About Sun City
Sun City offers a dream family African holiday destination. The resort is 2 hrs north west of Johannesburg, adjacent to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. It offers a host of activities to a wide range of age groups and interests. There are four hotels that make up the resort, and the complex also has two world class golf courses. One of which hosts the Nedbank Million Dollar Golf Tournament.
The Hotels at Sun City
The Palace Hotel
The Palace of the Lost City at Sun City is one of the most enticing travellers’ destinations in the world, a tribute to man’s imagination and revered for its art and architecture. Fabled to be the royal residence of an ancient king, it is truly one of the ‘Worlds Leading Hotels”. The Palace is adorned with exquisite mosaics, frescoes, hand-painted ceilings – works of art you would find nowhere else in the world. The craftsman who are said to have fashioned this amazing Palace many centuries ago paid tribute to both art and nature, capturing elegant sable and winged cranes in bronze and stone and celebrating the mighty elephant with a life-size sculpture. The Palace Hotel lavishes its guests with 5-star service, and is luxurious in every facet of its fabulous architecture and dècor. Surrounding the hotel is a 25 hectare botanical jungle. The jungle is threaded with meandering paths, cascades, lakes and pools and a variety of water-borne adventure rides.
The Cascades Hotel
Lush gardens, tropical birds and water features give The Cascades its sophistication and elegance. The Cascades has a total of 243 rooms and offers a wide choice of rooms and suites. The Garden Suite is an idyllic private enclave with its own swimming pool and jacuzzi in a secluded terrace. In the standard and family rooms a separate large shower cubicle makes for a more intimate and private experience and the separate bath is the ideal place to unwind. The luxury rooms at the Cascades Hotel get superior treatment and each room has the added distinction of having its own dressing room with built in dressing table, cupboards and shoe racks. The bathrooms have double vanity units and be somewhat larger than the standard bathrooms.
The Sun City Main Hotel
Overlooking the internationally acclaimed Gary Player Golf Course, the Sun City Hotel is home to the Sun City Casino. The ambience of the hotel is one of glamorous sophistication tastefully combined with magical fantasy. The hotel’s view comprises a magnificent landscape of subtropical gardens and a sparkling swimming pool. It has a total of 340 rooms, which either face the Gary Player Golf Course, or pool area, with gardens stretching down to Sun City’s exciting Waterworld - few resorts in the world can equal the atmosphere this unique location creates. The rock ‘em, dazzle ‘em, stylish The Sun City Hotel lies at the centre of The Sun City Resort. Sun City Hotel has one of the largest casinos in the Southern Hemisphere, with American Roulette, Black Jack, Punto Banco and many hundreds of slot machines. It’s entertainment also includes the dance-till-dawn disco and glamourous extravaganza shows in the Sun City Theatre.
The Cabannas Hotel
The most relaxed and casual of all Sun City’s hotels, the Sun City Cabanas opens onto lush gardens leading down to the lake and Waterworld. The Sun City Cabanas has a total of 380 rooms. The Sun City Cabanas are built on two levels with rooms on the ground floor and first floors. The rooms are located in seven “blocks” situated around the main reception and restaurant area. The Sun City Cabanas offer an informal yet comfortable accommodation. The extensive lake is a watersport playground for visitors of all ages. The Cabanas are ideal for relaxed family holidays with fully supervised entertainment for the kids at Kamp Kwena – an adventure playground, mini-golf, children’s animal farm, bumper boats and lots more.
Activities at Sun City
The Valley of Waves is open daily from 09:00 to 18:00 in summer and 10:00 until 17:00 in winter and offers an astounding variety of adventures waiting to be discovered and enjoyed here. Walk across the impressive Bridge of Time that links the Lost City Entertainment Centre with the Valley of Waves. Guarded by mighty elephants that protect the incalculable riches that lie hidden in the Hall of Treasures, an ingenious mock volcano regularly erupts, causing smoke and lava to bellow forth from deep within the Temple of Creation. Pass the Monkey Spring Plaza - commemorating the troop of monkeys that saved the ancient tribe from starvation during a terrible drought - and enter the Valley of Waves through the massive Kong Gates. Stretched out before you is the Roaring Lagoon, where 1,8 meter high waves roll constantly towards the white soft sand beach. The Sacred River Ride will take you on a gentle ride on an underground river, young and old alike can follow its time worn path. The more adventurous can try the death defying water slide - the Temple of Courage - plunging down the face of the mountainside into the sparkling pool below. After the earthquake destroyed the ancient civilization, the old diamond and gold mines were partly flooded and today provide thrilling semi-submerged waterslides as they twist down Slide Hill. There are several different forests in the Valley, namely the Rain Forest, the Baobab Forest, the Jacaranda Forest and the Tropical Forest, containing rare plant varieties. Continue exploring and you will chance upon the Sway Bridge - devised by the King to entrap those who wished harm to the Royal Family - it creaks and sways as it spans the yawning chasm over the cascading waters below. Discover the Hidden Cave Falls by following the Hippo Gorge Trail, from the foot of the Royal Staircase or take the Adventure Path that links the Rain Forests across the Royal Staircase. Intrepid explorers will also find the Gong of the Sun Lion. This beautiful gong saves the ancient people by summoning them to the safety of the Royal Arena shortly before the earthquake devastated their homes. Pass by the Royal Arena, a beautiful amphitheater and the Royal Baths, whose tepid waters were reputed to have healing powers and were originally built over a natural spring. Take a well-earned liquid refreshment break at the Observatory Bar overlooking the Lake of Peace and the Roaring Lagoon or visit the Food Court where tasty foods are available.
Golf at Sun City
Lost City Golf Course
If golf courses were ranked solely on how spectacular and memorable they are, Lost City would come out on top more often than not. And no hole more so than the par-three 13th with its green shaped like the African continent, surrounded by pot bunkers and an enclosure to front left that is home to over forty crocodiles and hundreds of miss-hit golf balls. The view of the hole from the elevated tee is unforgettable and one can understand why Gary Player sincerely believes he has created one of the top courses in the world at the Lost City, with its desert-style front nine and African bushveld closing nine. Rocky outcrops and large waste bunkers, planted with a variety of cacti, are a feature of the desert- style front nine. The fairway landing areas are generous made more so by the recent conversion off all playing areas, tee to green, to kikuyu grass. The greens are large and generally flat in contrast to those across the hill at the Gary Player County Club. Playing the back nine is like going on a golfing safari. It has often been noted that the game is more exciting when played downhill and this is certainly the case here. In addition to the previously mentioned 13th, holes eleven, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen are all played from elevated tees offering thrill, excitement and challenge to the golfer. And some of the most spectacular African views to be had on a golf course. On the whole a round at Lost City is an experience which one will not easily forget. But it doesn’t end with the golf. Make sure you have allowed time for an after round sundowner at the Zimbabwe Ruins style clubhouse which overlooks the ninth and eighteenth greens. If you’re looking for golfs “Out of Africa” experience, this is it.
The Gary Player Golf Course
Known all over the world as the venue for the annual Nedbank Golf Challenge this Gary Player designed course is probably the most recognizable in South Africa. It is also one of the best. And the critics agree as it is ranked number 1 in the country by Compleat Golfer magazine and number 2 by Golf Digest (South Africa). Many of the game’s superstars have graced the fairways at this magnificent bushveld course and this adds to its appeal. To be able to compare your game to theirs, to say, “I birdied that hole just as Seve did,” or, “I drove past the place where Ernie or Nick landed”, is all part of the mystique of playing the Gary Player Country Club. Off the back markers the course measures over 7 000 metres which makes it one of the longest in the world. But a variety of tees make it possible to shorten the course and render playable for all levels of golfers. A distinguishing feature of the course is its green’s complexes, with strategically placed bunkers, swales and mounds that protect the super slick clover shaped greens. With pristine perfect kikuyu fairways and excellent bent grass greens the course is kept in perfect condition all year round. Ernie Els, Nick Price, David Frost, Seve Ballesteros and Bernard Langer have all won the Nedbank Golf Challenge more than once but the most impressive performance over this testing layout came in 1999 when Ernie Els posted a winning score of 263 - twenty five under par and eight strokes better than the previous best. A feature hole? Well they’re all good at the Gary Player Country Club, but for risk and reward the stand-out is the 9th . Play this par 5 from the forward tees and then have a go for the island green with your second and thrill to the challenge of this superb test of golf.