Best Value Accommodation Tips

While cheap is our name, if you’ve driven with us before, you’ll know that cheap without good value is not what we are about. It is no secret that we, at Rentacheapie, love a good deal. If you, like us, want excellent value for the lowest prices then this three part blog series is ideal for you.

Over the course of the next few blog posts we’ll be bringing you our Capeacheapie guide. Hmm, ok, we won’t call it that… but we’ll show you Where to Stay, Where to Eat and What to Do when you adventure in the mother city (aka Cape Town; for our European friends who’ve hit ‘translate’ for this article).

This first post in our series will highlight tips for best value accommodation in Cape Town. If you’re a savvy traveller, you would have likely already searched for “best backpackers in Cape Town”, run through your options on Airbnb Cape Town (with a low price range limit set, of course) and scoured Bookings.com for the best deals. If you’re a really savvy traveller, you would have likely found some low-cost accommodation options on local South African sites such as lekkeslaap, sleeping-out.co.za, Rooms for Africa and Travel Ground. While this is a great start, we’re concerned that you might not get all the insight you need to help ensure that you’re getting the best, all-round value. We’re here to help.

Best areas for best value

Our first accommodation tip is: location. Where you stay might be cost effective, but if it is not close to the places you want to go to, you will be paying more (in the form of your time) to get to where you want to be. When you are in a beautiful city like Cape Town, you definitely don’t want to waste any time (trust us!).

So, first up, have a good think about what it is you are looking to see and do in the city;

• Are you all about the surf? Stay on the Cape Peninsula (Muizenberg, Kalk Bay or Scarborough), where you won’t be too far from a number of these top Cape Town surf spots.
• Kitesurfing your vibe? You want to stay in Tableview for easy access to Cape Town kitesurfers paradise.
• Super amped on Table Mountain? If you’re all about taking in as much of this epic natural wonder of the world, position yourself close to Cape Town CBD suburbs, such as Gardens, Oranjezicht or Tamboerskloof.
• Beach Bumming? If you are coming for fun in the sun on the beach, stay close to the Cape Town CBD where you can pop over the mountain to soak up the golden sand on Clifton or Camps Bay beaches. Alternatively, you can head down the Cape peninsula and stay in Simon’s Town where you will be near to plenty of beautiful beaches and some penguins, too.
• Wine tasting? Wine farms situated in Cape Town itself are mostly found in Constantia. They are spectacular, but limited in number and Constantia can also be a costly neighbourhood to spend the night. You could consider spending a night in Hout Bay and taking a drive from there to explore the Constantia vineyards. However, if wine tasting is a top priority for your trip, we recommend that you book a night or two in Stellenbosch. This town is centrally located along the wine route and is about a 45 minute drive from Cape Town’s city centre.
• Hiking to your liking? There are numerous hikes in and around the city. If you are a first time visitor to Cape Town, skip the queues and take a hike up table mountain instead. You can also go up Lion’s Head for a spectacular view of the city. For easy access to these two peaks, position yourself near to the Cape Town CBD in suburbs such as Tamboerskloof, Oranjezicht or Gardens.
• Foodie? Cape Town is full of spectacular places to dine and once more we suggest staying near to Cape Town’s CBD to take advantage of a number of delicious spots to eat within close proximity.
• Nightlife what you seek? If you love a night out then try to stay in the Sea Point area where you are fairly close to a number of lively nightlife spots.

Quality control checks

Ok, you think you’ve found a place to stay and it is in an area close to things you want to see? That’s great! But do you know if it will be safe, clean or a reliable spot to stay? The best thing you can do is look at reviews from other folk who have actually spent a night there.

We have curated a short list of sites that you can visit to search for previous reviews on the accommodation you are considering to book. Simply search for the name of your accommodation in on the below sites:

• Hellopeter.com: this is a local South African review site.
• TripAdvisor: have a quick squiz if your spot is listed here. If not, that is a bit of a red light. If it is, definitely check out the reviews and ratings.
• AirBnb Reviews: if the accommodation you are looking to stay in happens to be on AirBnb as well, definitely check out the reviews here.

Another quality check you can do before you book, is gauge how quickly the accommodation owners reply to you and how professional they are in their replies. This is a fair indicator of the quality of service you’ll get during your stay. Ask the owners/managers as many questions you need to in order to feel comfortable about staying in their accommodation.

Remember, where you stay can make or break your trip. We strongly recommend researching your accommodation to make sure you’re not only getting the lowest rates but also the best value.

Look out for our other posts in this series, we’ll be exploring some awesome spots where you can find tasty, good quality, low-cost grub as well as some epic things for you to do while visiting the mother city. As you know, we’re all about travel not costing the earth!