This was our second visit to La Residence in Francschoek--where we were married in 2010--and our fourth visit to South Africa. On our previous trip in 2010, we stayed 4 nights at the Dock House and 3 nights here in the same suite at La Residence. FWIW, Cape Town, the Cape peninsula, and the Cape Winelands together are my favorite place in the world.

La Residence

La Residence is a boutique hotel with levels of service comparable to Singita. While we did notice a few blunders here and there on this our 2nd stay, the level of service is still extremely high.

The photos on the website clearly show that LR is designed in an eclectic style--far busier than anything we normally prefer, and yet we love it. I like to call it Elton John chic--and it looks like he designed it. As it turns out, he didn't--but he does stay there almost every year around the holidays (and had just departed before us, allowing us to get the room off the waitlist--since he stays in the same room that we were in when married).

It's totally different, and that has appeal. It is a small hotel with just 11 rooms (all basically junior suites, more or less), and since 2010 also 3 villas adjacent to the property (a short drive around to reach them, but we never got around to seeing them). It feels a bit more like you're visiting a friend's estate rather than a hotel. And the view is spectacular:



Rooms are categorized as superior (5) or luxury (6). The luxury rooms are a bit bigger and have terraces or slightly better views. But all of the rooms are quite spacious and have great views.

Peacocks and small antelope roam the property, and the peacocks really come into the public areas all the time. One even rested on the hedge just beneath our balcony:

The pool is beautiful--but after 2 visits, we still have never used it or laid out to sun ourselves. There were many guests doing so on this visit, however--it being summer and quite warm.

Check In

We arrived by rental car, having rented a BMW (for just 500 ZAR for 3 full days, including delivery at the Dock House and pick-up from La Residence) through Hertz, arranged through La Residence (which added 10%). It took us about 1 hr to drive from The Test Kitchen in Cape Town to La Residence.

Check in was gracious and fast in our Suite, as obviously we'd been here before and needed no tour. 
 

Room

Maharani Suite

This is generally considered to be the best room, because it is located at the end of one of the wings of the hotel and offers views from all 3 sides of the very large main living/bed room, as well as from the huge separated bathroom.

The view out to the Franschhoek hills:



It's very dramatic.

The living/bedroom is enormous, with a very elevated platform bed and all sorts of eclectic furnishings--including an autographed photo of Elton. (I was tempted to leave one of mine, but I digress.) It's exactly the type of decor you might envision he would like--tastefully if overly done. There is a small couch at the foot of the bed, 2 writing desks, a large table and chairs to have a meal, and other assorted furnishings. There is even a complimentary bar with spirits, wine, and snacks. There is also a juliet balcony outside the French doors pictured above, and a much larger covered terrace outside the bedroom and bathroom, with chairs and tables to sit and enjoy the side view looking onto the ponds and the distant mountains. Again, spectacular.

The bathroom is separate by a large wall, against which the bed is located, with 2 doors on either side of the bed. The wall does not go all the way up to the exposed ceiling--only as high as the walls, so the air is open between the bedroom and bathroom areas--the most peculiar design feature of the rooms if you ask me. (This seemed to be true in many of the rooms, but not all of them.) It is a bit off-putting to be using the facilities while your other half is in the bedroom...but it is what it is. The toilet area is NOT separated, so it sits against a wall with a modesty screen nearby--again, peculiar. But there also is a massive soaking tub, 2 separate vanities, a large exposed shower area, and 2 massive wardrobes (his and his in our case) with a safe. Plenty of room for storage.

Service

Service here is outstanding. Edward, the manager, was really the only person on staff who had been there when we were married in 2010, but he and I have kept in touch since that first visit. He's an absolute delight, and keeps things moving smoothly. He called ahead to several of our winery stops and even one of our restaurants (I made all of my own arrangements in advance, as I often prefer to do) to make sure we were well taken care of...and many times we got extra tastings or a special dessert because of his call.

To further illustrate, we had left 2 small bags at the InterContinental Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport Hotel when we left for Madagascar (fearing that we might be overweight for our charter flight to Anjajavy), knowing that we had a 3 hr layover in JNB en route to CPT. When the schedule suddenly changed our layover to 2 hrs, we didn't want to risk leaving the terminal after customs and making it back through security in time for our connection. So we emailed LR from Madagascar to ask if they could help with courier service--which was handled by LR (not Edward) within 2 emails and 20 minutes (for a mere $40). Our bags arrived on our 3rd day at LR. Easy, simple.

 

Dining

This was probably the only area of slight letdown for us on this visit. We had dinner on premises in the main restaurant on our first night (they simply use part of their massive lobby, depending on how many guests they have in-house and/or how many guests have reserved for dinner). It was disappointing. Service was quite slow (which normally isn't an issue for us as we dine as if we're European), and portions were sized a bit too big--though we might also have suffered from our 5 course lunch earlier that day at The Test Kitchen in Cape Town. Still, we had to ask twice about our dessert...and after 20 min I was done, and we returned to the room. Not 5 minutes later, they knocked on our door--they had brought our cheese course and desserts up to us. I was too full and tired, but it was a nice gesture after the fact.

Dinner was OK food wise, but considering the quality of restaurants in Franschhoek and nearby, it was only OK.

Breakfast, on the other hand, was always delicious. We had booked on a B&B plan so had breakfast included. (You can book full board or half board, as well, but I don't recommend it since, as I mentioned, there are so many amazing restaurants nearby.) Service was consistently slow, again, but better than at dinner.

For our other dining, we had lunches at Camphors at the Vergelegen Wine Estate (spectacularly good) about 1 hr drive away during our wine tasting day, Rubens in Franschhoek (their steak tartare is divine), and Tokara at the Tokara Wine Estate about 20 min drive away. Our other dinners were at The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francais (which wasn't quite as good as we recall from 2010 but still very good), Pierneef a la Motte at La Motte Wine Estate (very good), and Delaire Graff (very good but a bit corporate for our tastes).

Location

The location is sublime. Or did you miss the photo of the view?

The hotel is an easy 5-10 min walk into Franschhoek for shopping, dining, exploring, or even to visit the Chamonix tasting room. It is about a 5-10 min drive from Boekenhoutskloof winery, 15 min drive from Tokara/Delaire Graff, and maybe 20-25 min drive into Stellnebosch proper. 

Overall

La Residence is truly amazing. Except for the one dinner, our return was magical. Its style will not suit everyone, but if you like amazing service in a spectacular setting, this is it. There's a reason I chose this place for our wedding in 2010 out of all the many amazing venues around the Cape.

We did manage to visit Delaire Graff, but we couldn't see their lodgings--which are supposed to be quite spectacular. However, we found the entire experience to be a bit too corporate for our tastes--including the restaurant. It's a bit of a factory and tourist destination due to its wine tasting room, so it doesn't feel as much as a retreat as La Res.

If you prefer being in town in Franschhoek as opposed to the 5 min drive or 15-20 min walk fromwhere La Res is situated, then Le Quartier Francais may be for you.

But La Residence is the height of sophistication and luxury with superb service and a caring staff that really treats you like family. I highly recommend it.

Emirates First Class CPT-DXB-LAX

Emirates First CPT-DXB-LAX

For our first ever EK F trip, we had tickets for $3200 apiece OW for CPT-DXB-LAX, canceling our previously held award tickets using UA pre-devaluation miles for CPT-JNB (SA J)-LOS (SA J)-IAH (UA J)-SNA (UA F)--the Emirates itinerary being 2 fewer segments and in proper F class!

CPT-DXB in F on Emirates 771

CPT-LAX EK F was a very nice private suite as advertised.

There's me:



There's my husband:




Food was good, but not as amazing as on CX or OZ. Sorry, no photos.

IFE was good, but not amazing--movie selection was DATED and not nearly as impressive as on UA IFE or CX IFE.

Service was just solid--we had trouble getting the attention of FAs on a number of occasions, and the FAs forgot to bring things after being reminded a few times. Food service was slow. FAs weren't particularly friendly, either. This was a big surprise, but we still enjoyed the flight. That being said, our UA GF LAX-LHR service was FAR superior to the EK F CPT-DXB service.

Emirates F Lounge and A380 Terminal at DXB

Wow. That's all I can say. Just wow. Incredible. Forgot to take photos, but it's ENORMOUS. Everything you could ever want. Shopping. Restaurants. Spas. You name it. They had it.

DXB-LAX in F on Emirates 215

Emirates F suite on the A380 was a bit bigger, with a bigger IFE screen, higher walls, and slightly more legroom it seemed, but otherwise the same as on the 777. This was without question the nicest overall flight experience we've ever had, topping barely the CX F HGK-LAX flight we'd had about a year earlier.




The biggest difference between the A380 and 777 is the F bathroom. It's huge...and has the famous shower. WOW. It made all the difference in the world to shower and freshen up with less than an hour before landing in LAX--arriving clean and feeling refreshed indeed after a 16+ hr flight.





Food was again good. IFE was no different than on the 777--good, but with a limited selection of movies that weren't from the ancient days of cinema (at least from this American's perspective!).

Service was AMAZING on this flight, unlike our CPT-DXB flight. The FAs were perfect, friendly, and definitely more engaged and interested in making sure our flight was seamless. And it was.