Review: The Silo, Cape Town

While the Cape Town hotel’s luscious spa treatments, world-class dining and 28 plush rooms and suites certainly impress, its design and architecture are what make it truly astonishing. Impeccably built into the grain elevator section of a historic silo complex, the hotel’s original features like steel columns and concrete pillars are juxtaposed against eclectic, colourful interiors – turquoise desks and mustard yellow couches ­– dreamed up by Royal Portfolio group owner Liz Biden.

The Silo’s most salient features are its multi-faceted convex windows, courtesy of industrial architect Thomas Heatherwick. These massive omnidirectional eyes gaze across Cape Town’s famously beautiful City Bowl, with each window’s unique geometry carefully calculated to enhance its perspective. All suites boast these floor-to-ceiling marvels, presenting guests with some truly stunning views.

The hotel’s corridors, rooms and communal spaces are adorned with impressive artworks from the continent’s greatest creative minds, such as Kenyan-born sculptor and photographer Cyrus Kabiru and Zimbabwean mixed-media artist Kudzanai Chiurai. Biden, an avid art collector with a keen eye for the exquisite and somewhat unusual, has personally curated hundreds of masterpieces for the hotel.

With a location atop the acclaimed Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), The Silo’s love affair with art permeates your stay. Hotel guests naturally enjoy easy and complimentary access to the world’s largest collection of contemporary African works.

While hotel rooftop facilities are par for the course, The Silo’s offering is quite exceptional. As the V&A Waterfront’s highest building, it offers unparalleled views of the bay and the iconic Table Mountain – best admired from the inviting infinity pool or the panoramic guests-only sky terrace.

theroyalportfolio.com/the-silo

Singapore Airlines flies to Cape Town daily. To book a flight, visit singaporeair.com

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