Cape Wheel Ticket at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

The Cape Wheel at the V&A Waterfront

The Cape Wheel is a 40-metre observation wheel with fully enclosed cabins, each carrying a small group of passengers in comfort whatever the weather. A ride is four complete revolutions, which takes around fifteen minutes, long enough to pick out every landmark and take photos from each side. The cabins are air-conditioned and glazed on all sides, and several are designed for wheelchairs, so the whole family can go up together.

The wheel stands in the centre of the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town's historic harbour district, beside the main shopping precinct and a short walk from the Two Oceans Aquarium and the open-air amphitheatre. Because it is so central, a Cape Wheel ticket is the easiest way to get a bird's-eye view of the city when you have an hour free, when the cableway is closed by wind, or simply as the perfect finish to an afternoon at the Waterfront.

What you see from the top: Table Mountain, Lion's Head and Robben Island

The reason people search for the best view in Cape Town and end up here is simple: from the highest point of the wheel the whole amphitheatre of mountains opens up at once. Table Mountain fills the view to the south with its flat summit and the Twelve Apostles falling away behind it; Lion's Head and Signal Hill rise to the west; Devil's Peak closes the picture to the east. On a clear day you can see the upper cable station on the mountain's edge.

Turn the other way and Table Bay stretches to the horizon with Robben Island, the former prison island of the struggle against apartheid, lying low on the water about eleven kilometres out. Below you lie the Cape Town Stadium at Green Point, the cranes of the working port, the ferry jetties and the colourful rooftops of the Waterfront. It is one of the only viewpoints that puts mountain, city, harbour and ocean in a single frame.

Exploring the V&A Waterfront around the wheel

The V&A Waterfront is the oldest working harbour in South Africa and the city's most visited destination, a mix of nineteenth-century dock buildings, swing bridges, fishing boats and modern shopping and dining. After your ride you can watch the resident Cape fur seals lazing on the pontoons, cross the swing bridge to the red Clock Tower built in the 1880s, visit the Two Oceans Aquarium or browse the craft market in the Watershed.

The Waterfront is also where ferries depart for Robben Island and where many Cape Town harbour cruises and sunset boat trips begin, so it is easy to build a whole day here. Halal food is simple to find among the Waterfront's many restaurants and food halls, and the area is well lit, busy and patrolled into the evening, which makes it one of the most relaxed places in the city to wander with children.

Planning your Cape Wheel visit: opening hours and best time

The Cape Wheel operates daily from 09:00 to 21:00, with the last ride shortly before closing, and your ticket is valid for any time within those hours on the date you choose. Rides are continuous, so waiting times are usually short outside school holidays and weekend evenings. Allow around thirty minutes in total for queueing, boarding and the ride itself, then as long as you like for the Waterfront afterwards.

Is the Cape Wheel worth visiting? For first-time visitors it is one of the best ways to understand the layout of Cape Town before heading up Table Mountain or out to Cape Point. The best time to ride is late afternoon, when the light on the mountain is warm, or just after sunset when the city lights come on and Table Mountain is floodlit. Mornings are quieter and give the clearest air for photographs.