Birkenhead House began as the Biden family's own seaside holiday home — a personal beach house on the cliff above Walker Bay that was converted into what is now The Royal Portfolio's most intimate coastal property. That history of genuine personal ownership is felt in every room: the art is carefully chosen, the staff know every guest by name, and the all-inclusive model means nothing interrupts the rhythm of a day spent between the terrace, the twin pools, the beach below, and the ocean beyond.
The hotel's eleven rooms are individually designed by Liz Biden across three interconnected cliff-top houses. The Deluxe Superior Rooms face the sea with generous balconies and dazzling ocean views. The Superior Rooms command majestic mountain and sea panoramas. Room Five, a Luxury Room, adds its own private patio with plunge pool. All rooms are all-inclusive: breakfast, lunch, dinner, local beverages, spirits, cocktails, house wines, mini-bar, laundry, WiFi, and the shuttle to Hermanus town centre.
Hermanus is known worldwide as the finest land-based whale watching destination on earth. From June to November, Southern Right whales arrive in Walker Bay in large numbers, and can be observed from the hotel terrace, from the Hermanus cliff path directly outside the gate, and on private boat excursions arranged by the hotel. September and October are the peak months, when the whales are close to shore and calves can be seen.
The eleven rooms at Birkenhead House are distributed across three interconnected cliff-top houses, each individually designed and decorated by Liz Biden. The result is a hotel that feels more like a private home than a resort — no two rooms are the same, every wall tells a story, and the sea is visible from most windows.
Deluxe Superior Rooms are sea-facing with generous balconies and panoramic Walker Bay views. Superior Rooms offer majestic mountain and sea views with seating areas and minibars. Luxury Rooms, some with partial sea views, add extra space and one features its own private patio with plunge pool.
All dining at Birkenhead House is all-inclusive and changes daily according to what is freshest from the Walker Bay shoreline and the surrounding Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. The menus are designed by the in-house gourmet chef and reflect the Cape Coast's extraordinary larder — fresh mussels, line-caught fish, local oysters, and Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the world-renowned wine route just inland.
The Mussel Picking experience is a Birkenhead signature: guests join the chefs on the rocks below the hotel to harvest fresh mussels from the shoreline, before returning for a masterclass in cooking them with fresh bread and local white wine. It is one of those rare hotel experiences that could not happen anywhere else on earth.
4 nights all-inclusive · Walker Bay whale watching · ocean safari · mussel picking · Hemel-en-Aarde wine · Voëlklip beach · Hermanus cliff path
All meals, local beverages, laundry, and WiFi are included. Add-on options: Helicopter whale watching flight · Private Hemel-en-Aarde winery tour · Shark cage diving (seasonal)
Birkenhead House combines a genuinely unique natural setting — the cliff above Walker Bay, the world's finest land-based whale watching destination — with one of South Africa's most personal hospitality experiences. The all-inclusive model, the individually designed rooms, the ocean safari, the mussel picking with the chef, and the Hemel-en-Aarde wine valley on the doorstep create a stay that is impossible to replicate elsewhere on the Cape Coast. As the former Biden family home, it retains an intimacy that no purpose-built hotel can achieve.
Birkenhead House is a cliff-top all-inclusive boutique hotel in Hermanus, South Africa — the former seaside home of The Royal Portfolio's founders, converted into the Cape Coast's most intimate luxury retreat above Walker Bay.
This package includes the ocean safari, mussel picking experience, Hemel-en-Aarde wine tasting, whale watching from the cliff path, and surfing at Voëlklip Beach — all fully all-inclusive.
All components are fully flexible — this is a curated starting point, refined with your Richseen specialist prior to confirmation.