Cape Town   -   The beaches
 

Cape Town is located on the sea and therefore there are some beaches. But the water temperature is so low here that you don't come to Cape Town for a beach holiday. Nevertheless you can spend a relaxed day on the beach. Therefore here a short description of the most beautiful beaches in the Cape Area:

Camps Bay:
This beach is the main beach of the Capetown-ians. Camps Bay is relatively large and you can reach the beach very quick from Cape Town (by car in 10 minutes, with the mini-van in 25 minutes). The green belt with its shady trees next to the beach is a very good location for a picknick and on the other side of the street there are a lot of bars and restaurants.  This a one of the best locations to look at the great sunset with a cool drink in your hand. Camps Bay is the beach of the youth and you can play beach volleyball or jog along the water. But the beach is a little bit susceptible to the strong wind. Thats the reason why you should weigh up if you come to Camps Bay on a windy day. Although there is no wind in the city and the temperatures are very high, you can come to Camps Bay and enjoy the ligth breeze. If there is a strong wind in the city already you should select one of the four beaches at Clifton.

Clifton:
There are four beaches at Clifton. All of them distinguish oneself by being very short but good shelterd from the wind. When you are blocked with sand on Camps Bay you can go to Clifton because there is almost no wind. You can reach the beaches via the stairs from the street, but it is almost impossible to find a parking space. In Clifton the people are a little bit snobbish and you can see a lot of good trained und tanned bodies as on other beaches in the Cape Area (and the third beach is considered to be the gay beach). Here you can see sometimes foto shootings for fashion magazines because the athmosphere inside the small bays with its rocks just off the coast is unique in the area.

Llandudno:
My personal tip is the beach in Llandud-no. This place is really something special: Located 10 minutes in the south of Camps Bay you can't find any supermarket or other shops, restaurants or cafés. The reason for this is that there are a lot of weekend cottages from the upper class of Cape Town. And this people don't like too much trouble. I can really understand this people because this place is very beautiful.

Muizenberg:
The beach of Muizenberg is not located on the westcoast but southern of Cape Town on the False Bay. The water is a little bit warmer here but the reason is not that the sea here is the Indian Ocean as you can read in some travel books. The Atlantic and the Indian Ocean meet each other in the south of Cape Agulhas. The reason why the water is warmer is that the False Bay is a real Bay and the wind blows mainly from south-east. Therefore the wind blows the warmer water on the surface into the beach. On the westcoast the wind blows this warmer water away from the beach and the cold water from deep can come to the surface.
You can find a detailed description of Muizenberg on the next page.