Tygervalley, Cape Town North

Essentially, when Capetonians talk of Tygervalley they are referring to the Tygervalley Shopping Centre - a huge monolith and a ‘shop ‘till you drop’ destination in the northern suburbs. It’s easy to get to Tygervalley - the 82 844m² mall is just off the N1 and 20 minutes’ from Cape Town - and offers a lot of shops, and when it’s rainy season is destination number one for much of Northern Cape Town.

But Tygervalley, a suburb of Bellville, is also a fast growing business and a retail district that brings modern - leading décor stores, medical centres, multinationals, trendy restaurants and big corporates - to the heart of the northern suburbs. Durban Road includes flashy car dealers, restaurants and important legal and accounting firms. In a sense it’s Sandton in Cape Town, but without the drawbacks of rude drivers, incessant crime and billboard overload.

Then there’s the Tyger Valley Waterfront, which to add to the confusion is based in Durbanville. This is a mixture of commercial and residential property on Carl Cronje Drive, built around an old quarry that no longer offends with its gaping ugliness, but instead includes a 4 ha man-made lake and a real storm water waterfall, which comes into its own during winter. The development is fast becoming a huge attraction, with modern buildings hugging the water canals, reminiscent of Cape Town’s ‘real’ waterfront.