We booked this “Glen Mountain Gem” for a month in March—we were wowed when we walked in to find a gorgeous pink bougainvillea in full bloom framing the deck, plus incredible weather, and a thoughtful welcome basket of goodies from our hosts.
The place was sparkling clean, safe, and very spacious— great for a family. We were very happy to have a locking garage for our rental car right outside the door of our unit.
We loved the space and the ability to invite a few of our CapeTown business and personal contacts over for a meeting or a meal. The private outdoor seating and barbecue grill outside our living area were awesome for this.
Don’t get me wrong, this is family oriented neighborhood, this isn’t a party rental space, but this worked beautifully for us to have a few people over during our extended stay.
The swimming pool and hot tub area downstairs was a lovely shared space with the owners family which we definitely enjoyed.
Our hosts generously provided a shower chair for my son who was recovering from medical problems. They also lent us camp chairs for trips to the beach. Above and beyond expectations, the hosts provided a guided sunrise walk with the penguins at Boulders Beach! Yes, we stayed there a long time, and got to know our hosts because of that, but providing a guided morning walk was just not something I expected :-)
Couple of things to be aware of: even in warm weather, Glencairn can have high winds. It can be toasty warm during the day, but after dark, it can get cold, so bring jackets or sweaters. Another consideration: this home has a tin roof. Even on clear days, wind makes the roof sound like its raining. There were tons of birds chirping early morning and throughout the day (which I liked!), and the local dogs go crazy when baboons show up in the neighborhood. We totally got used to all of it, but if you want a seriously quiet environment, this place might not be for you.
Finally, and not specific to this Air BnB, but for any AirBnB (or any business in South Africa), you could run into “load shedding” where the power company cuts off your electricity (and thus WiFi) for a couple of hours each day. This only happened for one of the three weeks we were there. Our hosts were excellent about communicating this information in advance so we could work around it... But I was glad I had a cell phone international data plan so that I could make calls and check email during those hours.
Overall, this Air BnB and our hosts exceeded our expectations. The warm welcome from the hosts, the value and amenities we experienced were wonderful. We would definitely stay there again!