Camps Bay, Clifton and the Atlantic Seaboard Beaches

Look at photos of Cape Town's Atlantic Seaboard beaches, with powdery white sand, turquoise water and smooth granite boulders, and you would swear you were looking at the tropics. Then you put a toe in. Fed by the cold Benguela current flowing up from the Southern Ocean, water temperatures on the Atlantic side hover around 10 to 15°C even at the height of summer. You come here to sunbathe, picnic, watch sunset and take quick, gasp-inducing dips to cool off.

Clifton (1st to 4th Beach)

Reached only by steep flights of steps winding down through millionaire bungalows off Victoria Road, Clifton is divided by granite outcrops into four coves, numbered 1st to 4th from north to south. Crucially, the curve of Lion's Head blocks the summer south-easterly wind, making Clifton calm on days when sand is whipping across Camps Bay five minutes down the road.

• 1st and 2nd: quieter, frequented by locals, surfers and volleyball players.
• 3rd: the smallest cove, long popular with Cape Town's LGBTQ+ crowd.
• 4th: the largest and liveliest beach, with Blue Flag status, lifeguards, toilets, sunbed rentals and vendors walking the sand selling ice lollies in sing-song voices.

Camps Bay

Just south of Clifton, Camps Bay opens into a wide crescent of sand backed by a lawn of palm trees and a strip of cafés, cocktail bars and seafood restaurants along Victoria Road, with the sheer buttresses of the Twelve Apostles towering directly behind. If the open surf is rough, head to the southern end of the beach, where a large concrete tidal pool lets you swim in calm sea water with the mountain reflected around you.

Llandudno and Sandy Bay

Fifteen minutes further south toward Hout Bay, Llandudno sits in a residential cove with no shops or cafés at all, so bring your own water and snacks. The waves are big, the granite boulders at the northern end are prime sunset seats, and a 20-minute coastal walk south from the car park reaches Sandy Bay, Cape Town's long-standing unofficial clothing-optional beach.

Sea Point Promenade

Stretching north from Clifton through Bantry Bay, Sea Point has a rocky shoreline rather than a big beach, but its wide, flat Promenade is the social living room of the Atlantic Seaboard. Walkers, runners and families pack the seafront path at dusk, and the historic Sea Point Pavilion offers an Olympic-sized salt-water swimming pool right on the ocean edge.