ESCAPE THE ORDINARY

Perfect Hideaways

Ready to travel? Step into soulful hideaways – each one handpicked in person since 2005 – and experience hand-stitched journeys designed around you.

Destination

Hideaway

Escapes for fellow escapists

The Perfect Hideaways team has travelled far and wide to curate a portfolio of more than 600 hideaways, from South Africa and Kenya to Italy and islands in the Indian Ocean. Think beach houses where the tide sets the pace, farms under starry Karoo skies and safari lodges where lions call at night.

Not sure where to start? Our reservations team knows every hideaway first-hand and guides you personally through your booking, from video walk-throughs and local tips to the day you arrive.

Explore the West Coast

The West Coast is a wild stretch of Atlantic shoreline about an hour north of Cape Town, known for its lagoons, fishing villages and spring wildflowers.

It has a way of slowing time. Days follow the tides: oysters eaten with sandy feet, kitesurfers dancing across Langebaan lagoon and sunsets over Churchhaven’s whitewashed cottages. In August and September, the veld joins in, blooming into a carpet of wildflowers.

Soulful African safaris

Our handpicked safari lodges put you in the heart of Big Five country, from the Sabi Sand, Timbavati and Madikwe to Botswana, Kenya and Namibia.

Pack the khakis, the juicy novels and the camera: our Bespoke Travel team will provide the rest. Days begin with game drives at dawn and end with lantern-lit dinners under the stars, shared with the whole family or just the two of you.

Find a hideaway by lifestyle

Our lifestyle collections group hideaways by the kind of stay you have in mind, from dog-friendly farms to hot-tub weekends for two. Choose a theme to see every hideaway that suits it.

Barefoot days on Indian Ocean islands

Somewhere between the reef and the palms, time simply stops. Our island hideaways in Mauritius, the Maldives, the Seychelles and Madagascar are private homes and beach bungalows made for barefoot days and suppers by the sea.

South Africa

South Africa is where Perfect Hideaways began and it’s still the heart of our collection. Choose a seaside house, a rambling farm or an off-the-grid cottage in one of six regions, each showing the country at its most beautiful.

Kenya: Lamu and the Big Five

Kenya offers two holidays in one, and the magic lies in pairing them. Begin with Big Five safaris in conservancies such as Borana, then drift down to Lamu island on the Swahili coast, where donkeys clip-clop through the market, dhows sail on balmy breezes and beach days are wonderfully languid.

Mauritius: reefs and lagoons

Mauritius is an Indian Ocean island of lagoons, coral reefs and a myriad blues, warm all year round. Wake in one of our private homes or beach bungalows just steps from the sand, drift through days of snorkelling, sailing and lazing, then watch the sun melt slowly into the lagoon.

Planning your next photoshoot?

Perfect Hideaways Shoot Locations offers our hideaways as settings for photo, film and advertising shoots. All you need are your lights, your cameras and the action.

Be the first to know...

Join our Perfection for less broadcast group to hear about offers first: special nightly rates, Stay 3 Pay 2 deals and off-peak surprises throughout the year.

La dolce vita, from Puglia to Tuscany

Our Italian collection is rooted in Puglia, where restored masserias, baroque palazzos and the odd castle sit among the olive groves around Ostuni and Lecce. Further north, stone farmhouses and estates wait among the vineyards of Umbria and Tuscany.

FOR SALE

Real estate

Fallen for a hideaway? Perfect Hideaways Real Estate finds characterful homes and investment properties with the same eye for soul and helps you sell yours.

SHOP

Shopping perfect

Take the hideaway home with you: artisanal homeware and lifestyle pieces chosen by our curators, like a sensorial postcard from South Africa.

SPECIAL OFFERS

Perfection for less

The same handpicked hideaways for less: seasonal nightly rates, Stay 3 Pay 2 deals and off-peak surprises for those happy to travel out of season.

FOR SALE

Real estate

Fallen for a hideaway? Perfect Hideaways Real Estate finds characterful homes and investment properties with the same eye for soul and helps you sell yours.

SHOP

Shopping perfect

Take the hideaway home with you: artisanal homeware and lifestyle pieces chosen by our curators, like a sensorial postcard from South Africa.

SPECIAL OFFERS

Perfection for less

The same handpicked hideaways for less: seasonal nightly rates, Stay 3 Pay 2 deals and off-peak surprises for those happy to travel out of season.

Where it all began

Perfect Hideaways was founded in 2005 by Helen and David Untiedt, after years spent exploring the back roads, coastlines and bushveld of southern Africa. Helen still handpicks every hideaway for its sense of soul. “We didn’t set out to do this, but our wanderlust and joy in finding places that hold a palpable magic is what drives us.”

GOOD TO KNOW

Perfect Hideaways - frequently asked questions

What is Perfect Hideaways?

Perfect Hideaways is a Cape Town-based curator of handpicked holiday homes, farms, safari lodges and boutique hotels, founded in 2005 by Helen and David Untiedt. We visit every hideaway in person and choose it for its architecture, design, location and soul. We have won the Condé Nast Traveler Specialist Award every year since 2019.

Where are Perfect Hideaways' holiday homes?

About three-quarters are in South Africa, mainly Cape Town, the Cape Winelands, the Garden Route, the West Coast, the Overberg and Mpumalanga. We also have hideaways across Africa, from Mozambique and Kenya to Botswana and Namibia, in Europe (mostly Italy) and on islands such as Mauritius and the Maldives.

How do I book a hideaway?

Search by destination or lifestyle, choose your dates and guests and send an enquiry online. Our reservations team replies with a quote and, if your first choice isn’t available, suggests other hideaways that suit you. Once you accept the quote and pay, your stay is confirmed. You can also call us on +27 21 790 0972 during office hours.

Do you have dog-friendly holiday homes?

Yes. Our dog-friendly collection includes farms, beach houses and cottages where dogs are welcome, many with secure gardens and walks from the door. House rules vary, so check each listing for the number and size of dogs allowed.

Can Perfect Hideaways plan a safari?

Yes. Our Bespoke Travel team plans Big Five safaris at handpicked lodges in reserves such as the Sabi Sand, Timbavati and Madikwe, and in Botswana, Kenya and Namibia. We can pair a safari with a beach stay on Lamu or Cape town.

Can I host a wedding or celebration at a hideaway?

Yes. Our Celebrations and Weddings collection features hideaways suited to weddings, milestone birthdays and family gatherings, with space for guests to stay together. Contact our team to talk through numbers, dates and requirements.

How is Perfect Hideaways different from Airbnb?

Perfect Hideaways is a curated collection, not an open marketplace. Our team inspects every hideaway in person, our style council vets each one for design and a real person in Cape Town helps you choose and book.

Do you offer concierge and local travel advice?

Yes. On request, a personal specialist can arrange private chefs, transport, guides, wellness treatments and childcare, and stays on call during your visit. Our Bespoke Travel team plans whole journeys, from the Cape Winelands to safaris in Botswana and Kenya. Enquiries are free, and each service is quoted and billed separately.

Where can I book a luxury beach house in Cape Town?

Perfect Hideaways has handpicked, personally inspected beach houses on Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard, in Clifton, Camps Bay and Llandudno, and along the Southern Peninsula from Kommetjie to Scarborough. Browse our Beach collection or call us for a recommendation.

Can international travellers book with Perfect Hideaways?

Yes. Many of our guests travel from abroad. Send an enquiry online or call us, and a reservations agent will support you every step of the way. From abroad, you can pay by credit card (Mastercard, Visa or American Express) in your own currency, with no card fees added on our side, or by bank transfer directly to our Euro or US dollar accounts.

Perfect stories

Perfect stories is our travel journal, written by the team who visit every hideaway: the places we stay, the routes we take and the people we meet.

Introducing Puglia

Discover Puglia through our eyes: our handpicked collection of whimsical castles, elegant palaces, contemporary casas and restored masserias or farmhouses.

Top Ten trends for weddings and life’s special celebrations

Underpinning every aspect of celebrating this season is a move towards more intimate events that reflect the unique personalities of the bridal couple or family involved.

Seeing Cape Town through our eyes

At Perfect Hideaways, we’ve never followed the usual route – we went off-grid before it was cool, and now we’re inviting you to rediscover the Mother City from the quieter southern tip upwards.

The heel of Italy

From undulating countryside blanketed with almond and olive groves to baroque cities, gnome-like houses and whitewashed Hellenic towns, this is southern Italy at its most seductive.

Introducing the south of France

Rediscover the prettiest stone villages of Provence, where the sun shines for most of the year and the concept of ‘slow travel’ is as old as the olive groves… just the way we like it!

Sensational Shoot Locations

Who doesn’t love an island holiday? There’s nothing quite like an escape to a heavenly isle surrounded by aquamarine waters and dotted with secret coves fringed by palm trees… so we’ve curated a small collection of our favourites.

De Kruis: untamed Tankwa Karoo

These immense heart-lifting spaces have a unique, humbling kind of magic. Not surprisingly, this is what captured the owner’s hearts 25 years ago while honeymooning in the Karoo.

Schrywershoek: tranquil and timeless

Discover the seductive serenity of Schrywershoek Beach House, a sensitively restored fisherman’s cottage in the heart of the West Coast National Park on South Africa’s wild West Coast.

Our curated collection in Europe and beyond

Introducing our island collection

Where on earth is the Karoo?

So where on earth is this place that local South Africans sing about, pen heartfelt poems about and that Olive Schreiner most famously wrote about in The Story of an African Farm way back in 1883?

Ten of our best self-catering Safaris

Our top 10 self-catering safaris for the wildest – and most private – bush escape that’s a cost-effective way of going on safari as a family.

Follow the Sun

Did you know that the very best time of year for soaking up the sunshine along KwaZulu-Natal’s northern Elephant Coast and Mozambique is during June and July?

Escape to our sublime collection of off-the-grid stays

If the romance of flickering lanterns and a life lived simply is your idea of the ultimate holiday, Perfect Hideaways will introduce you to the delights of off-grid holidays…

The Perfect Hideaways Story

Finding dream homes year in and year out for almost 20 years has put Perfect Hideaways well and truly ahead of the game. So, what started it?

Introducing Mauritius

Discover Mauritius our way and have the best of both worlds: you could choose a laid-back beach house with dreamy views and truly get the sense of living like a local, or stay in a luxury private villa that enjoys the same facilities as a resort… which will it be?