View across Mossel Bay over the harbour and the bay under scattered clouds

Attractions · Centre

Dias Museum

A brick hall, and inside it stands a ship. The caravel fills the room up to the roof beams, masts, rigging, a hull so small that you wonder how anyone sailed it from Lisbon to here. Outside, Market Street rushes past. Inside it is quiet.

The Bartolomeu Dias Museum Complex sits at 1 Market Street, between the harbour and Santos Beach. The Maritime Museum occupies a grain and saw mill from 1901, the Shell Museum next door a building from 1902. It opened on 3 February 1988, five hundred years to the day after Dias came ashore in the bay. The caravel in the hall is a full size replica, and according to the museum website you can currently only view it from the outside (August 2026). Ask at the ticket desk whether you may go aboard.

Dias lands in the bay
1488
the museum opens, 500 years later
3 February 1988
Mon to Fri, weekends until 3.45pm (August 2026)
9am to 4.45pm
adults, schoolchildren 10 rand (August 2026)
30 rand

The complex also holds the Shell Museum with its aquarium, by its own account the largest display on molluscs in Africa, an ethnobotanical garden with a braille trail, the old granary and the Munrohoek Cottages, built around 1930. And the Post Office Tree, which has a page of its own. Open Monday to Friday 9am to 4.45pm, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 9am to 3.45pm, closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday. Entry 30 rand for adults, 10 rand for schoolchildren, 20 rand for South African pensioners (August 2026). Give the whole site a good ninety minutes.

View across Mossel Bay over the harbour and the bay under scattered clouds
The museum sits down by the water, between the town and the harbour.
Time needed
ninety minutes to two hours
Cost
30 rand for adults (August 2026)
When
Mon to Fri 9am to 4.45pm, Sat and Sun 9am to 3.45pm
From the Dias Museum
right there

Our tipStart in the hall with the caravel and walk out to the Post Office Tree afterwards. That order matches the history: first the landing, then the letter in the shoe.

Dias Museum: frequently asked questions

What does the Dias Museum in Mossel Bay cost, and when is it open?

Entry is low, a few dozen rand for adults, with schoolchildren and South African pensioners paying less; diasmuseum.co.za carries the current figure. Open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4.45pm, weekends and public holidays from 9am to 3.45pm, closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday (August 2026).

What is part of the Dias Museum in Mossel Bay?

The Maritime Museum with the full size caravel replica, the Shell Museum with its aquarium, an ethnobotanical garden with a braille trail, the old granary, the Munrohoek Cottages and the Post Office Tree. It all sits on one site at 1 Market Street.

Can you go on board the caravel at the Dias Museum?

According to the museum, the caravel in Mossel Bay can currently only be viewed from the outside (August 2026). Ask at the ticket desk whether that has changed; the replica stands in the hall of the Maritime Museum and is the heart of the visit either way.