Reviews of Nest Hotel
(80%) From 43 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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The Nest- Completely different!
We werent particularly looking forward to the Nest having read all the other reviews. Strangely enough we loved it.
European "Holiday Inn" style hotel, completely naff. Immaculately clean, no atmosphere. Our room on the ground floor; the balcony was level with the rocks on the sea shore, the sea lapped up just underneath it, fabulous view across the bay. Loved it!
Arriving on Sunday night to find Luderitz closed, we had to eat in hotel. Excellent food, good service. Enjoyed it a lot.
Did morning trip to Ghost town, one of our highlligts of trip. Absolutely fascinating and made Luderitz whacky, worth a detour.
Nest Hotel review
While the Nest Hotel was fine, Luderitz was the one spot on our tour that we could have skipped. The penguins were almost worth seeing and Kolmanskop and the mining museum were interesting but overall we thought Luderitz was a "one-horse" town.
We did see around 100 ferral horses near Aus en route to Luderitz.
Nest Hotel review
A lovely warm room, receptionist moved us to a room with a balcony actually on the rocky shore which was small but very comfortable with seabirds feeding 3m away from us. Lovely warm, charming staff and good food. There was even a washing line in the bathroom!
Read more about the whole tripMIXED EXPERIENCES
Afeter a long drive from Fish River Canyon, we were warmly welcomed by staff. We had a lovely room overlooking the sea from which we spotted a pateinet heron fishing! The first night we decided to eat 'A la-Carte' rather than the buffet and were disappointed. The food was not good; but upon commenting about this to the staff - the bill was reduced. The second evening we had the buffet which was actually good and better value.
The highlight of staying here were the two most amazing trips we had booked. The first was down through the Sperrgebiet and onto Bogenfells Rock Arch. We had fantastic guides and the atmosphere at the deserted mines was amazing! That trip was worth every penny! This was really fabulaous. From our first stop at the deserted mines; we really absorbed the atmosphere of the place. We have taken some amazing photos of the deserted buildings at Pomona and the guide was brilliant. Lunch at the old Schoolhouse was wonderful and gave us plenty of time to wander round. The cemetry was particularly poignant. We enjoyed the contrast in visting Bogenfells Rock Arch with the wild waves.
We later manager to buy the book ' the harsh and forbidden Sperrgebiet' book to learn more about this amazing place.
The second booked trip was out on the boat Sedina- where upon returning from Penguin Island; a hump back whale breached in front of our boat! What an amazing experience. A great trip. The skipper was fun, very knowledgeable and informative. We saw doplhins and penguins on our trip out and then the hump-back whale breached in front of our boat on the return journey- a truly magical experience and one we never expected from our Namibian trip.
It was fascinating to learn so much about the fishing industry and tides of Namibia too. Well worth it - even without the whale sighting- although that was the icing on the cake!
We did visit Kolmanskop on our final morning which was good; but after the Sperrgebiet was rather an anti-climax.
Nest Hotel review
We only stayed here because we weren't able to get two nights at Klein Aus Vista. Only stay here if you're desperate!
We were given a room with a partial sea view (301): probably one of only three rooms with just a partial view, and I can't believe it was that busy.
Maybe eating here will serve us right for not being more adventurous (ie, going into town) but I had the worst meal I've eaten (or not!) for decades. For 'Thai stir fry of seafood in own juices' read 'not particularly fresh seafood in canned lobster bisque soup'. It was inedible. And not cheap, so it's reasonable to expect more. I didn't eat it and said it wasn't enjoyable, and so a supervisor marched over, and basically said I should have expected it to be a soup (??).
They then seemingly redeemed themselves by not including it on the bill and my partner gave a good tip as she thought they'd dealt with it well. However, when we came to check out, they had charged us for it.
Nest Hotel Review
The hotel was fine and once more the staff were helpful for example offering to book a sea trip to see penguins, seals and dolphins, which we did.
I have said the location was good, that meaning within Luderitz. I cannot say Luderitz itself was a highlight. The wind almost blew us away and there seems little of real interest had it not been for the sea trip, which was by the way well worth it. The crew and captain were relaxed and enthusistic, and again keen to share their experience.
The drive to Luderitz was exciting. The sand was being blasted across the road by the wind and even with headlights on it was quite difficult to see far ahead. It sounded like a hailstorm in the car and selfishly I was glad that it was not my vehicle since I guess the paintwork suffers somewhat. The outward journey was very different, perfectly calm. Apparently huge changes in weather conditions within a short time are the norm.
A trip around the peninsula is well worth doing.
Why Luderitz?
The trip from Fish River Canyon was great, we took advice from a Swiss couple at Bagatelle and went via the Orange River - what a delightful drive along the valley, athough Rosh Pinah is not such a great stopping point afterwards!
It was a very long drive and unfortunately Luderitz was one of our disappointments. We arrived in the fog which started about 20kms out, spent a worrying night with the waves breaking onto our ground floor windows and awoke to a grey and dismal dawn which didn't change for the 40 odd hours we were there.
The hotel is fine for a short stay although the approach is rather unnerving. The sandy road down to The Nest is lined by derelict warehouses and an old power station. There's not one window intact in the whole street and we would not have dared to walk it after dark! As a consequence we only went into and through the town by car and ate in the hotel both evenings - the food was OK, but not very inspired.
After one day spent touring the peninsula, we left Luderitz in the pouring rain that lasted for 100kms, so didn't bother to try to find the wild horses.
The title reflects a profound question - we didn't understand including the place as a visitor attraction at that time of year. It may, of course, be a different proposition at other times - not sure we would easily be persuaded though!
Nest Hotel review
A typical chain hotel with air con, bath, TV but good views it you looked at the island and not over towards Luderitz which looked like Cannery Row!
Staff were pleasant and helpful but not very impressed with the restaurant evening meal choice and food, especially when we compare to other hotels and lodges we stayed in throughout our 3 weeks. We arrived on a Sunday so the town was shut and did not really seem to offer much the next day.
Would not recommend stopping in Luderitz - it could be visited from Aus incorporating the ghost town which was interesting and where light meals were available. You do have to get your tickets to the ghost town from the centre of Luderitz - obviously to encourage to go there!!!
Nest Hotel review
We were given a room without a balcony, which is a pity as it is much better to have a balcony and so to enjoy the sea views and the sunsets.
Our room had not been well maintained - I repaired the wardrobe myself as the door was falling off.
Serive was slow in the overcrowded restaurant, which was struggling to cope with a tour party.
Expert Africa comments
We have been in touch with The Nest hotel regarding the room types available. They do not mention rooms with balconies as being a different room type – all are classified the same and cost the same. However, as a result of the email from these travellers we have dug a little deeper and found out that the rooms at The Nest that do have balconies all tend to be twin rooms - rooms with a double bed do not have balconies. Please note that we will always try and do our best to make special requests if travellers ask for a specific room type, however these can never be fully guaranteed.
Nest Hotel review
We were initially given a dingy room on the ground floor with bars on the window onto a very poor view which was also a smoking room and smelt awful. I asked for a room change and was given another room also on the ground floor, but non-smoking and with a better view. It would have been nice to have had a room with a balcony though.
The internet was not working during the length of our stay with no real explanation as to why. We could see that other people were wanting to use it and were also told just to try later but with no success and no explanation. The service at the front desk was the poorest here that was experienced in the whole trip but it was nothing to complain about particularly.
The hotel was clean and tidy and the pool area nice. Service in the restaurant area was good from some staff and poorer from others. Food was ok, but not as good as other locations.
We have always believed that acting responsibly is the only way to approach tourism and we're one of
the few companies to hold AITO's original coveted 5-star status for responsible tourism. It's a lead
that others are now following.
