Beaches, Cape Town

Noordhoek village, perched between Cape Town's longest stretch of beach and the dramatic and ever popular Chapman?s Peak Drive, has become even more popular in recent years with those seeking a more tranquil lifestyle. This is horse-land.. where there are quite a few stables and everyone is into their horses and their art. Yes, another arty part of Cape Town haha.

Noordhoek Farm Stall is a must-see with its stunning arts and crafts and delicious foods on offer. Red Herring is a favourite restaurant of ours here too, a bit pricey but well worth it.

Long Beach is a glimmering white beach, with an eight km stretch of sand, and its own shipwreck! You can go for camel and horseback rides on it, plus as its on the side where the sun sets, you are in for a treat at dusk! Due to rough currents, the beach is not that safe for swimming, but is very popular with the local surfers. For swimming, people generally go across the valley to Fish Hoek beach.

A couple of our arty-type friends live here (it feels funny writing that as most of our Cape Town friends are arty-types! Haha) They have a beautiful home and bought at the right time. It has become a fashionable (and expensive!) residential area, with a lovely beach and its own lighthouse to boot!

This was once a glorious beach. Wide with crisp water and white sand. My mum lived here 30 years ago and tells a different tale to what it became. Drug lords and miscreants moved in and the area became unfavourable. Apparently there is some rejuvenation going on though, which is great news.

This beach is still a huge favourite for all the local surfers, and on the weekends it is packed solid with people from all over Cape Town.

This is a little hamlet-type village, set away on the mountainside, with no close neighbours around. It is peaceful and serene, with great surfing and bird life. It is located on the way to Cape Point, when coming from the Kommetjie side of the valley. It is an expensive little bit of paradise though, renown for its arty-type inhabitants.

We would often go for drives on the weekend and this drive was a favourite. Not rushed, absolutely beautiful scenery all around, and peaceful, with not much traffic.

St James is found between Kalk Bay and Clovelly, just before you reach Fish Hoek (runs along Main Rd) It has a line of brightly voloured dressing rooms on the beach, which seems to be its icon now :)

The last time I was on this beach was Easter morning, 2002. We met up with other people from our local church and had our Easter morning church service out here on the beach at 6:30am. One of the perks of living in such a gorgeous place ;)

Beautiful and quaint Hout Bay can be reached by three windy roads only... and over mountains... it is a little out of the way, and has the name 'Republic of Hout Bay because of it :)

The access road that runs from Camps Bay, offers a beautiful drive all along the sea form Hout Bay to Cape Town This is the side where the sun sets, so it's a good idea to have a cocktail/some wine handy :)

The Karbonkel Mountain lies to the one side of this protected valley, the well known Mount Sentinel to the other side (looking out to the sea), and the Constantia Mountains and Chapman?s Peak itself on the other side.

Cape Town is literally built on mountain and by sea. There are so many stunningly beautiful places, that I cannot just say "go to this place." When you are there, ask the locals for advice. There are also many beautiful beach areas to Bar-B-Que.

Llandudno is a wealthy coastal resort between Camps Bay and Hout Bay. It's mainly a residential area with big villas, but few bars or places to eat. Therefore it's very quiet and never crowded. The beaches here are fantastic, one of them is apparently nudist which is very unusual for South Africa.