Cape Town used to be very much a port city but over the years highways, container terminals and oil storage tanks separated the city from the sea. The V&A Waterfront development has reunited the citizens of the city with their maritime heritage. It has been inspired by (but is not a copy of) the Sydney and San Francisco harbour projects. The waterfront development has been a huge success with restaurants, shopping centres, hotels, offices, an aquarium and residential developments having transformed the once bleak landscape into a popular tourist destination.
Entertainment
The Waterfront provides a variety of entertainment for the whole family from buskers, street entertainers and festivals or lively music at the open air Amphitheatre. There are also eleven cinemas including the Imax. Historic buildings, walks, tours, boat trips and harbour cruises, helicopter flips, seaplane rides, a working brewery and numerous restaurants.
Shopping
The Alfred Mall, with it's Victorian architecture, maritime tradition, and African culture ensures a shopping environment that is lively and cosmopolitan. Specialty shops and boutiques, numerous restaurants and coffee shops provides all the shopping that you can handle. The Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre has over 40 restaurants, coffee shops and fast foods outlets, more than 190 other specialty shops, retail outlets, food merchants and barrows.
When to Visit
Trading hours are from 09h00 to 21h00 during weekdays, and from 10h00 to 21h00 on Sundays and Public Holidays. A regular bus service connects the Waterfront and the railway station in Adderley Street. A canal has recently be inaugurated which will link up the International Convention Centre on the foreshore with water taxis.
Source: DiscoverTheCape
