World’s Best: South African Lodges and Hotels Take Top Honours in the Travel + Leisure 2026 Awards

South African hospitality has once again claimed its place at the very top of world travel. In the Travel + Leisure 2026 World’s Best Awards — based on survey responses from more than 207 000 international readers — South Africa’s family-owned MORE Collection achieved a remarkable double win, taking first place in both the African safari lodge and African city hotel categories.

Lion Sands: Africa’s No. 1 safari lodge, and fourth-best hotel on Earth

Lion Sands Game Reserve, set along the Sabie River on the border of the Kruger National Park, was named the No. 1 Safari Lodge in Africa — and ranked an extraordinary No. 4 among the World’s Best Hotels overall. Travellers singled out the property for its riverfront wildlife viewing and its signature open-air treehouse accommodation, where guests sleep under the stars surrounded by the sounds of the bush.

For a South African lodge to sit fourth on a global list of the world’s best hotels — ahead of celebrated properties across every continent — is a striking endorsement of the country’s safari product, its guides and the people who make the guest experience what it is.

Cape Cadogan: Cape Town’s heritage jewel crowned Africa’s best city hotel

In Cape Town, the Cape Cadogan Boutique Hotel took top honours as the No. 1 City Hotel in Africa and ranked No. 35 globally. Housed in a restored 19th-century national monument on Kloof Street, the hotel stood out for its heritage design and the local culinary offering at its Upper Union restaurant.

The global context underlines the scale of the achievement: Patina Osaka in Japan was named the No. 1 Hotel in the World, while San Miguel de Allende in Mexico took the title of the World’s Best City. South Africa’s winners stood shoulder to shoulder with the finest names in world travel — and in the safari category, nobody on the continent stood higher.

Why it matters

Tourism is one of South Africa’s most powerful job creators, and international recognition of this calibre feeds directly into bookings, employment and small-business supply chains from Skukuza to the City Bowl. Every guest drawn to a world-ranked lodge supports trackers, chefs, housekeepers, farmers and craft suppliers in the surrounding communities, which is why awards like these ripple far beyond the properties that win them.

It is also worth noting who won: not a global chain, but a family-owned South African collection competing against the biggest hospitality brands on the planet. Awards voted by real travellers — not judging panels — are among the most trusted signals in the industry, and this year more than 207 000 of them said the same thing: when it comes to safari and city hospitality in Africa, South Africa leads.

Facts sourced from Channel Africa (SABC), reporting on the Travel + Leisure 2026 World’s Best Awards.

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