Top 5 Beaches in Cape Town
When visiting Cape Town, exploring all the major tourist attractions is a given. Visitors tend to forget about the amazing beaches in the Mother City. Here are my Top 5 favorite beaches in the Cape Peninsula.
Bloubergstrand | Bloubergstrand is a long white sand beach with a few rocky outcrops where black mussels are found. The Benguela current makes the water cold, but it is still popular with surfers and kitesurfers. The beach on the west side is known as Big Bay and is popular for the white mussels extracted there by a method known to the locals as “jiving”. Big Bay has a 1-3 m (1.09361- 3.28084 yard) surf the majority of the year. There is also a small area at van Renen street that is a part of Bloubergstrand which has a tidal pool where I enjoy catching the small fish there and bodyboarding.
Bakoven | Bakoven is a small beach on the west coast of the Cape Peninsula, south of Camps Bay. At high tide the whole beach is flooded, so be sure to go at low or mid tide. Bakoven is sometimes called Camps Bay’s little sister, but it doesn’t have the constant hustle and bustle of its counterpart. With a sheltered beach, medium blue waters, kelp forests and rock pools it is a contrast to Camps Bay. If you’re sure-footed, you can clamber around the boulders there. I like climbing the boulders a lot and once I’m at the top I throw shells into the sea.
Clifton | Clifton has a set of four beaches which are regularly frequented by both tourists and locals. The four beaches, 1st to 4th have almost pure granitic sand and are separated by falls of granite boulders. The four beaches are one of the rare areas sheltered from the infamous south-easterly wind which ups its popularity with visitors. although the water temperatures are 12-16°C (53.6-60.8°F) it is used for surfing, both board and body. The surf at 1st Beach is the strongest and dwarfs the surf at 4th, which is the weakest. When I was younger, I loved it when I stood in the water and when a wave came towards me, my Dad would scoop me up.
Camps Bay | Camps Bay is located between Bakoven and Clifton. In December to February it’s jammed with holidaymakers, so be sure to come early to get parking. The cold water is about 10-14°C (50-57.2°F) and there’s often a strong current. lifeguards are on duty if you really are determined to have a freezing swim. You can have a dip in the tidal pool or go to one of the stylish sundown places. To me, the water is a bit cold to swim in, so I enjoy constructing things out of sand.
Llandudno | Llandudno is on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula. It is surrounded by granite boulders and overlooked by the mountain. It is a popular surfing spot, but swimming can be dangerous with rough seas and extremely cold water. During the summer season Llandudno has lifeguards on duty. The sand on Llandudno is really soft and the sunsets are magnificent!
When you come to Cape Town, be sure to bring your bathing costume along, come to one of these beaches and enjoy yourself (unless it’s winter of course, which in that case you will probably want to stay indoors).
