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The
Royal Hotel in Pilgrim's Rest is perhaps one of South Africa's best known
hotels. This national monument is famous for its atmosphere and world
class service and facilities. The Royal
Hotel, situated in Pilgrim's Rest, was impeccably restored recently, to
reflect true late Victorian style. Composed of ten authentic buildings
dating back to the latter part of the nineteenth century, the hotel now
offers 50 charming en-suite bedrooms. Declared a goldfield in 1873, Pilgrim's
Rest became a cosmopolitan centre of activity in South Africa. Today it
stands as a legacy to these pioneers. The town was proclaimed a National
Monument in 1986.Trapped in a time warp, the
lounge reflects an epoch of time honoured hospitality and elegance so
typical of the late Victorian
era. Upon entering the Royal Hotel, visitors are immediately taken on
a nostalgia filled trip into the past. The reception walls are lined with
the most interesting photographs and artefacts providing vivid glimpses
of Pilgrim's Rest's history. This theme is carried forward into the
lounge as well as the very famous public bar. The Royal
Hotel bedrooms are truly in a different class. Fifty en-suite bedrooms
are spread over a number
of annexes to the main hotel and all of them radiate extreme character.
Furnished with genuine antique brass beds, wash stands, wardrobes and
other furniture, visitors cannot but be transported back into history.
Rounding off
the Royal Hotel experience is our informal restaurant where hearty old-fashioned
meals are served in a historical atmosphere in keeping with the rest of
the Hotel. Enjoying a meal outside while taking in the scenery, is an
experience worthwhile. Once a school
chapel in Cape Town, the very popular and famous "Church Bar"
was shipped to the former Lorenco Marques (Maputo, Mozambique) from where
it was transported overland to the village by ox-wagon.
The bar's
walls are covered with old photographs depicting the social and sporting
life of historical Pilgrim's Rest. Glass in hand, this makes for some
very interesting reading. (Fly fisherman will gaze in awe at some of these
portraits) Everything about this bar compels visitors to spend more than
a happy hour.
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