This impressive 1909 structure, on Nordring St, was built as a prison, but if you didn’t know this, you’d swear it was either an early train station or a health-spa hotel. The main building was used only for staff housing, while the prisoners were relegated to much less opulent quarters on one side.
Alte Gefängnis (Old Prison)
Swakopmund
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
1 MILES
In 1905 the need for a good cargo- and passenger-landing site led Swakopmund’s founders to construct the original wooden pier. In the years that followed,…
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1.13 MILES
This recently overhauled waterfront aquarium provides an excellent introduction to the cold offshore world in the South Atlantic Ocean. Most impressive is…
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24.81 MILES
Southwest of the lagoon is this 3500-hectare salt-pan complex, which currently supplies over 90% of South Africa's salt. As with the one in Swakopmund,…
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20.17 MILES
If you're on a quest to see welwitschias, continue east along the Welwitschia Drive to the Moon Landscape, a vista across eroded hills and valleys carved…
0.29 MILES
This ornate railway station, built in 1901 as the terminal for the Kaiserliche Eisenbahn Verwaltung (Imperial Railway Authority), connected Swakopmund to…
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0.66 MILES
When ill winds blow, head for this museum at the foot of the lighthouse, where you can hole up and learn about the town's history. The museum occupies the…
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19.57 MILES
During the winter, rail services between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are often plagued by windblown sand, which covers the tracks and undermines the…
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0.79 MILES
From the shore, the delightful German-style Woermannhaus stands out above surrounding buildings. Built in 1905 as the main offices of the Damara & Namaqua…
Nearby Swakopmund attractions
0.29 MILES
This ornate railway station, built in 1901 as the terminal for the Kaiserliche Eisenbahn Verwaltung (Imperial Railway Authority), connected Swakopmund to…
2. German Evangelical Lutheran Church
0.45 MILES
This neo-baroque church was built in 1906 to accommodate the growing Lutheran congregation of Dr Heinrich Vedde – it still holds regular services.
0.47 MILES
This architecturally astute gallery features some of the planet’s most incredible crystal formations, including the largest quartz crystal that has ever…
0.48 MILES
The 1912 baroque-style Old German School was the result of a 1912 competition, which was won by budding German architect Emil Krause.
0.49 MILES
Thanks to the narrow-gauge railway to the coast, the colonial company Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn Gesellschaft (OMEG), which oversaw the rich Otavi and…
0.49 MILES
This park houses an array of serpentine sorts. The owner knows everything you’d ever want to know – or not know – about snakes, scorpions, spiders and…
0.52 MILES
This gabled building, on the corner of Garnison and Bahnhof Sts, was constructed in 1908 as a private school. When the funds ran out, the government took…
0.53 MILES
In 1855, the Berlin printer Litfass came up with the notion of erecting advertising pillars on German street corners. For the citizens of early Swakopmund…