Atlantic seaboard
Cape Town’s chichi Atlantic suburbs cling in a dramatic ribbon to the lower slopes of Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. Although the open water on these northern and western flanks of the mountains can be chilly, the Atlantic seaboard offers mind-blowing views from some of the world’s most scenic coastal roads, particularly beyond Sea Point. The coast itself consists of a series of bays and white-sand beaches edged with smoothly sculpted, bleached rocks; inland, the Twelve Apostles, a series of rocky buttresses, gaze down on the Camps Bays surf. The beaches are ideal for sunbathing, and it’s from this side of the peninsula that you can watch the sun create fiery reflections on the sea and mountains as it sinks into the ocean. You’ll find some of the city’s most glamorous outdoor cafés and bars on this strip, where you can beautiful-people watch and enjoy the ocean views.
Arrival and departure: ATLANTIC SEABOARD
By bus
MyCiTi 
0800 65 64 63, 
myciti.org.za. From the city centre, buses #108 and #109 run down the Atlantic seaboard to Hout Bay, and the #106 and #107 cross Kloof Nek to Camps Bay. See individual listings for more details.
City Sightseeing 086 173 3287, citysightseeing.co.za. The clockwise Blue Mini Peninsula Tour runs from the Two Oceans Aquarium at the Waterfront via Long Street, the Mount Nelson Hotel, Kirstenbosch and Constantia Nek to: World of Birds (1hr 5min), Imizamo Yethu (1hr 10min), Hout Bay Harbour (1hr 30min), Camps Bay (1hr 50min), Sea Point (2hr 7min) and Green Point (2hr 11min).
By Minibus taxi
Noordhoek, Kommetjie and Scarborough are not served by organized public transport; however, there are minibus taxis from Fish Hoek Train Station to Noordhoek and Kommetjie, at various times during the day, but most frequently during the morning and evening rush hours.
Green Point and Mouille Point
Green Point’s proximity to the Waterfront – from which it’s an easy ten-minute amble – and to the coast, as well as to the centre of Cape Town, has turned this once-sleazy district into a desirable location with good accommodation and cafés. Adjoining Green Point is Mouille (“moo-lee”) Point, known for its squat, rectangular, red-and-white-striped early nineteenth-century lighthouse. From here, you can walk or jog a few kilometres south along the safe and much-used coastal promenade to Sea Point and Bantry Bay.
Cape Town Stadium
Fritz Sonnenberg Rd • Tours Mon–Fri 10am, noon & 2pm • Adults R45, children under 12 R17 • 021 417 0120, capetown.gov.za
Hour-long tours explore the landmark Green Point stadium built to host the 2010 World Cup (see box below), mixing architectural information with a peek inside the football players’ changing rooms. While here, take a tour or just wander across to Green Point Park, with its Biodiversity Showcase Garden, wetlands, maze and children’s play park.
The Cape Town World Cup Stadium
Described by British architecture critic Jonathan Glancey as “a stunning white apparition … in a sublime setting”, Cape Town Stadium was arguably the jewel in South Africa’s 2010 World Cup crown. The towering, 68,000-seater stadium relies on natural light, and at night the open-meshed roof can light up to resemble an ethereal UFO. Controversy surrounded the high building costs, which were funded by taxpayers, and it was revealed that there had been corruption among the bidding construction companies in the tender process for the project.
While you may catch a football match in the stadium, it is seriously underutilized, and mostly fills during concerts by British and American pop and rock stars. Performances by the likes of U2, the Eagles and Kings of Leon still have serious novelty value here, following South Africa’s pariah status under apartheid, when the country was roundly boycotted by international bands.
Sea Point
MyCiTi bus #104 (Sea Point to the Civic Centre via Beach Rd and the Waterfront); the City Sightseeing Bus also stops here
Nudging the western edge of Green Point, Sea Point is a cosmopolitan area known for its gay and Jewish communities, seafront apartment blocks and, for tourists, accommodation and restaurants. The Sea Point Promenade is the best way to appreciate the rocky coastline and salty air, along with pram-pushing mothers, old ladies, power walkers and joggers. It’s a symbol of the new nation, with locals of all colours enjoying the playgrounds, outdoor gym and public sculptures, in what was a white-only area. People picnic and play ball games on the grassy parkland beside the coastal walkway.
Driving through, take Beach Road rather than Main Road, which is busier and less scenic.
Sea Point Pavilion Swimming Pool
Lower Beach Rd • Daily: May–Nov 9am–5pm; Dec–April 7am–7pm • Adults R22, children R11 • 021 434 3341
At the southwestern end of the Sea Point promenade is this set of four unheated filtered saltwater pools, beautifully located alongside the crashing surf. The largest of the four is Olympic-sized, making it a popular training tank for Cape Town’s long-distance swimmers. There are also two children’s splash pools and a fully equipped diving pool for the brave.
Clifton
MyCiTi bus #108 or #109 (Hout Bay to Adderley St via Victoria Rd, Sea Point and Green Point)
Rounding the coast from Bantry Bay to fashionable Clifton, you are now entering some of Africa’s most expensive real estate, with house prices at the top end passing the R100 million mark. Beneath the fabulous seaside apartments, you can reach the four sandy, interlinked beaches via steep stairways. The sea here is good for surfing and safe for swimming, but bone-chillingly cold, though Clifton is notably sheltered from the southeasterly wind in summer. The northernmost and longest beach, Clifton First is frequented by muscular frisbee-players and laidback surfers, and is often the least crowded. Clifton Second is a vibey hangout for locals from teens upwards, while Third is the gay choice but open to all. If in doubt, head for Fourth, which is favoured by families with small kids by day, as it has the fewest steps; on still summer evenings, mellow groups of young people with candles hang out here from sunset onwards.
Camps Bay
The most direct MyCiTi buses from the city centre are #106 and #107 (from the Civic Centre via Adderley St, Long St, Kloof St and Kloof Nek Rd); #108 and #109 travel here along the Atlantic coast; and the City Sightseeing Bus stops here
The suburb of Camps Bay climbs the slopes of Table Mountain, scooped into a ridiculously scenic amphitheatre by Lion’s Head and the Twelve Apostles. With views across the Atlantic in the other direction, this is one of the city’s most affluent and downright gorgeous neighbourhoods. The coast-hugging main drag, Victoria Road, is packed with trendy restaurants, frequented by models on low-carb diets, while the wide sandy beach is enjoyed by families of all shapes and colours. Lined by a row of palms and some grassy verges with shade for picnics, the beach gets extremely busy around the Christmas and Easter breaks. However, it’s exposed to the “southeaster” wind, and there’s the usual Atlantic chill and the occasional dangerous backwash.
Duiker Island cruises
The best way to take in the Atlantic seaboard landscape is on one of the short cruises just out of Hout Bay, from the harbour to Duiker Island, sometimes called “seal island” because it’s home to a massive seal colony. It makes for a great trip, and the seals are delightful clowns, even if their fishy smell will make you wish you’d packed your nose plugs.
South African, or Cape, fur seals are the largest of the fur seals, which accounts for their popularity among hunters, who began harvesting them in the seventeenth century. By 1893, when restrictions were introduced, the seal population was severely depleted. Controlled hunting in South Africa continued until 1990, when it was finally suspended, with the exception of two culls to protect gannet populations.
Of the operators running 45-minute tours to seal island, Nauticat Charters (8.45am, 9.45am, 11am, 12.45pm, 2.45pm & 3.45pm; R85; 021 790 7278, nauticatcharters.co.za) and Circe Launches (8.45am, 9.30am, 10.15am & 11.10am; Adults R70, children under 14 R40; 021 790 1040, circelaunches.co.za) have glass-bottomed boats which allow you to see the action underwater, as well as kelp forests when conditions are clear. The outings also provide fabulous views of the Sentinel, the distinctive formation on the promontory forming the bay’s northwestern side, and Chapman’s Peak.
Llandudno
MyCiTi buses #108 and #109 pass the entrance to Llandudno, from where it’s a steep 20min walk down to the beach
There’s little development between Camps Bay and the wonderful little cove of Llandudno, 20km from Cape Town along Victoria Road. A steep and narrow road winds down past smart homes to the shore, where the sandy beach is punctuated at either end by magnificent granite boulders and rock formations. A great spot for sunbathing and sunset watching alike.
Sandy Bay
A 20min walk from Llandudno
Isolated Sandy Bay, Cape Town’s main nudist beach and a popular gay and lesbian hangout, can only be reached on foot from Llandudno. In the apartheid days, the police went to ingenious lengths to trap nudists, but nowadays the beach is relaxed, so feel free to come as undressed – or dressed – as feels comfortable. The path here leads from the Sunset Rocks car park, at the southern end of Llandudno, through fynbos vegetation and over rocks. There are no facilities whatsoever at Sandy Bay, so bring supplies.
Hout Bay
MyCiTi bus #108 or #109 (Civic Centre to Hout Bay via Camps Bay); the City Sightseeing Bus also stops here
Although no longer the quaint fishing village it once was, Hout Bay has a functioning fishing harbour and is the centre of the local crayfish industry. Some 20km from the centre (via Kloof Nek or the M3), it’s a favourite day-trip for fish and chips at Mariner’s Wharf or the lively Bay Harbour Market, with a stunning bay overlooked by Chapman’s Peak and the Sentinel.
The independently minded spot jokingly declared itself a republic in 1987, and began issuing Hout Bay passports and visas in defiance of President P.W. Botha’s repressive government. Away from the harbour, the town is hanging onto a shred of its historic ambience, with a few art galleries on Victoria Avenue, but expanding townships and ugly modern developments are taking their toll.
Imizamo Yethu
Tours daily 10.30am, 1pm & 4pm • R75 • 083 719 4870, suedafrika.net/imizamoyethu • Tours start and end from the police station at the entrance to the township, where there are reserved parking places for visitors driving here; the City Sightseeing Bus also stops here
As you approach Hout Bay from Constantia Nek, you come to the township of Imizamo Yethu, a tightly packed shack-land settlement crawling up the hillside, more or less in the middle of Hout Bay. The township was first settled during the late 1980s, in the dying days of apartheid, by Xhosa job-seekers who had come from the Eastern Cape. Its population grew to tens of thousands before the terrible fire of March 2017, which destroyed over three thousand homes and displaced 15,000-plus people.
The awful tragedy followed positive developments such as the building of 450 brick houses with the help of Irish millionaire Niall Mellon. Mellon was so appalled by the conditions he saw in Imizamo Yethu during a visit in 2002 that he set up the Niall Mellon Township Trust (nmtownshiptrust.com) to provide subsidized housing in townships across South Africa – the trust is now one of the biggest housing charities in the country.
Enthusiastic guide Afrika Moni, who knows Imizamo Yethu and its history inside out, offers a two-hour walking tour of his home township. Along the way you stop to chat to proprietors of informal “spaza” shops, sip traditional beer at a shebeen, and pop into shacks and brick houses.
World of Birds
Valley Rd • Daily 9am–5pm; monkey jungle daily 11.30am–1pm & 2–3.30pm; feeding times: penguins 11.30am & 3.30pm, pelicans 12.30pm, cormorants 1.30pm, birds of prey 4.15pm • Adults R95, children R45 • worldofbirds.org.za • The City Sightseeing Bus stops here
Hout Bay’s biggest institutional attraction houses more than three thousand birds, in surprisingly pleasant and peaceful walk-through aviaries, as well as small mammals and reptiles. The setting, in lush gardens with a mountain backdrop, makes for a tranquil outing; you’ll need about two hours to get the most out of your visit.
The four-hundred feathered species include indigenous birds such as cranes, vultures and pelicans, as well as a number of exotics. The large walk-in monkey jungle includes cute squirrel monkeys, which visitors are allowed to pet; there are also the popular meerkats.
Chapman’s Peak Drive
Toll charge R42 • 021 791 8222, chapmanspeakdrive.co.za
The thrilling Chapman’s Peak Drive, which winds along a cliff-edge south of Hout Bay to Noordhoek, is one of the world’s great ocean drives. There are a number of safe viewpoints along the route, some of which have picnic sites, so bring snacks and refreshments, and stop to enjoy the spectacular views. Affectionately known as “Chappies”, the road is occasionally closed due to rockfalls, so phone or check online for the current situation before setting off.
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Noordhoek
Alternatively minded Noordhoek is the heart of the “lentil curtain”, as the peninsula’s arty, surfy Atlantic seaboard is jokingly known (Cape Town’s Afrikaner-dominated Northern Suburbs, meanwhile, are nicknamed the “boerewors curtain”). Noordhoek even has a hemp house available for the night, through Airbnb. The desirable settlement at the southern end of the descent from Chapman’s Peak Drive, a 35km drive from the city centre, consists of smallholdings and riding stables in a gentle valley planted with oaks. When Chapman’s Peak is closed, Noordhoek is accessible via the M3 south over Ou Kaapse Weg.
Long Beach
On the right, if you’re heading from Chapman’s Peak towards Noordhoek Farm Village (see below), is the turning for Avondrust Circle, which leads to Long Beach. Turn onto Beach Road and wind through a residential area until you reach a parking area, from where you can walk 8km across the white, kelp-strewn sands to Kommetjie. Each morning between 7.30am and 9am, racehorses are galloped along the sand, and you will invariably see riders sharing the wide beach with local dog walkers. The sea is cold, wild and spectacular to look at, framed by Chapman’s Peak. Experienced surfers relish the area close to the rocks at the base of the peak.
Note that strong winds can sometimes turn the beach into a sandblaster. Signposted from Beach Road is Monkey Valley Resort, which welcomes non-guests for reasonably priced meals with great views, and its groves of milkwood trees offer shelter from the wind.
Food markets take place at Noordhoek Farm Village on Wednesday and Cape Point Vineyards on Thursday.
Noordhoek Farm Village
Village Lane • Opening hours vary for the different establishments, food market Weds 4–8pm • noordhoekvillage.co.za
Close to the signposted entrance to Chapman’s Peak Drive, Noodhoek Farm Village is a rural mall that is one of the Cape Peninsula’s pleasantest shopping venues, and an excellent choice if you’re on holiday with children. The village is laid out like a Cape Dutch farmstead; the manor houses a hotel and has outbuildings arranged around a yard. The complex is home to the excellent Foodbarn restaurant, deli and tapas bar, as well as a pub, café, sushi bar, children’s playground, craft shops and more. The weekly outdoor market features food by the Village traders ranging from Italian to Mexican.
Masiphumelele Bicyle Tour
Tying in with a bike-based community scheme, Awol Tours (021 418 3803, awoltours.co.za) offers a guided cycle tour around Kommetjie’s Masiphumelele township, learning about Xhosa customs en route, visiting a crèche and a sangoma (traditional healer) and stopping for lunch at a township café or home. The half-day tour costs R950 per person, R1850 including transfers. Prices are based on two people; single guests pay a supplement.
Cape Point Vineyards
Silvermine Rd • Tastings Mon–Weds & Fri–Sun 11am–6pm, Thurs 11am–2pm; picnics Mon–Weds & Fri–Sat noon–4pm; community market Thurs 4.30–8.30pm • Taster R10; platter R95–295; picnic basket for two R395 • 021 789 0900, cpv.co.za
Cape Point Vineyards, the main producer in the Cape Point wine region, is known for its mineral-characterised sauvignon blancs, made with the help of the cooling sea breezes. The vineyard offers a lavish picnic basket which you can eat on slopes close to the farm dam, with views over the distant beach and mountains. Order a day in advance.
Kommetjie
Kommetjie (pronounced “kom-ma-key”), the last major settlement as you follow the Atlantic coast south, and some 40km from central Cape Town, is a small, sleepy and attractive seaside town, dominated by Slangkop Lighthouse. It is built around a small rocky inlet, called De Kom (Afrikaans for basin), where you can walk around or take a dip in the water.
Kommetjie is another favourite surfing spot for the very experienced; if you want to learn, though, Muizenberg is the place. Its stretch of the 8km Long Beach, which rolls all the way to Noordhoek, is a winner for a sunset stroll, with stunning views up the coast of Chapman’s Peak and Hout Bay.
Imhoff Farm Village
Kommetjie Rd, opposite the Ocean View turn-off • Free • Opening hours vary for the different establishments • 021 783 4545, imhofffarm.co.za
With camels kneeling at the entrance, Imhoff Farm Village is a favourite place for kids, with camel rides, farmyard delights and more. The complex also has several art galleries and craft shops, a cheesemaker, sushi bar, coffee shop and the Blue Water Café, an excellent and well-priced restaurant in a Cape Dutch manor. Offering wood-fired pizza, a jungle gym and views onto the wetlands, it makes an inviting lunch stop on a peninsula tour.
Scarborough
The idyllic village of Scarborough, around 10km south of Kommetjie, is the most far-flung settlement along the peninsula, with cold, turquoise water and white sands. It’s a lovely, easy drive to/from Simon’s Town, winding over the spine of the peninsula, with a turning to Cape Point en route.