Protea Breakwater Lodge sells itself as ‘the most affordable accommodation in the V & A Waterfront’ and was a prison in the 19th century – something it seems proud of as this information is on most of its communication materials. The fact that the hotel was once a prison made me uncomfortable to be honest but when you think about it, it may be a good selling point – the architecture of the hotel is different and being a prison-turned-hotel certainly makes it unique. The hotel has 191 rooms, 2 restaurants, a gym and other facilities.
I had arranged with the hotel to be picked up at Cape Town International airport but on arrival, there was no-one there holding a placard with my name on it. My plane had been delayed and was an hour late still I was surprised that the person to pick me up had simply left or not turned up at all. I asked around at the airport and got a metered taxi to take me to the hotel. It turned out that the taxi was a lot cheaper than the hotel pick-up so things worked out well in the end.
The room was nice and modern (nothing 19th century about it which was lovely as far as I was concerned) with a little fridge, satellite TV (but no music channel to my dismay) and a bathroom with a bathtub and shower.
The bed and bathroom (behind the glass wall) at Breakwater Lodge
Breakfast at Stonebreakers Buffet Restaurant (one of the hotel’s 2 restaurants) was included in the hotel rate and was tasty. There were excellent views of the V & A Waterfront as well as Table Mountain from Stonebreakers. Although I never ate at the Time Out Café, I did order pizza (room-service) from there one evening and the pizza was awful – really oily.
The oily pizza I unfortunately ordered
The best thing about Breakwater lodge was its great location (about 10 minutes walk from the V & A Waterfront). The room was nicely furnished and if you avoid ordering pizza from the Time Out Café, you should be alright. I would recommend it if you want to stay near the V & A without spending loads of cash.
Read other hotel reviews here.
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