Robben Island Museum
Description
Travel to Robben Island by ferry and visit the famous prison where Nelson Mandela spent many years. Enjoy a bus ride around the island, then learn about the dramatic history of South Africa through the words of a former prisoner on a tour of the prison. Duration 4 hours Skip the ticket line Printed or mobile voucher accepted Ticket confirmation within 48 hours Once purchased, you’ll receive booking confirmation from the tour operator.
Tour Options
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(20)
To book your ticket you need proof of ID for each Passenger. Take the 9AM ferry tour On arrival you are ushered to one of the many busses. Your guide in board is an ex inmate, we had a great one who spent 5 years in the prison, very effected by his experience, sometimes giving to much info of his experience. The bus takes you to the east side of the island stopping several times while he gives his experiences, guides are on 3 month contracts which may or may not be extended. Finally we got off the bus for 4 minutes to take a toilet break or go to the canteen or souvenir shop, back on the bus off the the main goal. Finally off the bus , a new guide & an informative tour of the Jail. It was interesting, BUT would have liked to walk around the other buildings & see the other side of the island & smaller Jail
-Suck! Badly organized! Very exhausting! Delay , we waited 45 min standing ... very tumultuous crossing etc... I do not recommend! People were vomiting....
What miserable management of an exceptional place of memory Nothing in this site is handled correctly , it is a scandal The boat is 45 minutes late The buses are 25 years old and the doors hold with pieces of string. The guides are incomprehensible because they have lost half their teeth and their speech is irrelevant. The canteen looks like nothing. No emphasis on Nelson Mandela or his message. Visit not to be avoided until the management of this place which could be beautiful is profoundly changed.
The perspective of former prisoners, currently the tour guides, enables you to appreciate the injustice of Apartheid system and how many suffered to right that wrong. Quite moving to visit the place where Nelson Mandela was kept for so many years.
Well preserved buildings and good presentation of life undey Apartheid prison for political prisoners. Mandela was imprisoned here. Worth a visit.
We had really high hopes about visiting the island but were disappointed. We were about 40 minutes setting off and it takes an hour to get there. You then board a bus (too many people, several people standing and blocking the view) even though it was only October and not high season. I'd hate to be there in summer. And then you are driven around parts of the island. The guides was good but there was no mention of what the rest of the island is used for, it is difficult to see what he is pointing out and impossible to take photos. Then you go to visit the prison. We did this part of the tour with someone who had been incarcerated on the island for 10 years and it was clearly still very emotional and difficult for him. The tour ultimately took longer than planned, we missed our ferry back and had to take a later one. It would be better if there were more panels that people who didn't speak English could photo and translate later.
Traveled with a group of 30 from the US and was denied boarding due to overselling of tickets and one ferry being broken. Was told that there would be no refunds but could reschedule for the next available date - August 20th! It is AUGUST 12th!!! We leave Cape Town in 2 days. Also, I would like to note that our tour guide mentioned to us that they tend to oversell quite a bit and just the day prior only half of his group was able to board the ferry to go to Robben Island, whilst the rest was in the oversold group - even though he purchased all of the tickets on the same day. So, this is proof that it happens often. I am so disappointed. This is an integral historic part of Cape Town that we all were so looking forward to seeing.
Really good day. Seemless ride over and then bus tour. Bus filled to capacity and tour guide knowledgeable. Then got to tour the prison. Peter the tour guide for prison had been incarcerated himself and seemed very passionate about Robben Island and his time there. He spoke English but his accent was so strong we failed to understand most of his talk. Which was a shame but didn’t have the heart to mention it. I don’t know what he could have done anyway. Altogether we had a good day, and will read up on Robben Island ourselves.
We were unable to do this tour because after trying to book on the website for many days, and emailing and trying to phone many times, we had to give up. Very bad customer service and very disappointing.
The trip to the island is sobering and worth while. The guides are very good. The only thing that I’d change is the second half of the tour which is a bus drive around some of the other buildings which was very long. The buses are too big and could see very little. Also I’d rather have spend more time learning about the political prisoners and their eventual release.
