Absolute luxury and pampering over at Southern Sun The Cullinan

As a freelancer & part-time blogger, I can guarantee you one thing:  My life certainly aint all about the glamour.  Most days you’ll find me hunched over my laptop, in FULL granny mode, mainly wearing pajamas or my new favourite thing: this blanket style poncho I found at Woolies.  Oh yeah,  it’s all about the sexy over at my crib…

So when invites like this come along, it’s my opportunity to step outta my comfy pants, brush my pair, put on some lipstick and live it up la vida loca style baby. 😉

This time it was extra special though, because I got to share the experience with 3 gorgeous blogger babes, thanks to a girly sleepover coordinated by the oh-so-fabulous Southern Sun The Cullinan Hotel (which is part of the Tsogo Sun group).

This award-winning hotel located in the heart of the CBD (and just a hop, skip & jump away from the V&A Waterfront and the CTICC) invited us to come and experience all the luxury & pampering we could possibly handle.  The stay included surprise beauty treatments, flowing bubbly, cocktails, sushi & mezze platters, a decadent buffet dinner, the most gorgeous suite, a breakfast spread, and there may or may not have been some real-life Brumbies action (but more about that later).

My partners in crime were:  Leigh (from Lipgloss Is My Life), Brigitte (from The Jog Blog) and Sheri-Lee (from SA Fashion Girl) – with me playing the role of the sensible brunette in the group… not that I’m all that sensible in general, but I tried to represent at least.

First up, I have to show you my two favourite parts of the hotel:  The grand entrance hall & their gorgeous outdoor (heated) pool – both which really give a strong ancient Greece feel. You know, the kind of space you’d imagine spotting a few Greek Gods just basking in their own awesomeness…

Now the hotel boasts a whopping 394 rooms, all of which are fitted with all the trimmings, like: free WiFi, tea & coffee stations, electronic safes, en-suite bathrooms, and super comfy beds.  They also offer additional touches like a porter service and 24 hr room service.

We, however, did not just stay in any room.  We each got our very own suite! (and queue nerdy happy dance)  The hotel has 18 suites in total and these come with a huge king size bed, an en-suite bathroom with large bath & shower (fully kitted with Charlotte Rhys goodies of course), a Nespresso machine, a fully stocked mini-bar AND… here’s the real deal clenchers:  A complimentary bath & pillow menu and a butler service.  (smiles for days I tell you… days)

Let me show you around my humble abode…

So yeah, as you can see, the struggle was real…  But as if that wasn’t enough, super lovely Guest Relations Manager, Hannes, then lead us to yet another suite where ta-da! the Mangwanani team was waiting to pamper us with manis & pedis and all the champers and beautiful high tea treats our bodies could handle:

After this tough pamper session, we headed down to The Star Bar where Senior Sous Chef Riaan Le Roux casually offered us some light mezze style snacks and maybe our very own cocktail (yup – they had actually designed a cocktail just for us).

But we had absolutely no idea that “light snacks” actually meant a spread like this:

Needless to say, we needed a bit of a recharge nap before tackling dinner… sjoe…

Dinner was served buffet style up in their Peach Tree Restaurant.  When I think hotel living, I usually think a whole lotta buffet goodness, and the Peach Tree certainly didn’t disappoint.

The rest of the evening’s shenanigans involved trying to keep up with the Brumbies Rugby team who were also staying at the hotel.  I think as petite ladies vs rugby giants we managed quite well.  Although my killer hangover the next morning told another story…

This really was a totally luxurious and spoilicious stay.  Everyone at the hotel went out of their way to make us feel welcome, and that goes for both the people who knew we were there for a blogger stay and those who didn’t.  I would happily recommend the Cullinan to any visitors coming to our beautiful city, or even to any of you locals who would like to plan a mini staycation like ours.

For more details on the hotel’s offering – do check out their website over here.  And for those who want to just do a bit of pampering, have a look at their Mangwanani Boutique Spa menu over here.  It really is a beautiful spa with a really affordable treatment menu – in fact, I featured their recent launch in this post here:  The all new Mangwanani Boutique Spa at The Cullinan

For those perhaps wanting to organise a special event, like maybe a hen’s tea or a girly bday party with all the high tea & spa spoils we got to enjoy, do get in touch with Hannes – hannes.human@tsogosun.com.

Thank you SO much to The Cullinan team.  This was an experience like no other, and I feel like a very very lucky girl indeed…

xxx