Now I know a museum doesn’t always sound like a hell of a lot of fun… BUT when it happens to be filled with beautiful sparkly things, what’s not to love right?
That’s exactly what you get at the Cape Town Diamond Museum which you’ll find upstairs in the Clock Tower section of the V&A Waterfront.
They are conveniently open for guided tours Mon – Sun from 9am to 9pm and get this, the tour is gratis and totally complimentary. High fives all round to that… There are also no bookings required and the tour only takes about 30 – 40min, so it’s easy to squeeze it in before/after a bit of shopping or a bite to eat.

You check in for your tour just to the right here – at the Shimansky counter. If you do get there and all their tour guides happen to be busy, you might have to wait a few minutes until one is free. But it’s usually not a long wait.
Once inside your very knowledgeable & lovely guide will take you right back to where the diamond trade started and all the way through to modern day cutting techniques and of course the most important 4 Cs a girl should ever know: Cut, Colour, Clarity & Carat.

You can also see replicas of all the word’s most famous diamonds along with very cool photo’s of diamond mining here in SA from way back in the day…

There’s also lots of cool mining artefacts and a cute little 3min video that explains the diamond cutting process…
Then they also give you a behind the scenes look at the highly skilled Shimansky diamond team doing their thing:
And finally, you’re taken into the Shimansky showroom…. A room where you’ll hear the beautiful voices of angels singing in the background as you enter:
But yeah, I absolutely loved this experience. And I might even say that it was the most fun I’ve ever had in a museum ever. (of course the diamond fever had nothing to do with that)
I highly recommend the diamond tour for locals and visitors alike. Like I said above, it’s free, it doesn’t take long and it’s something different to try. So next time you’re in the V&A why not pop in and check it out.
xxx
2 comments
3.6M my goodness, future hubby had better be saving up as I type this.
Hopefully whoever he is, he’s read this and has started