Robben Island Guide is an independent guide to visiting Robben Island. It is made by Benicool, a small Italian company that builds travel guides to the world's great cultural sites, with one goal on every page: helping you plan a visit without wasting time or money.
Who we are
Benicool started in 2023 as a project among friends in Genoa, Italy, and has been a company, Benicool Srl, since 2025. Today we publish independent guides to some of the most visited landmarks in Europe and beyond, from the Acropolis of Athens to the Doge's Palace in Venice and the Palace of Versailles, in up to eight languages.
Robben Island is one of our newest guides, and the first we have built outside Europe.
What we do
Every guide starts from the questions travellers actually ask: how much a ticket costs, how to get there, how long the visit takes, what is worth knowing before you go. We answer them with facts checked on official sources, add the history that makes the visit meaningful, and keep the pages up to date. Where it helps, we link to trusted partners such as Tiqets for tickets and Booking.com for hotels, so you can book in a few clicks.
The team
We are four partners, and each of us looks after one part of the work. Every guide is checked by all four of us.
Andrea SemonellaManaging DirectorEntrepreneur from Genoa, with a degree in industrial design from the Politecnico di Milano and years of work in SEO and digital marketing. He chooses the landmarks and the languages, plans what each guide has to answer and wrote this guide to Robben Island.
Paolo SanettiAdministration and strategyLooks after the company's administration, from bookkeeping to invoices and finances, and works with the other partners on the plans that make the network grow.
Alberto FrullaDesign and graphicsA yacht designer with a designer's eye. He looks after logos, graphics and images across our guides: the visual side of Benicool is his.
Filippo RossiTechnology and AIAn expert in technology and above all in artificial intelligence. He brought AI tools into every stage of our work, from research to publishing, so that we can open new guides and languages faster, while people still check every fact.
How we work
- Independent, and we say so. None of our guides presents itself as the official website of the place it describes.
- Facts first. Prices, times and rules come from official sources and we keep them up to date.
- Written for the reader. Each language is written for its own readers, not translated word for word.
We are not Robben Island Museum
This is not the official website of Robben Island or of Robben Island Museum, and we do not speak on their behalf. We are not connected to the museum, to the ferry operators or to the South African government. When you need an official answer, for example about a cancelled sailing, the museum is the authority, and you can reach it on +27 21 413 4200.
How we check our facts
Prices, timetables and rules come from the Robben Island Museum website and are checked by hand. History and dates come from the museum, UNESCO and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Maps are drawn by us from OpenStreetMap data. If something has changed, write to us and we correct it.
How this site is paid for
When you book through our links, our partners Tiqets and Booking.com pay us a commission. You pay the same price you would pay on their websites directly. This is what keeps the guide free, and it never changes the facts: prices, times and rules are reported as they are.
Contact us
Write to info@benicool.it. We read every message and reply within three working days.
Benicool Srl, Via Camillo Finocchiaro Aprile 31/5B, 16129 Genoa, Italy, VAT IT03032310991, REA GE-528219.
Photo and map credits
- Most photographs on this site: Dreamstime.com, used under licence
- Murray's Bay Harbour: HelenOnline, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- B Section courtyard: Moheen Reeyad, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Table Mountain from the ferry: Witstinkhout, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Prison window bars: Schavda, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Barbed wire and the Moturu Kramat: Aart Rietveld, ASC Leiden, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Cellblock windows: Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Robben Island from the ferry: Aart Rietveld, ASC Leiden, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Robert Sobukwe House: HelenOnline, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Nelson Mandela Gateway entrance: JForshaw, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Tour buses: HelenOnline, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Ferry passengers: HelenOnline, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Check-in at the Gateway: HelenOnline, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Table Mountain from Robben Island (preview image): Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Maps and island outline: drawn by us from data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, and Natural Earth (public domain)
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