Travel reviews by Mr & Mrs Craig from UK

"The room was great - plenty of room, amazing enormous bed. The staff were exceptional and the food was brilliant (especially breakfast which was possibly the best hotel breakfast we've ever had).

The only (small) thing was that although children are very welcome the hotel restaurant wasn't the most ideal place for small children. One evening our daughter broke a plate and spilt a whole glass of juice (not unusual if you've ever been out with 3 year olds) and I was extremely conscious of the couples around me having (or trying to have) relaxed dinners listening to the piano music... We only ate there a couple of times but it might be worth flagging up to any travellers with toddlers."

"Possibly one of the most incredible places I've ever been. Amazing sand dunes, complete peace, brilliant staff. Couldn't tear my eyes away from the sea when we had to leave, didn't know we could just hang out as a family watching the water for whales.

I have no complaints but wish Id known: that you can have brekkie, lunch and dinner in the restaurant. I wouldn't have bothered with self catering for such a short time (3 nights) if we'd known this. The only other small thing was no cot for the infant. It didn't bother us but might be a problem for other travellers with a baby - good to flag up in advance. We also arrived very late and the gates were open but reception closed immediately after checking us in and we didn't realise until we'd seen our accommodation that we needed wood for heating. By which time it was too late to pick any wood up - just advance info about this would have been great.

The available activities were not so good for our age ranges (two adults, a 3 year old and 1 year old) - we couldn't do any walks (too long for the 3 year old who won't be confined) and there were no child seats/trailers for the mountain bikes and they are obviously too young for the quad bikes. We just about managed some bird watching without too much whinging and we were very happy just hanging out on the dunes and paddling for the two days that we had but again its just things you might want to advise any travellers with young children. Might also have been good to know in advance that once we were there it was still quite a journey down to the beach from our accommodation.

Just a note on self catering options that we used as well - I wish I'd been advised that there would be a braai everywhere. I'm so used to 'no fires' and 'no BBQs' locations here that I'd forgotten the South African love of cooking outdoors. Easiest thing in the world when you are self catering to just pick up some meat and get the fire on."

"This was one of our favourite places to stay - right on the lagoon with a private beach of safe shallow water, free use of the canoes (our 3 year old was delighted) and a great restaurant just on the same headland. Waking up looking out at the water and then eating brekkie on our outside decking was perfect. We had a very peaceful day pottering about one of the forests and then our 3 year old made friends with the kids next door and we just watched them playing in the sand. VERY relaxing.

Absolutely wish we'd stayed an extra night here and not stayed in Tsitsikamma."

"We squeezed this in as from everything we read it seemed like we must. However, the faff of moving everyone for another night was not worth it at all. The sea was impressive but nothing that couldn't have been taken in with a quick stop enroute. The storms river suspension bridge was not impressive - I suspect only so when the weather is bad. It felt very touristy - my husband had done a zipline earlier in the day and we saw all the same people then walking to the suspension bridge like it had to be ticked off.

I know Tracy was excited that we had got oceanette N and the location was impressive but the oceanette itself was grim - hospital bright lighting, mould on the ceilings, dirty kitchen, worn out furniture, cold shower. I felt uncomfortable with the kids playing on the floor and I didn't want to eat in there. We bought new BBQ equipment having found old bits of meat on the ones left in the oceanette and threw out our breakfast stuff in favour of eating in the restaurant (distinctly average). Enjoyed jumping the waves with my 3 year old and probably would have taken a boat trip if it wasn't for the kids but wish we'd stayed the extra night in Knysna. Don't get me wrong, we can handle basic (although everywhere else on our trip was really great) but this was below basic."

"This was frankly the most brilliant time of our lives. It was as though everyone was dedicated to meeting our personal needs. The lodge was the most luxurious place we've ever stayed (and we're fond of luxury hotels), the food was second to none and so much of it and the babysitting while we went on private safari (for most of the time we were the only people on the game drives) was the biggest bonus. The kids loved it and no one wanted to leave.

There was confusion over the booking which has all been cleared up but all I want to say on this is that we didn't need to know that two rooms were reserved for us - we had imagined separate rooms each with a child and rubbish boring evenings alone but it wasn't like this at all.

Would love to go back. Tomorrow."