Discover serenity at Mount Grace Hotel and Spa, a relaxing countryside retreat that is also the perfect opportunity to escape from city life.

Perfectly located amidst the majestic Magaliesberg Mountains on a sprawling country estate only an hour’s drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria, the hotel offers a charming blend of classic style, elegant comfort, spectacular views and rich natural heritage.

Additionally, this leading Magaliesburg hotel has completed a major refurbishment covering every room and corner, giving the whole property a refreshed look.

Unwind

Mount Grace Hotel and Spa’s hotel rooms are spread through the gardens rather than gathered in a single block, and 26 suites have their own heated pool.

Additionally, the venue’s spa options include a choice of two settings: the main spa building or the Bush Spa, where private thatched treatment rooms sit in the gardens and are popular with couples. There’s also a flotation pool, a jacuzzi, a rim pool, a rock pool and steam rooms.

Conferencing and leisure are the property’s two largest markets, and the Cog and Sprocket is a popular venue for post-conference functions.

The 1852 Heritage Bar

The bar takes its name from 1852, the year the land was first registered as the farm Commando Nek, with the estate later becoming Mount Grace in 1984. Following refurbishment, the 1852 Heritage Bar maintains its nostalgic country pub character, now with a more luxurious finish.

The menu is hearty and unpretentious, closer to a gastro pub than fine dining, with small plates designed for sharing alongside heritage classics. The highlights include oxtail bitterballen, petit lamb curry “bunnies” with spekboom salsa, beef short rib amagwinya, Karoo lamb tails, slow-braised oxtail cooked for six hours with a steamed dumpling and umngqusho, and a vegan take on ‘pap and vleis’.

The Garden Menu

An all-day, farm-to-fork menu with an Afro-Mediterranean style is served on the lawns, the historic stoep or the deck areas overlooking the Magaliesberg.

Guests can expect antipasti, sharing platters with local charcuterie and Magaliesberg cheeses, pizzas made with Neapolitan-style flour and local mozzarella, fresh pasta and local trout.

Seasonal High Tea

For those seeking a high tea experience, the hotel offers a formal, traditional high tea with South African flavours that changes with the seasons.

It opens with MCC, and a waiter presents a selection of eight single-origin loose-leaf teas at the table, explaining their origins and suggesting pairings. Guests choose three teas during the experience, and the stand includes finger sandwiches, three tarts, three savouries and three petit fours, with a trolley service for top-ups and herbal iced teas on warmer days.

From The Mountain

With Mount Grace, all is foraged, not farmed.

Their indigenous ingredients, including Tulbaghia (wild garlic), amabumbe, aloe, lavender, confetti bush, wild prickly pears and imphepho are gathered on the property and used in the kitchen.

The team has been trained to forage sustainably, turning the soil afterwards so the natural flora continues to regenerate. Wet waste is combined with a compost activator and garden refuse to make compost for the gardens, and the property has six boreholes on site.

Rambling Vine

Executive Chef Pieter Malan joined Mount Grace in March 2026 and has rebuilt the hotel’s menus around locally sourced and foraged ingredients. He has made a deliberate choice to put his team at the centre of the Rambling Vine experience. The chefs and sous chefs who cook each dish also present it at the table, so guests hear the story from the people who made it.

Rambling Vine’s new menu honours South African food, treasured family recipes and the nostalgia that comes
with them, all given a Mount Grace twist. Nowhere is this clearer than at Rambling Vine, where the seven-course tasting menu draws on ingredients and techniques from across the country.

The evening begins in the wine cellar with the executive chef, where the amuse-bouche is served.

Guests then move to the table for the bread service and the courses that follow. Each dish is brought to the Executive Chef, the table, and presented by a member of the culinary team, whether a chef or a sous chef, who explains every element: where the ingredients come from, how they were prepared, and the thinking behind the
dish. Each wine in the pairing is presented by a different team member. These are a few examples from the current menu of how traditional South African ingredients are given a modern treatment. As the menu is seasonal, the dishes will change.

• The bread service: Breads such as mosbolletjies and amagwinya each represent a different region
  of South Africa. Some are made with the kitchen’s sourdough starters, affectionately nicknamed
  “Levian” and “William”, which are 22 years old.
• The lard candle: This is served with the bread course. Fat saved from cooking boerewors on the griddle is
  left to set, then shaped into small candles that guests dip their bread into once lit.
• The “Cradle” Stone: This is a truffle and wild mushroom arancini served on a heated Magalies River stone
  with edible ash.
• Magalies tilapia: Sourced within the 60km radius, gin-cured and finished with Hibiscus kombucha
  reduction made on the property from ingredients foraged on the mountain.
• Sorghum, two ways: Mabele (sorghum) appears as a risotto with braised oxtail and bone marrow
  foam, and as popcorn: traditional ingredients prepared with imagination.
• “Veldfire” Venison: A loin of kudu with umngqusho, fermented plum and a Chibuku emulsion.

The wine pairing

The current pairing draws on independent, family-owned and small-batch South African producers, with
Each wine matched to a specific course. Waiters have been trained to share tableside wine pairing information.

Cost: Seven-course tasting menu: R1200pp. With wine pairing, R1700pp. A 12% service charge is added to the bill.

Get in touch

Tucked into the Magaliesberg, Mount Grace offers an escape from city life. Plan a romantic weekend around the seven-course dinner at Rambling Vine or visit for the day

Where: Mount Grace Hotel & Spa, Old Rustenburg Road, Mogale City, Gauteng

Tel: 014 577 5600
Email: [email protected]
Website: southernsun.com
Facebook: Mount Grace Hotel & Conference Centre, Magaliesburg
Instagram: @mountgrace_hotel_spa

Unique activities and experiences in Magaliesberg