The Luxury Travel Magazine
The Luxury Travel Magazine
Hotels often fade into the background of traveller’s memories when they go abroad since most modern hotels are decorated with similar 21st-century interior design. When recalling a past vacation, one might be more likely to remember the white bay beach they strolled across or an enriching wine tasting experience and vineyard tour than the hotel they stayed in. However, The Silo Hotel doesn’t so easily escape the walls of someone’s mind. The urban industrial style building may look minimalistic from the outside, but on the inside, it thrives with eclectic colour, reflecting the creative city in which it is situated. The hotel is an immersive celebration of history, art, and design that no luxury traveller should miss while visiting South Africa.
The chic five-star Silo Hotel overlooks the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and the cosmopolitan city of Cape Town, the capital of South Africa. The hotel occupies six floors above the Zeitz Museum, which houses an extensive collection of South African contemporary art. The building’s industrial exterior was designed by Heatherwick Studio, who decided to keep the building’s original early 20th-century structure but chose to add glass windows to compliment the hotel’s geometric style.
After three years of construction, the hotel opened its doors in March 2017 as the newest addition to The Royal Portfolio group. However, before the building was a hotel, it had a long history of being a grain silo and was known as the tallest building in Sub-Saharan Africa when it opened in 1924. It was subsequently closed in 2001, after eighty years of production.
The grain silo played an essential role in terms of international trade. It provided vital infrastructure to South Africa’s regional agriculture, supporting local farming communities while also being seen as a significant contributor to the economy at Table Bay harbour.
The Silo Hotel has twenty-eight rooms, including a lavish penthouse. Each room has been individually designed and crafted by the stylish interior designer Liz Biden. Each room boasts various bright colors that match the hotel’s artistic disposition. In each six-room category, guests can discover contemporary South African artwork such as paintings and sculptures and a balcony with a 360 degrees view of the beach, the city, and the mountains in just one glance.
The Duplex Suites are located across the sixth and seventh floors of the hotel. These suites have two floors, with a spacious living and dining area designed in a peach and sunset red pallet. The Royal Suite room is indeed fit for royalty. Like the other rooms, it has a large amount of space for guests to wander around in and colourful design features that pull the room together. Yet, the bathroom is the suite’s best feature. The enormous bath is placed near the geometric-style windows and overlooks the shimmering Atlantic Ocean.
After a day of exploring Cape Town, guests have a variety of different restaurants to dine at, such as the Granary Café, the Willaston Bar, and the Sixth Floor. The menu, Eat on 6, can be enjoyed at any of the hotel’s restaurants or bars and offers a choice of various cuisine. One such dish is the fragrant seafood curry, served with coconut, lemongrass rice, cucumber pickle, and lemon yoghurt. Another excellent choice is the succulent steak tartar with hand-cut chips and free-range eggs. The menu also caters to plant-based guests with dishes like roast aubergine tagine and marinated mushroom bruschetta.
To further the sense of relaxation and luxury, guests can continue to unwind at the Willaston Bar and enjoy a classic cocktail such as a tangy margarita or an old fashioned. However, one might want to taste something more unique, like the hotel’s signature drink, the Spirit of Silo. This is a blend of Ketel One Vodka, watermelon, lime, orange, and cucumber. Cocktails, of course, aren’t for everyone, yet the bar has an ever-evolving list of international and local South African wines guests can sample.
The Silo Hotel is widely recognised as one of the best art hotels in the world by publications such as Forbes, The Telegraph, and Insider. Beautiful artwork can be found all over the hotel, creating an innovative contrast with the hotel’s steel and industrial exterior. All the paintings found within Silo are sourced from the Zeitz MOCAA gallery below the hotel. The space displays art created from 2000 onwards, meaning that all the contemporary pieces have been crafted by young South African artists who live within the city. To honour these local, talented creators and their work, The Silo Hotel has created several private tours that allow guests to learn about modern African culture and potentially meet some of the artists themselves. One such experience a guest can enjoy is the exclusive Zeitz MOCAA private tour. A guest will be led around the gallery by the residential art concierge and be inspired by colour, design, and the moving image.
Guests leave the Silo Hotel feeling uplifted as their stay comes to an end. The hotel’s colourful interior design fills visitors’ hearts with vibrancy as they leave understanding more about South African art and culture than they did when they arrived. While some may forget what hotel they stayed in as they reminisce about a past holiday, but those who stayed in The Silo Hotel will never forget its flamboyant walls.
