The Baths
Accommodation Services in Citrusdal

The Baths Natural Hot Springs Citrusdal - charming Mineral Spa Resort with Self-catering Accommodation, in a scenic rural setting, near Cape Town Western Cape South Africa.

Situated only two hours drive from Cape Town on a citrus farm in the scenic Olifants River Valley, near the town of Citrusdal. Our stunning variety of accommodation includes 16 chalets and 19 flats with self-contained kitchens as well as braai areas. The area is well-shaded under indigenous trees like Wild Olives and ancient Fig trees and a mountain stream runs through the grounds. In addition to the hot and cold water swimming pools and hot mineral spring water baths, relaxing pastimes include tennis, trampoline, pool table, small playground for children, hiking trails, mountain biking and bird watching. The resort is ecologically sensitive and only 220 persons are allowed at any time. According to legend, the discovery of the spring is closely related to animals. The legend continues in the name of Kolberg, after which one of the bathhouses is named. This hot water spring has been a focus for human activity for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. The San, or Bushmen were indigenous to the area, and they used this hot spring as a pivotal life source for many years. Evidence of this can be found in the rock art found near The Baths. Because their physical and spiritual worlds were so intertwined, the San would have harnessed supernatural power from the hot water for healing purposes. The Batavian Government made some good improvements, and when the British took over again in 1806, The Baths was again flourishing. The first private owner was John Lawrence Sharp, who paid the princely sum of three hundred pounds sterling for The Baths and eighty-morgen of ground. James McGregor was a remarkable man, but when he rode down over the mountains, a short, stocky Scot in a crumpled hat and veldskoene with his goods piled on a wagon, no one would have believed it. In 1869 he bought his first land, and then married the beautiful Lenie van Wyk, whose family had farmed in the district for generations. They made him promise, with his marriage vows, that he would never take her to his foreign land over the sea, and when this was done, signed and sealed, he was one of them. Three years later he bought The Baths, and with the help of his three sons, he built good roads, an elegant, balconied guesthouse and several fine stone bathhouses, some of which are still there today. It was his two younger sons, William and James, who took over The Baths from their father. But in 1918 tragedy struck with the highly infectious Spanish flu epidemic. They both died within six days of each other and thus The Baths ended up in the hands of their seven sisters. The McGregor sisters were very hardworking and ran all the properties inherited from their father extremely efficiently. And it is through this line that The Baths has stayed in the McGregor family to this day. The Boarding House that Trygve Morch Olsen built in the 1920s was demolished and a new building containing self-catering units has been constructed in its place. And that people may still come here, as they have throughout the centuries, to find rest and tranquillity for body and soul.