The Cape Wheel located at the V&A Waterfront is soon to be dismantled and moved to a new site a few hundred metres away. It's planned to reopen in November.

Cape Town's iconic big wheel first opened to the public in 2008. Towering 40 metres above ground, the Cape Wheel has 30 fully enclosed air-conditioned cabins that offer a panoramic view of the Mother City. Visitors are treated to four full revolutions during a 15-minute ride.

The giant observation wheel will soon move from its current position in front of the Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre to a new location which offers "a more open and relaxed public space for visitors."

This relocation coincides with the wheel's maintenance schedule during the typically quieter winter period.

The Cape Wheel will stop operating on Sunday, 19 June and will be dismantled ahead of the relocation. The structure will then be moved to a new site, less than a kilometre away, on the other side of the Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre near the Breakwater parking facility.

This new location, near an open grass space known as Breakwater Park, is in a quieter section of the bustling V&A Waterfront. At its new site, the Cape Wheel will offer "unparalleled views to Robben Island and beyond, as well as views of passing ships' movement to and from the Waterfront and the commercial port while retaining views of the city bowl and Table Mountain," according to the V&A Waterfront.

The space where the wheel currently stands will be revamped into a landing plaza for public transport into the waterfront. The Cape Wheel is expected to reopen in November, just in time for Cape Town's busy summer season.