My wife and I stayed here for 4 nights at the start of our South African journey along the Garden Route.
The hotel is of a traditional style and might by some be called old fashioned in that much of the furniture is dark wood and soft furnishings red velvet. First impressions can be deceiving as this turned out to be a wonderful hotel. The rooms are massive, ours having a view over the waterside quay and Table Mountain in the distance. The view is stunning.
The bathrooms are very modern with duel wash basins, large glass enclosed shower and a large bath. The latter we were unable to use because of the drastic water shortage that the Southern Cape is experiencing at the moment.
There is a small bar on the ground floor next to the restaurant where you are served breakfast and which also serves light snacks during the day and dinner at night. We only used it for breakfast and there is a very large selection of fresh fruits, meats, cheeses and breads and if you want it you can order a full English Breakfast which is served to you. On good weather days breakfast can be taken on the outside veranda and also at the tables on the waters edge as this area is also owned by the hotel.
The staff could not do enough for you and always greeted you with a smile.
The hotel is also attached to a small shopping mall.
A room tip would be to have a mountain view room overlooking the harbour as the area outside the front of the hotel can get quite noisy with bands playing in the evening.
The V&A Waterfront is the main tourist area for Cape Town and has a real buzz about it. There are lots of places to eat ranging from the usual bunch of take away places and some really upmarket restaurants. The V&A shopping Mall forms part of the area and has some very upmarket designer names there.
Overall the Victoria and Albert is a great hotel, go expecting modern rooms and you will be disappointed, go expecting traditional massive rooms with all modern conveniences and comfy beds and you will love it.
I will be back.
Oh and by the way Cape Town is very safe