Cape Town Diamond Museum — Attraction in Cape Town Ward 115

What an absolutely enriching experience at the diamond museum! I visited this gorgeous site on 5th November 2024 with my parents who were in the beautiful mother city for their 25th wedding anniversary and we were absolutely blown away by the incredibly helpful, friendly and extremely knowledgeable staff. Our tour guide Ms Shamie Abrahams wowed us with her immense in depth knowledge of diamonds, especially since most of the information about diamonds are not simple general knowledge titbits that one could Google. Hearing her talk about the Shimansky diamond business with such pride and passion is truly admirable (her eyes literally sparkle just like a 9 carat diamond!). Ms Abrahams made this part of our trip the most special with her sparkly personality that would put any dazzling diamond to shame! (and I'm pretty sure in the gorgeous showroom she tugged on my dad's heart strings just a bit for him to plan a lovely surprise Christmas gift for my mom! As Ms Abrahams rightly said "Diamonds are a girl's best friend!"). An experience I will be longing to relive but fortunately with all those amazing memories we made I get to daydream till the cows come home! Cape Town is well known for wonderfully warm people which aptly describes all the staff members at The Diamond Museum! Definitely recommend adding this exquisite tour to your trip advisory if you're planning a trip to sunny Cape Town-All our love the...

One of the worst tours on any trip I have ever been on. To give context, I’ve been to 97 countries. The gentleman that gave the tour had a limited amount of knowledge on the history of diamonds in South Africa. He neglected some of the key aspects of the labor role and when asked about it he got extremely defensive. Weird right? To better understand why, I asked how did you get in this field in which he puffed out his chest to tell me that he was recruited on LinkedIn and that he is a salesman and don’t just do “tours”. That information was helpful because now I know why you’re incompetent in the historical aspects of the diamond industry.

What made it funny is before my family and I arrived we had already made up our mind that we were buying a specific diamond bracelet/earrings (the ones with the continent of Africa outline) but after that terrible tour that included the “guide” being rude, condescending, and down right awful at selling in products we opted out and would eventually go to another diamond dealer.

Since we’re from the US-NYC area, hoping to run into the owner (we found out he lives in the US) and give a first hand account of how bad the experience was and how I’m sure he’s losing a lot of business with Mr. “They recruited me...

The Diamond Experience Tour was exceptional. Imraan Abed, our appointed guide, graciously welcomed us to the Shimansky Museum. Imraan’s knowledge of the history, formation, mining, cutting, and polishing of diamonds is extensive and truly a delight for us. He was well-versed, elegant in his presentation, and the perfect representative for a well-prized industry.

It was a well-staged 3-part tour, starting at the Secret Room with a chronological historical overview of the diamond industry in SA, then taken behind to witness Shimanksy’s Diamond workshop and diamond polishing where master craftsmen fully transform these rough stones into the brilliant and magnificent pieces of jewelry, and finally taking us to the showroom where these gems are proudly showcased. Viewing is paired with our choice of drink from their selection of wines and liqueurs.

This was an experience beyond our expectations. We left with knowledge and a much better appreciation of the art behind one of the most highly sought and...