The oldest licensed hotel in South Africa is located at Houw Hoek (80kms from Cape Town) and was built in 1779 in the days of the Dutch East India Company.
It was originally the site of a toll gate on the wagon road to the eastern interior, a second floor was added in 1861. The hotel was licensed in 1834 – it holds the oldest liquor license in SA – and has been in continuous operation for longer than any hotel in the country.
