V&A Waterfront (Silo District)

The Silo Hotel

★★★★★

The Silo is the most dramatic hotel in Cape Town and one of the most talked-about in the world. It occupies the upper floors of the old grain elevator tower in the Silo District of the V&A Waterfront, above the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, and its signature is the windows: huge panes of glass that bulge outward like pillows, set into the concrete of the industrial tower, forged locally and hoisted into place by crane. From inside, they frame Table Mountain, the harbour, the city and the ocean out to Robben Island, and at night they glow like lanterns over the Waterfront. The hotel belongs to The Royal Portfolio, a South African group known for its maximalist, art-filled interiors, and there are only 28 suites, which keeps the atmosphere intimate. Room types run from the Silo Rooms of about 44 square metres with private balconies, through Duplex Suites on the sixth and seventh floors and Deluxe Superior Suites on the eighth to tenth floors, to two-bedroom family duplexes, a Royal Suite facing the Atlantic and Robben Island, and a Penthouse with a cinema room and a private treatment room. Interiors mix antiques, vivid fabrics, chandeliers and a collection of contemporary African art, and no two rooms are alike. Public spaces include The Granary Cafe for all-day dining, The Willaston Bar, named after the first ship to bring grain to the silo, The Silo Rooftop with its spectacular views, and The Wisdom Room. The Silo Spa offers treatments in calm rooms high above the harbour. Zeitz MOCAA is directly below, the Robben Island ferry leaves from the Nelson Mandela Gateway a short walk away, and the restaurants and markets of the Waterfront fill the streets around you.

Choosing a room: every room has a view, but the direction matters. Mountain-facing rooms look across the harbour to Table Mountain and the city, while sea-facing rooms look out to Table Bay and Robben Island; higher floors give the most commanding outlook. The duplex suites, with a sitting room downstairs and a bedroom upstairs, suit longer stays and couples who want space, and the family duplex has a second bedroom designed for younger guests. The Penthouse is one of the most expensive hotel suites in Africa and is for once-in-a-lifetime occasions.

What the stay is like: service is personal and warm, as at the other Royal Portfolio hotels, and the hotel is small enough for staff to know guests by name. Breakfast is served with a view across the harbour, and evenings on the rooftop as the mountain turns pink are among the great Cape Town experiences. The location is ideal for the Waterfront, Robben Island and Zeitz MOCAA, and quick by car to the city centre, the Atlantic seaboard and the beaches; it is less convenient for walking to the City Bowl, which is a short taxi ride away.

Who it suits: honeymooners, art lovers, design enthusiasts and travellers celebrating something special. The trade-offs are price, which is at the very top of the Cape Town market, and a style that some find exuberant rather than restful. But as an experience — sleeping inside one of the boldest pieces of architecture in Africa, with the whole of Table Bay in your window — nothing else in the city compares.