book. The hotel was honestly one of the best values of our entire trip. Clean, decent sized rooms with coffee maker, cable TV (limited channels though), free hot breakfast, good internet connection at reasonable prices and good beds - much more than we expected for the $45-50/night we paid. Great location - short cab ride or 10 minute walk from the water front, and 30 minute walk from downtown. We saw prices for places closer to the waterfront and could not believe that it was 2-3x our rate just to be 5 minutes closer.

The staff was also incredibly friendly and accomodating to us the entire visit, whether we wanted to store bags or use the hotel safe.

Very highly recommended for the price.