South Africa: A Journey
of Endless Diversity

Featured Accommodation

V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

The Silo Hotel — a 1924 grain elevator, reborn above Africa’s largest contemporary art collection

Cape Town’s grain silo was once the tallest building in sub-Saharan Africa, processing South African maize for export until operations stopped in 2001. Heatherwick Studio cut its concrete tubes open and hung bulging, pillowed-glass windows across the elevator tower. The lower floors became Zeitz MOCAA, the largest collection of contemporary African art on the continent. The six floors above became The Silo.

There are 28 rooms and suites, and owner Liz Biden’s interiors are unapologetically bold — Persian carpets, Egyptian chandeliers, giraffe prints and acid-bright velvets set against transparent tables and contemporary African works. Every room’s multi-faceted glass bay rises up to 5.5 metres, framing Table Mountain, the city or Table Bay harbour, with the bathtub deliberately positioned to share the view.

Art threads through the whole stay: direct access to the museum below, and an in-house art concierge who leads private tours of both Zeitz MOCAA and the hotel’s own collection. On the roof, a heated infinity pool looks from Table Mountain out to the Atlantic and Robben Island.