Turbine Boutique Hotel & Spa

The Story

Geoff Engel and Dandre Lerm saw a newspaper advertisement for a derelict power station on Knysna’s Thesen Islands and decided to turn it into a hotel. Three years of rezoning, heritage approvals, and construction followed, a process that would have discouraged anyone without a genuine conviction that the building deserved a second life. The Knysna power station had generated electricity from 1939 until its final day of operation in 2001. What it generates now is rather different.

The Turbine Boutique Hotel opened in August 2010 with 26 rooms built around, between, and beneath the original turbines, boilers, and steel pillars, none of which were removed. The South African Institute of Electrical Engineers awarded the building a heritage plaque the following year, only the fifth in South Africa. On the Garden Route, where accommodation tends toward the picturesque, this is the only one that kept the machinery.

Location

Thesen Islands sits on the southeast arm of the Knysna Lagoon, a small, gated residential island connected by a short bridge to the Knysna Waterfront and its restaurants, galleries, and harbour. The Thesen family, Norwegian timber merchants who arrived in 1870, shaped both the island and much of Knysna’s early industry; the power station that became this hotel was built to serve their sawmill. The hotel is Stop number nine on the Thesen Islands Heritage Walk, which tells you something about how seriously the conversion has been taken.

The setting is marina canal rather than open water. Boats pass, waterbirds work the edges, and the Heads (the sandstone cliffs guarding the lagoon mouth) are visible from the waterfront across the bridge. It is quieter than staying in Knysna’s centre, with the main restaurant strip a short walk over the bridge, which suits those who want calm without isolation.

There is no beach on Thesen Islands. The pool is the primary swimming amenity; Buffalo Bay and Brenton-on-Sea, both legitimate swimming beaches, require a fifteen- to twenty-minute drive. A car is essential for anything beyond the Waterfront. The Garden Route does not do public transport.

A natural two- to three-night pause on a Garden Route itinerary, with enough in Knysna itself to justify the stop rather than just sleep through it.

Rooms

Twenty-six rooms in three tiers — Standard, Luxury, and suites — every one shaped by the industrial shell it inhabits. The original steel pillars, exposed brick, and machinery fragments are not decorative references; they are the actual structure, worked around rather than stripped out. Each room is individually themed to some aspect of Knysna’s geography or culture, which means no two layouts are identical, though it also means some rooms have unconventional geometries and variable natural light.

Standard rooms run compact at approximately 28 square metres. The industrial architecture (hard surfaces, double-height spaces, open steel) carries sound more readily than conventional plasterboard; light sleepers fare better on upper floors away from the central atrium. For families, a Luxury room with one or two adjoining Standards provides the practical configuration.

The three suites sit at the top of the hierarchy. The Honeymoon Suite has a pool-view balcony, double shower, and freestanding bath. The One-Bedroom Suite adds a separate living area. Two self-contained suites operate semi-independently for those wanting more space and privacy.

Luxury rooms earn the upgrade through size and positioning rather than dramatically different amenities. If the Standard rooms are the power station’s work floor, the Luxury rooms are its corner offices.

Communal Areas

The ground floor is the main event. The original 1939 machinery has been kept in place, and architect Mike Louw of CMAI designed the conversion to preserve it as the structural and visual spine of the hotel’s public spaces. Walking through the ground floor still feels more like entering an industrial archaeology exhibit than a lobby.

Works by local artists hang throughout the public areas and are for sale, so the collection changes regularly, the hotel doubles as a rotating gallery.

Head Chef Greg Coleman runs the kitchen with a SASSI-sourced seafood commitment (two listed suppliers) and keeps bees on the property, with the honey finding its way into the menu. The Island Café handles daytime service; the Gastro Pub covers evenings. A Chef’s Table offers a more involved format for those who treat food as an activity rather than a necessity.

The Turbine Spa occupies three treatment rooms with a Rasul steam chamber. It is functional rather than destination-grade. The pool deck is where people settle on warm afternoons. Ninety solar panels went onto the roof in 2022, the power station generating its own electricity again, this time from a different source.

Activities

The hotel keeps its own jetty on the canal, and sunset cruises on the lagoon depart directly from the property, which saves the drive to the harbour that most Knysna hotels require. Canoe and kayak trips run from the same jetty, putting guests on the water without the production of organising it from town.

Bicycle hire is available for heritage rides around Thesen Islands and the waterfront, or longer wine-route rides into the surrounding countryside. The island itself is flat and compact enough for gentle cycling; the wine-route option requires more commitment but covers attractive country. For a Garden Route stopover, having water and cycling accessible from the doorstep rather than a car journey away is what justifies the extra night.

Beyond the hotel, Knysna fills the rest of the itinerary: the Featherbed Nature Reserve by ferry, three golf courses within twenty minutes (Pezula, Simola, and Knysna Golf Club), Afromontane forest hikes from three to nine kilometres, and whale watching off the Heads between July and November when Southern Right and Humpback whales move through.