Resort, Drakensberg

Cathedral Peak Hotel

Golf on its own course, a programme that keeps every age busy, 18 walks from the door and room to meet, in a World Heritage Site. Family-owned since the first rooms opened in 1939. VDO represents it for conferences, groups and incentives.

rooms and suites: 104
guests in all: 254
people in the largest room, cocktail style: 220
walks and hikes from the door: 18
metres of golf course, par 70: 5,412

As the hotel states them, read on its website on 5 November 2026.

Four reasons groups come.

A four-star hotel in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, with its own golf course, stables, pools and climbing tower in the grounds. Pick the one that matters most to your group.

Golf on the doorstepNine holes, alternate tees for 18, par 70.
A hotel for familiesPony rides, a play room and a children’s programme.
Walks and wild water18 walks, three dams to fish and a helicopter.
Room for the workMeeting rooms for up to 220, with the hills for the break.

The hotel terrace with umbrellas under the Cathedral Peak ridge on a bright day

A family hotel, still run by the family that built it.

Albert van der Riet first came to the valley in the early 1900s and, as the hotel tells it, pictured a secluded hotel closer to the mountains than any other of its day. He bought the land in the mid 1930s, and the partly finished 43-room hotel opened in 1939. His son William and his wife Belinda run it now, with their son Byron and his wife Samantha set to become the third generation to do so.

Part of the original building is still in the dining room, which keeps a section from 1939 and its steel pressed ceilings.

Stay in the gardens.

104 rooms, from standard rooms to suites, sleeping up to 254 guests. Most stand in the gardens with partial views of the foothills.

A thatched room
A room with a balcony door
A thatched room with a fireplace
Twin beds, with a door to the next room

Room types

Standard
Standard room
Up to two adults and one child, in the gardens with a bath and a separate shower.
Thatched
Standard thatched room
Open plan, for up to three adults or two adults and two children. Two are wheelchair friendly.
Family
Standard interleading room
Two king-sized bedrooms joined by a sliding glass door: up to four adults, or two adults and two children.
Superior
Superior room
A little more space, a dressing area and a bar fridge. Up to two adults and one child, with interleading doors between every second room.
Suite
Executive and Honeymoon Suites
Thatched, for two adults, in secluded gardens with views to the Cathedral Peak range, an electric fireplace and a slipper bath.
Presidential
Mponjwane Presidential Suite
For two adults, set apart, with a spa bath, a sauna and a golf cart for the stay.

Rooms and sleeping numbers as the hotel states them on its website and its 2023 fact sheet, read on 5 November 2026. The suites do not accommodate children.

Golf with the escarpment behind the green.

The hotel calls its own course its crowning jewel. Nine holes, with alternate tees for an 18-hole game, and a clubhouse terrace with panoramic mountain views.

Two golfers on the green below the Drakensberg

9 holeswith alternate tees for 18
5,412 mpar 70
1996opened on 13 January

Roly Taylor designed and built the course in 1994 with his brother Reg. Day visitors as well as hotel guests are welcome to play.

Clubhouse with a TV lounge, showers, change rooms and a terrace
Golf carts for hire, subject to availability
Club Champs every March

Tell us if golf is part of your group’s plan, and we will ask the hotel what it can arrange.

The golf course in the valley seen from above — The course in its valley, seen from above.

A young rider on a pony in the hotel grounds

Every age has somewhere to be.

Children join their parents in the main dining room for all meals, and the hotel runs a daily entertainment programme all year round, with a children’s programme on long weekends and in school holidays.

For hotel guests, pony rides for the smaller ones are complimentary every day.

What each age gets.

Little ones
A woodlands-themed Children’s Play Room with toys and moms and tots facilities, a playground with trampolines and a splash pool, and a daily pony ride, complimentary for hotel guests.
Children
In the children’s programme: short walks, bug hunts, tractor and pony rides, craft sessions, movie nights with popcorn and soccer matches.
Teenagers
A games room with pool, table tennis and Xbox consoles, mini-golf, squash and rock climbing, which the hotel lists as complimentary for its guests.
Parents
A gentle family walk: Ashlea’s Amble is 40 minutes round trip beside the river, with rock pools for a dip. Mini-treatments for the children at the Wellness Centre, and board games in the lounge.

A tractor ride in the valley
Rock climbing
The lounge and games room
One of the two pools

Out of the door and into the berg.

Eighteen walks and hikes leave from and return to the hotel, from a riverside stroll to the summit of Cathedral Peak. Up to three guided hikes a day are complimentary for hotel guests.

Horse rides of one or two hours, for beginner or intermediate riders.
Guided hikes with tea, coffee and rusks in the mountains, bird watching and San art sites.
Fishing on three on-site dams: fly or bass. Lake Jarred, a 15 minute walk, is stocked with rainbow trout.
Waterfalls with deep pools: Doreen Falls and Belinda Falls are both on the walks.
Mushroom Rock and Ribbon Falls, along the paths from the stables.
18 walks and hikes from the door, from gentle strolls to the summit.

Some of the 18, as the hotel describes them on its Walks and Hikes page, read on 8 November 2026.
Walk	Time	How hard
Belinda Falls	30 minutes round trip	Easy, with a fairly steep climb back
Ashlea’s Amble	40 minutes round trip	Easy, a family walk beside the river
Doreen Falls	1.5 hours round trip	A gentle walk, with a deep pool at the base
5 km jogging trail	3 hours, the hotel’s figure	Easy
Cathedral Peak	9 to 10 hours round trip	The hotel’s words: "for the fit only, and those who do not suffer from heights". Guided only; the summit is at 3,004 m

The Cathedral 4 Challenge, four of the hotel’s hikes in one, earns a medal, a certificate and a place on the Cathedral 4 Board.

The hotel helicopter on a ridge with two guests

Add a flight, a ride or a treatment.

These are the extras the hotel offers beyond what is complimentary for its guests. The hotel publishes a price list for its activities and we do not repeat it here. Ask us and we will confirm what applies to your group.

Optional extras

Helicopter flights
A private helicopter for sightseeing flights, including the champagne stopover. For conferences the hotel also offers it for entertaining clients and for executive transport.
Horse rides
One or two hours, for beginner or intermediate riders.
Quad biking
Up into the hills, past Lake William.
Golf carts
For hire at the clubhouse, subject to availability.
Wellness treatments
Massage, skin and beauty treatments. The centre asks for them to be arranged in advance.
The Cathedral Peak summit
A guided hike only, led by the hotel’s professionally trained guides on Wednesdays and Saturdays, depending on the weather. The hotel asks for it to be arranged in advance.

The sunny pool terrace with umbrellas, palm and mountains

Slow down between sessions.

Two swimming pools, a terrace with uninterrupted views of Cathedral Peak, and, the hotel says, complimentary mid-morning and afternoon tea, coffee and bakes served daily. Albert’s Cocktail Bar has a log fire.

The Wellness Centre is open Monday to Saturday 8 am to 5 pm and Sunday 8 am to 2 pm, and closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. There is a fully equipped gym with a steam room.

Meetings and events

Rooms for the work, hills for the rest.

The hotel runs conferences as more than a room with chairs: a secluded setting, a full programme on site, and activities for partners and families who come along.

A meeting room set school style with a screen — School layout

A meeting room set in a U-shape with a screen — U-shape layout

Free Wi-Fi, controlled heating or air conditioning, and ample secure parking
A boardroom, break-away rooms and a large refreshment and service area
Projectors, flip charts, a PA system with lapel and roving microphones, and movable screens
Theme evenings, gala dinners, private braais, a Zulu dancing performance and potjie competitions
Karaoke in Harry’s Bar, an Amazing Race around the hotel, horse rides, hikes, golf and quad biking

People each room holds, by layout, as the hotel’s conference table gives them. Read on 5 November 2026. We confirm a room and a layout in writing.
Room	Cinema	U-shape	School	Herringbone	Cocktail
Umlambonja	200	66	180	180	220
Cathedral	40	24	32	32	60
Ndedema	40	24	32	32	60
Nyosi	30	20	24	n/a	40
Mafifiyela	80	24	48	40	80
Xeni Boardroom	n/a	14	n/a	n/a	n/a
Cathedral and Ndedema joined	80	40	68	64	120
Ndedema and Nyosi joined	70	36	60	60	130
All three joined	150	60	120	110	220

Find your way round.

This is the hotel’s own plan of the grounds. Select a number to read the stop.

The hotel's plan of its grounds: the main building with dining room, bars and Umlambonja Room in the middle, coloured blocks of rooms to the east, the Wellness Centre, courts and climbing tower to the west, and the road to the golf course along the bottom

Slide the plan sideways to see all of it.

Honeymoon and Executive Suites
Standard thatched rooms
Standard family rooms
Standard rooms
Superior rooms
Presidential Suite
Main buildings

Plan: the hotel’s own published layout map, cathedralpeak.co.za, read on 5 November 2026. We cropped and turned it and redrew the key as text. The stop numbers are ours. Room types and sleeping numbers are from the hotel’s 2023 fact sheet and website; the room numbers are those on the plan.

Arrival and reception
Reception, the shop and the entrance sit together at the front of the main building, with secure parking just off the entrance road.
Dining room and bars
Buffet meals for hotel guests, with Harry’s Bar and Albert’s Cocktail Bar in the main building. Groups can use Harry’s Bar for an evening with a screen, music and microphone.
The Umlambonja Room
The largest meeting room, up to 220 people cocktail style, beside the covered verandah and the children’s play room.
The garden rooms
Thatched, family and standard rooms stand in the gardens with partial views of the foothills, each with a private veranda.
Superior rooms
The long blue block, rooms 201 to 222, with a dressing area, a bar fridge and under-floor heating in the winter months.
Suites and Presidential Suite
Set apart in quiet, secluded gardens: rooms 401 to 407 and the Presidential Suite, room 501. These suites do not accommodate children.
Wellness Centre
Therapists seven days a week for massage, skin and beauty treatments, with mini-treatments for children.
Games, courts and bowls
A path off the road leads to the courts, the bowling green and the floodlit mini-golf. The games room is beside the gym.
Pools, boma and climbing tower
Two swimming pools, beach volleyball and the climbing tower, with the boma for braais and spit roasts nearby.
Stables and trails
Paths from the stables lead to Doreen Falls, Mushroom Rock and Ribbon Falls. Eighteen walks and hikes leave from the hotel.
The chapel
A small chapel at the far end of the gardens, past the suites and near the Presidential Suite.
The road to the golf course
Along the foot of the plan to the hotel’s own course and clubhouse terrace. Day visitors are welcome to play.

Ask about Cathedral Peak.

To start an enquiry, tell us:

The dates you have in mind, or a window
How many delegates, and how many stay
The layout you want, and any evening or outdoor programme

Start an enquiry

An enquiry is not a booking. We reply from the enquiries address within one working day.

Questions about Cathedral Peak Hotel.

Where is Cathedral Peak Hotel?

In the Drakensberg, inside the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, a World Heritage Site proclaimed on 29 November 2000.

The hotel’s our-hotel page, cathedralpeak.co.za, read 2 Nov 2026

What rooms does it have?

104 rooms, from standard and family rooms to superior rooms, Honeymoon and Executive Suites and the Mponjwane Presidential Suite, for up to 254 guests.

The hotel’s rooms and suites page, cathedralpeak.co.za, read 2 Nov 2026

What is there to do outdoors?

The hotel says 18 walks and hikes leave from and return to the hotel. Its Cathedral 4 Challenge gives a medal and a certificate.

The hotel’s discover-more page, cathedralpeak.co.za, read 2 Nov 2026

Is it a family hotel?

The hotel calls itself family-owned and four-star, and says it has offered accommodation, buffet meals and outdoor leisure for over 80 years.

The hotel’s home page and our-hotel page, cathedralpeak.co.za, read 2 Nov 2026 (the hotel’s own claim)

Where in South Africa is Cathedral Peak Hotel?

The hotel describes itself as nestled in the heart of the Drakensberg, surrounded by peaks of the World Heritage Site.

The hotel’s home page, cathedralpeak.co.za, read 7 Nov 2026

What grade is the hotel and who owns it?

The website describes the hotel as 4-star and family-owned, and says it has been providing accommodation for over 80 years.

The hotel’s home page, cathedralpeak.co.za, read 7 Nov 2026

How many rooms does the hotel have?

The website says guests are accommodated in 104 rooms, from standard and family rooms to suites, for up to 254 guests.