The long weekends in April and May, whilst AWESOME and much needed, made it difficult for some of us to adjust to regular school/work weeks after… Almost two weeks in, and I was still walking around like, “what day is it even?” ? (This also explains the delayed timing of this post.) During one of those long weekends, we stayed a night at Faircity Hotel Roodevallei.

The Faircity Roodevallei lies on the banks of the Pienaar’s River in Pretoria, surrounded by a nature reserve and a bird sanctuary. The hotel offers a relaxed bush setting within easy reach of Johannesburg and OR Tambo International Airport, complete with thatched roofs for a true African feel.

Friendly, efficient staff

Excellent service starts right at the front gate, where we were greeted with a friendly smile by Lucky, and then an equally warm welcome from Elvis at the second gate before heading inside. We were assisted at reception by Junior. He kindly offered to walk with us to two different rooms, so we could have a look inside, and decide on which one we preferred. The hotel has a bit of a resort feel – a walk outside to get to the rooms, swimming pools on the very large property, grassy areas with jumping castles for the kids to play on. We opted for a riverside room, with two double beds.

The room

The room we stayed in is spacious enough for a family of three like ours, or four. The beds make for a comfortable night’s rest. The bathroom is big, with a separate bathtub and shower. There’s a faux balcony – you can open the sliding door, but you’re not actually stepping outside. The only complaint about the room (and it is a small one) is that the water in the bathroom takes a pretty long time to heat up.

The food

We did the buffet dinner at their restaurant that night. There were the usual options – curry, roasts, etc. The food was okay, nothing special, and being tired and hungry after a long day I didn’t take any photos. Breakfast the next morning was great. The lady cooking the eggs was lovely, and giggled when I told her I didn’t want much in my omelette, but I did need loads of cheese. I apologize for having dug in before taking the photo… I’m one of those people who always wakes up ravenous… Oh, no one else? Just me? Okay. ?

Overall, Faircity Hotel Roodevallei is great accommodation for when you want to be away from it all for a while. That wasn’t our plan this time, therefore just the one night stay. Rates are pretty reasonable too (we paid just under R1000 for the room with two double beds, AND dinner + breakfast), so definitely worth looking at if you’re heading that way.