V&A Waterfront

The V&A Waterfront covers 123 hectares of Cape Town's shore, on the site of the oldest working harbour in the Southern Hemisphere. Around those docks has grown a quarter of shops, restaurants and museums, divided into several distinct districts.

More than 450 retail outlets sell fashion, homeware and curios, mixing local and international brands. Then come more than 100 restaurants and eateries, from quick bites to fine dining with views over the water. The Canal District connects the waterfront with the city and takes in Battery Park and a spa. The Clocktower District holds the 1882 clock tower and the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island. Granger Bay looks over the ocean and hosts the Oranjezicht City Farm Market. In the Silo District, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa occupies a repurposed grain silo. It is the largest museum of contemporary African art in the world, with the Southern Guild Design Gallery in the same district. The Two Oceans Aquarium shows marine life from the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. The Chavonnes Battery Museum adds a look at Cape Town's colonial past.

The story starts in 1654, when Jan van Riebeeck built a small jetty for the Dutch East India Company's refreshment station. Winter storms kept wrecking ships, so Prince Alfred initiated the first harbour in 1860. The Alfred and Victoria Basins took shape between 1860 and 1920, as gold and diamonds multiplied the shipping. Many heritage buildings from that era remain standing. In 1988 the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Company began redeveloping the historic docklands, creating the precinct you walk through. And in the South Arm District the harbour still works, three and a half centuries after that first jetty.