The Best Sight in Cape Town, South Africa

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Reviews Updated by

T
Kate Turkington

Cape Town has grown as a city in a way that few others in the world have. Take a good look at the street names. Strand and Waterkant streets (meaning "beach" and "waterside," respectively) are now far from the sea. However, when they were named, they were right on the beach. An enormous program of dumping rubble into the ocean extended the city by a good few square miles (thanks to the Dutch obsession with reclaiming land from the sea). Almost all the city on the seaward side of Strand and Waterkant is part of the reclaimed area of the city known as the Foreshore. If you look at old paintings of the city, you will see that originally waves lapped at the very walls of the castle, now more than half a mile from the ocean.

V&A Waterfront

Said to be the busiest tourist "attraction" in Africa, the V&A (Victoria & Alfred) Waterfront is the culmination of a long-term project undertaken to breathe new life into the city's historical dockland. Expansion plans are underway that, by 2050, will have added entire new districts and facilities both on land (including land still to be reclaimed from the sea) and on the water.

The ease and safety here, coupled with favorable currency exchange rates for North American and European visitors, and the ever-increasing number of truly worthwhile activities on offer keep the area buzzing. Hundreds of shops, movie theaters, restaurants, bars, and hotels have taken residence in restored warehouses and dock buildings, all connected by pedestrian plazas and promenades. Newer developments like the excellent Watershed craft market and two dedicated food markets have made the V&A more appealing to locals, and, in the so-called Silo precinct of the V&A, there's the architecturally significant Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa—Africa's first such institution. It's also home to Two Oceans Aquarium and the Robben Island ferries.

Keep in mind, though, that this is still a working waterfront, and you'll be greeted with fish smells, the cacophonous noise of ships being mended, cruise liners pulling in to dock, seals in the water, and boats of all sizes zipping in and out. And mind the seagulls who will gladly help themselves to your chips or chicken wings.