De Waterkant is a small, tidy historic neighbourhood wedged between Bo-Kaap, Green Point and the Waterfront, characterised by pastel-painted Cape Georgian and Victorian cottages. Originally a coloured working-class district, it was largely depopulated under apartheid Group Areas legislation and later restored as one of Cape Town's most fashionable inner-city neighbourhoods.
The narrow streets are now lined with boutiques, design shops, cafés and restaurants. Cape Quarter, a covered shopping and dining complex in the middle of the area, anchors the modern commerce; the older streets above offer quieter wandering. De Waterkant is also the centre of Cape Town's LGBT nightlife.