Contact Us

The Coliving started mostly because Michael, one of the founders, needed a home for a stray cat that he had adopted. The cat was called Mogi. Michael lived next door to an old guesthouse and noticed that Mogi really liked hanging-out in the garden of that house. 

Michael also runs the local coworking space in JBay and had noticed the growing remote work community in the town. When the guesthouse next door came up for sale, he saw an opportunity to:

a) ensure that Mogi the cat is always looked-after, even when he needed to travel; and 

b) address the requests he frequently received from remote workers at the cowork who wanted an airbnb-level of longer-stay accommodation near the beach in JBay, but preferred to live in community, rather than alone.

With that, he bought the guesthouse, made a few upgrades, and the rest is history! In other words, JBay Coliving is mostly a home for a cat... but you can stay there for a while, and get your work done, in a community.

Our minimum length of stay is 14 nights. Why? We believe that a slower turnover in the house is less stressful for all involved and a better experience for residents. We strongly encourage bookings longer than 14 nights, as we believe your JBay experience will be better this way. Our monthly rates are quite significantly discounted to encourage this. 

JBay Coliving has always been strongly vegetarian-biased. In consideration of our veggie friends, these days we no longer allow any form of meat to be stored or prepared in the house. If you are craving meat or fish, we will happily recommend one of the local restaurants where you will find very good options for that, usually at a very reasonable price too! 

There are beaches, supermarkets and coffee shops all within a 5-minute walk from the house. Should you wish to go further (for example, to the coworking space), bicycles are available at the house at no extra charge. 

Yes! The Coliving House provides the unlimited high-speed fibre internet (up to 400Mbps) with UniFi networking throughout the house. WiFi is solid.

Yes - our coliving is mostly powered by the sun. We have battery components and mains connections for those rare times that JBay is not sunny! The WiFi, plug points and all essentials are always powered. Scheduled power outages "loadshedding" that used to plague South Africa now seem to be a thing of the past... 🤞

We are able to arrange an airport pickup from Port Elizabeth Airport via a trusted taxi company (approx 50 mins drive). If you wish to use this, please communicate in advance upon booking your room at the coliving house. There is an additional cost of R850 / ~EUR40 (one way) for this service. This should be paid directly to the driver or cab company.

The Coliving House is 3km from the Coworking space, down one straight and flat road. On this road, it is about a 10 minute cycle (bicycles are included in your stay) or a 5-minute drive / ~EUR3 taxi. Your accommodation charge automatically includes free access to the coworking space.

Yes - some of the best spots for surfing are all within a 5 minute walk from the house! However, if you are a beginner, the more beginner-friendly waves are right in front of The Green Room Coworking space - about a 10 minute cycle from the coliving house.

One of the main things that make JBay, JBAY… is that we have incredible waves! The town is, indeed, very much centered around the ocean and the surf culture. That being said, if you are not so much into surfing, there are still plenty of stunning adventures and beautiful stretches of nature that you can explore in and around the town. 

You can expect a quiet, peaceful and inspiring environment where you will be able to focus on your work, adventure with friends and relax! 

We are definitely not a town that you can expect a lot of 'vibrant nightlife' in. There is not much of a 'partying' scene if this is something that you are looking for.

Everyone caters for themselves at the house - we have a large and well-equipped kitchen. That said, you can expect a communal meal provided by the house at least once a week. We always try to find someone interesting from the local community to cook something delicious (and vegetarian) There are also a range of good and affordable restaurant options in JBay that we can recommend. 

There are various yoga studios nearby that we can point you to!

The house is designed with various spacious areas and private nooks where you can set up get some work done. Access to the Green Room JBay Coworking space is also included in your room rate! At the cowork you’ll find a range of desk space solutions, with different levels of privacy. You can also make some friends within the large established community of travelers and locals alike!

There was a house cat and his curious, calm spirit remains strong in the house. Mogi unfortunately left us, but you'll still see him in many photos. These days it's not unusual for one of the neighbours' cats to wander in to the communal areas looking for scratches. 

Yes! We do have room options that cater for 1 x king, or 2 x singles that can be separated upon request. These are specified in the room options. 

Yes! There is a washing machine in the house available for all residents. This is included in the cost of your stay. We even provide the bio-friendly laundry detergent.  If you prefer, we can also recommend nearby laundries within a short walk. The house will take care of a weekly change of linen.

Rooms are cleaned once per week, with fresh linen and towels. If you need fresh linen/towels more frequently, just tell us!

We're strongly against using strong chemicals, poisons or cleaning agents in the house. They're not good for us and they're not good for the environment. All of our cleaning detergents in the house are natural-based and biodegradable. We do not use any poisons in the house or garden. 

There is a vegetable and herb garden and you are always welcome to help yourself (or help with the gardening!)! It varies in productivity depending on the season. We also use a composting method called 'bokashi' which you may be familiar with, all the organic waste from the house goes back into the garden.