Robben Island
The cell where Mandela spent eighteen years, visited with former prisoners as guides.
Duration
4 hrs – 5 hrs
Best time
Morning departure
Open
Every day
Entry price
600 ZAR
The island served as a leper colony, an asylum and a political prison. Mandela spent eighteen of his twenty-seven years of detention here, in a two-metre-square cell you see at the end of the tour.
The visit is led by a former political prisoner, and that is what sets it apart: the account is not a reconstruction, it is first-hand. The ferry from the V&A Waterfront takes thirty minutes each way.
Getting there
Ferry from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront. Be there thirty minutes before departure; boarding closes early.
What the price covers
return crossing and guided tour
Rules on site
Crossings are cancelled in heavy seas, and the call comes on the morning itself. Tickets sell out days ahead: you cannot just turn up at the desk.
Checked on 28 August 2026 at Africa Adventure — Cape Town tour prices 2026
Other places in Cape Town
Table Mountain, by cable carA thousand-metre plateau above the city, and a cabin that rotates on the way up.Boulders Beach and its penguinsA colony of African penguins settled on a white sand beach, three metres from the boardwalks.
Kirstenbosch Botanical GardenFive hundred hectares of Cape flora at the foot of the mountain, with a walkway slung through the canopy.
Lion's Head at sunsetA spiral around the peak, a few ladders and chains near the top, and the whole city lighting up below.