Paternoster Hotel

You stay at the Paternoster Hotel in the middle of a whitewashed fishing village on the West Coast, two hours from Cape Town. The building dates to 1863, when it was farmland; later it served as the village jail before becoming a hotel. Since 1974, the Panty Bar has drawn visitors with its collection of donated underwear — started by then-owner Johan Carosini, confiscated by police in 1983, and restarted in the 1990s by his son Giorello.

Rooms come in three types: family rooms with partial sea views from the balcony, double rooms with bathtubs, and twin rooms that can convert to a king bed. All have tea and coffee stations; some have walk-in rain showers. The village architecture is limestone, whitewashed like the hotel.

The restaurant serves seafood from the bay — hake, calamari, mussels, prawns — with a platter big enough for two. The Panty Bar pours local beers and cocktails under the underwear collection. From the hotel you can walk to the beach for kayaking or to the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve for hiking trails and wildflowers in August and September.

The Carosini family has run the hotel since 1973, now in its third generation. They keep the Panty Bar stocked with new donations.