Situated on the Atlantic Ocean shore and in the heart of Cape Town, popularly known as ‘Mother City’, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront beckons to visitors who are willing to spend with matching leisure offerings, especially this festive season, writes OBINNA EMELIKE who was there in November.
If you love to live life to the fullest, cherish exclusivity, and also willing to pay for it, then, let us go to Mother City. Cape Town aptly tagged Mother City, is worth your visit, stay and return visit. The second-largest city in South Africa, and foremost destination for tourists, especially those who are looking for places worth spending their hard-earned money, is worth escaping to.
But whenever you are in Cape Town, a visit to Victoria and Alfred Waterfront is all you need. With sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean on one side, picturesque and awesome Table Mountain on the other, coupled with Table Bay Harbour, and a bubbling city as its charm, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (V&A) is the playground of millionaires, especially visitors looking for excitement. Cape Town attracted 1.5 million foreign tourists who have spent R18 billion in the province in 2016.
The waterfront’s 123-hectare space developed for mixed-use offers a smorgasbord of visitor experiences, ranging from leisure, shopping, entertainment to business making, it is an ideal place to live, work, shop, play, stay, and eat, especially this festive season.
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The area also boasts a range of prime residential and commercial real estates that are among the most expensive on the African continent. The residents include former presidents, corporate executives, diplomats, business tycoons, and celebrities from across the world. Beyond these offerings, V&A offers a collection of the most expensive and luxurious hotel brands, high-end restaurants, casinos, spas, top cruise liners, and luxury yachts, among others. It is a favourite destination for residents and tourists alike; attracting more than 23-million visitors a year, which makes it the most visited destination on the African continent.
Visitors to the waterfront can soak up the cosmopolitan atmosphere and marine feel of Africa by visiting over 450 world-class retailers, over 15 hotels, over 80 eateries including 12 fine-dining restaurants, coffee shops, pubs and taverns, and a fresh food market. There are over 20 leisure activities – from helicopter flips, boat rides, the Two Oceans Aquarium, four museums, and several other child-friendly activities that are not weather dependent. With 22 official historical landmarks on-site, the V&A Waterfront is also a dynamic, historical South African legacy.
A typical day at around the waterfront is experientially lively. From your well-appointed room at five-star Table Bay Hotel facing the awesome Table Mountain, you join the lift to the Atlantic Restaurant, which serves the best breakfast buffet in Cape Town. Afterwards, you visit the Camissa, a separate wine tasting room in the hotel to savour the best of South African wine menu.
Subsequently, you can stroll along the waterfront refreshing in the natural breeze from the Atlantic Ocean just before you. Yet, those who are prepared on their visit or rather made proper arrangements can join a cruise line for some hours stroll on the ocean, some go fishing on hired boats that dot the waterfront harbour, some other join smaller but luxury boats on the exploration of the Robben Island, a few kilometres away or other pockets of islands around. Otherwise, visitors that prefer city fun can go sightseeing on double-deck Big Tour buses, join Cable Car to climb Table Mountain or go shopping in the over three shopping malls around town.
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On a return from the daily tour, evenings feature the best weather, obvious tranquillity, and offering diners in most of the hotels and restaurants within V&A Waterfront, a relaxing and sensory experience while overlooking the harbour. Yet, the night comes with more excitements as visitors try their hands and luck at the many casinos, dance and drink at clubs or even night sailing for the more adventurous ones.
Wine tasting is something many visitors to Cape Town cherish a lot. The many luxury hotels offer special wine tasting (though only on the special invitation for their high profile guests) at the waterfront amid fresh ocean breeze that caresses the body and refreshes the taste buds for a drinking spree. Whether breakfast, lunch or dinner, dining is an experience for those who can afford it at the five-star restaurant at the waterfront. From La Colombe, the foremost of the 766 restaurants in Cape Town, which serves French cuisines, The Test Kitchen that serves contemporary cuisines, The Pot Luck Club that offers an international menu to many others, dining is beyond food and drinks, especially at the waterfront and its complementary views.
With swelling patronage by high-profile visitors at all the high-end hotels, five-star restaurants, luxury yacht and cruise services, the waterfront has contributed billions of Rand to the South African economy over the last 10 years, besides its cumulative contribution to the provincial GDP, which also runs into billions. The property also reported a 20.6 per cent increase in retail trade sales for 2013, marking 29 straight months of consistent growth since August 2011, and concluding 2013 with an impressive 19.8 per cent year-on-year growth. However, credit goes to Prince Alfred, second son of Queen Victoria, who began construction of the harbour in 1860. The first basin was named after himself, the second after his mother, hence the name- Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.
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