In summer you have a wide variety of beaches to choose from in Cape Town. Join the young and beautiful and soak up the sun and the heady smell of sunoil at some of the most popular beaches in Africa.
- Clifton and Camps Bay are the most fashionable beaches and frequented by the in crowd
- Sandy Bay is a nudist beach and the only Beach in Cape Town where you can see exactly how cold the water is !
- If your looking to swim then head to the beaches in False Bay : the beaches of Fish Hoek, Simonstown, Kalk Bay, Muizenberg and St James are considerably warmer than their Atlantic counterparts.
- Watch out the water is cold, the Atlantic Ocean’s Benguerra current means that the water is almost too cold for swimming.
With its long hot summers Cape Town makes the perfect beach destination. Many people travel to Cape Town in search of winters sun and therefore between about November and April the beaches are filled with the beautifully tanned bodies from around the world. The wind blows strongly in Cape Town and therefore its vital to choose your beach accordingly. The prevalent wind in summer is the South Easter and the beaches of Boulders, Clifton, Llandudno and Sandy Bay provide the most protection from this fierce wind.
Blouberg
Make the 25 km trip north from the city to the other side of Table Bay and you will be rewarded with an exceptional and the most famous view of Cape Town and Table Mountain. Its divided into two parts: Big Bay, which hosts surfing and sailboarding contests and Little Bay, better suited to sunbathers and families. Its frequently wind here, which ifind, if you wants to fly a kites but a nuisance otherwise. Swim infront of the lifeguard club. The lawns of the Blue Peter Hotel are a favourites sunset cocktail spot, especially with tired windsurfers.
Clifton
This is where the “in” crowd comes to see and be seen. Some of the Cape’s most desirable houses cling to the slopes above the beach, and elegant yachts often anchor in the calm water beyond the breakwaters. Granite outcroppings divide the beach into four segments, imaginatively known as First , Second, Third and Fourth beaches. Fourth beach is popular with families, which the others support a strong social and single scene. Swimming is reasonably safe here, although the undertow is strong and the water, again, freezing. Lifeguards are on duty. On weekends and in peak season Clifton can be a madhouse, and your chances of finding parking at these times are nil. If you plan to visit the beaches in midsummer, consider renting a scooter or motorcycles instead of a car or taking a shuttle from your hotel.
Camps Bay
The spectacular western edge of Table Mountain, known as the Twelve Apostles, provides the backdrop, for this long, sandy beach that slope gently to the water from a grassy verge. The surf is powerful , and there are no lifeguards, but sunbathers can cool off in a tidal or under cool outdoor showers. The popular bars and restaurants of Camps Bay lie only yards away across Victoria Road. One draw back is the wind which can blow hard here.
Llandudno
Die – hard fans return to this beach again and again, and who can blame them? Its setting, among giant boulders at the base of a mountain, is glorious, and sunsets here attract their own aficionados. The surf can be very powerful on the northern side of the beach ( where you will find all the surfers of course ), but the southern side if fine for a quick dip – and in this water this is all that you will want. Lifeguards are on duty on weekends and in season. Parking is a nightmare, but most hotels run shuttles during season.
Sandy Bay
Backed by wild dunes, Cape Town’s unofficial nudist beach is also one of its prettiest. Sunbathers can hide among rocky coves or frolic on a long stretch of sandy beach. Shy nudists will appreciate its isolation, 20 minutes on foot from the nearest parking area is Llandudno. Wind, however can be a problem. If your caught in the buff when the southeaster starts to blow then your in for a painful sandblasting.
Long Beach
This may be the most impressive beach on the peninsula, a vast expanse of white sand stretching 6.5 kilometres from the base of Chapman’s Peak to Kommetjie. Its also one of the wildest and least populated, backed by a lagoon and private nature reserve. Because of the wind, it attracts horseback riders and walkers rather than sunbathers, and the surfing is excellent.
Muizenberg
Once the fashionable resort of South African High Society, this long sandy beach has lost much of its glamour and now appeals to families and beginner surfers. The beach is lines with colorful bathing boxes of the type once popular at British Resorts
Lifeguards are on duty and the sea is shallow and reasonably safe.
Fish Hoek
With the southern corner protected from the southeaster by Elsies Peak, this sandy beach attracts retirees, who appreciate the calm clear waters – it may be the safest bathing beach in the Cape Town. The northern and middle end of the beach is also popular with catamaran sailors and sailboarders, who often stage regattas offshore. Jager Walks, a pathway runs along the rocky coastline, begins at the beach’s southern end.
