The Royal Hotel in

Riebeek Kasteel Riebeek-Kasteel is one of the oldest towns in South Africa, situated at 80 km north-east of Cape Town in The Riebeek Valley together with its sister town Riebeek West. They set off in the direction of Paardeberg and on 3 February 1661 they as ...

is the oldest licensed hotel of the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

and was built in 1862. This now fully restored heritage building is one of the few hotels left of that particular colonial era of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Famous visitors in history were Jan Smuts and Daniel Malan, both from the Riebeek Valley and both prime ministers of South Africa during troubled times. In 2006 southafrica.org placed The Royal as only hotel on the list of "the 50 most fabulous places to visit in SA". According to them it has the longest stoep (veranda) south of the Limpopo.

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Royal Riebeek
Hotel buildings completed in 1862 Hotels in South Africa Hotels established in 1862 Tourism in the Western Cape Buildings and structures in the Western Cape 1862 establishments in the Cape Colony 19th-century architecture in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-struct-stub