Cape Town Stadium

Built for the 2010 World Cup and seating around 55,000, the stadium is wrapped in a woven translucent cladding that glows at night and changes tone with the light, designed by German architects to sit between Signal Hill and the Atlantic without blocking either. It is genuinely handsome. It has also been the subject of a long argument: the cost ran to several billion rand, the site at Green Point was chosen over cheaper alternatives, and the running costs have been debated at city council level for years, with rugby and football tenancy arrangements shifting repeatedly. Around it the Green Point Urban Park was created on the old golf course - free, well used, with a biodiversity garden and playgrounds - which most residents count as the better legacy. Stadium tours run through the tunnel, changing rooms and stands, and concerts fill it in summer.

What you actually see

• The woven cladding - a translucent skin that glows and shifts colour with the light.
• The setting - a bowl placed between Signal Hill and the Atlantic.
• The cost argument - a legacy debate that has run since 2010 at council level.
• The urban park - free public grounds around it, widely counted as the real legacy.

When to go

All year. Two hours for a tour; evenings for the lit exterior from the park.

Honest expectations

Tours run on a schedule and are cancelled around events. Match and concert days close the surrounding roads. The stadium's finances remain contested, and guides give the official version. Wind at Green Point is constant.

Nearby

The V&A Waterfront is east; Signal Hill rises behind.