Cape Town — 5 top beaches with kids, top 3 fashionable beaches, top 3 beaches to avoid people and a couple of secret beaches for luck

So much to choose from, so little time.

Cape Town Beaches

It’s that silly sea­son again, and a few of us who have left plan­ning until the very last minute are sud­denly influ­enced by the sun­shine and the idea of a hol­i­day, and frantic­ally try­ing to find where best to grab a week’s worth of down time, if such a thing exists?

A word of advice, if I may: if you have chil­dren of any age then choose your des­tin­a­tion based on the beach. It's kind of like select­ing your out­fit based on your accessor­ies – they make it work. Kids and beaches are a guar­an­tee of rel­at­ive peace for you (par­tic­u­larly as their screams and shouts evap­or­ate into thin air with so many oth­ers about). Put any child on a safe beach and, provided you're care­ful of the sun, the hol­i­day is already a success ...

Child-friendly beaches, most of them with tidal pools:

St James beach

St James' beach in Cape Town – whilst a rather nar­row and little beach, which means dur­ing peak sea­son it can become a little ridicu­lous, if you get there early enough — around 7am, which is easy in sum­mer — then you will have the beach and tidal pool more or less to yourselves. You'll need to start head­ing off again by 10am though, as the hordes des­cend. The tidal pool is easy to access, provides hours of fun for chil­dren of any age and is nor­mally a calm sur­face of gentle swells. Aesthetically the beach is very pretty too. Lined with tra­di­tional, brightly col­oured wooden chan­ging huts, St James is con­nec­ted to Muizenberg and Kalk Bay by a walk­way (of sorts) along which you and your chil­dren can  enjoy a walk (ice cream from Kalk Bay).

Miller's Point — although this beach does not tend to make it onto tour­ist itin­er­ar­ies, it is a per­fect children's beach, if a little off the beaten track, just past Simon's Town. You should escape the crowds dur­ing peak sea­son if you head off here, and the tidal pool is par­tic­u­larly pretty. Provided there isn't a south wester (which sees the wind sweep through here) this is a won­der­ful place full of small sandy coves that are per­fect for picnics.

ulders beach

Boulders Beach – an abso­lute treat of a day in amongst pen­guins and giant boulders, and usu­ally sheltered from the wind, Boulders does have an entrance fee. Be warned, the beach is really pop­u­lar (you would be bet­ter off going dur­ing the week) but if you are there across a week­end, get there early enough to nab the one or two spots in the lim­ited amount of shade. Despite this, the water is usu­ally gentle, fab­ulous for swim­ming, and there is much mater­ial for hours of play that includes weav­ing in and out of boulders to reach the next bay, which is even more secluded and great if you're want­ing to escape the fam­il­ies ensconced on the main beach.

Fish Hoek – must add this beach as it is one of the greatest swim­ming and boo­gie board­ing beaches for chil­dren. Fish Hoek beach doesn't have a tidal pool, and it does have the unfor­tu­nate repu­ta­tion of shark attacks, so you want to keep your wits about you (and an eye on the shark flag), but it is a thor­oughly enjoy­able beach for the whole family.

Camps Bay beach

Camps Bay – this also qual­i­fies as a 'fash­ion­able' beach. Camps Bay is hope­lessly trendy and often referred to as the Cape Riviera – you come here to people-watch, if noth­ing else. But par­ents come here for the spot­lessly clean beach, the rel­at­ively wind-free and calm waters, and the tidal pool, which you'll find at the south end of the beach on the oppos­ite end from the surfers. Oh, and the views from here are some­thing else – you'll have con­stant sight of Lion's Head and the Twelve Apostles.

Others:

Seapoint – Saunders Rock has a tidal pool

Maiden's Cove, just infront of Glen Country Club near Clifton

Fashionable beaches:

Other than Camps Bay (see above)...

Llandudno beach

Clifton – set just infront of millionaire's row, is another jet-setter hangout. You'll find a great many inter­na­tional vis­it­ors drape them­selves over tow­els here, amongst the wan­na­bees of Cape Town. Designer cos­tumes and sunglasses are rather import­ant, as is the tan on which you're work­ing. Clifton's four white and fine sandy beaches, divided by huge boulders, are usu­ally packed dur­ing the fest­ive sea­son. The sea is freez­ing, but safe for swim­ming. Whilst second and third beach are for fam­il­ies, young­sters and the gay crowd, first beach is for the surfers and vol­ley­ball play­ers. Oh, and park­ing can be a bit of a 'mare.

Llandudno – this gor­geous beach, just around the corner from Camps Bay or over Suikerbossie hill from Hout Bay, is con­stantly the site of pho­to­graphic shoots or movie sets. The moun­tains come right onto the beach here and the large gran­ite boulders add to the beauty. It is a pop­u­lar surf­ing spot although swim­ming can some­times be a little dicey due to the strong tides, and it is fre­quently vis­ited by gangs of local dogs who appear to have free reign of the beach. Llandudno is pop­u­lar, beau­ti­ful, and great for sun­down­ers and people watching.

Noordhoek's Long Beach – it doesn't get more beau­ti­ful than this. Long beach isn't called such for noth­ing. It stretches on forever, just about. This beach is about a dif­fer­ent type of 'being seen', mostly on horse back. The beach stretches between Noordhoek and Kommetjie, hence its name, and the beach on the Kommetjie side is more than a little elit­ist. Ideal hol­i­day homes open up onto the sand, each with their own path­way onto the beach, so that even in peak sea­son there is space in which to walk, bathe, fly a kite and gen­er­ally wind down.

Beaches not fre­quen­ted by every­one, some of the time:

Long beach, Noordhoek

Sandy Bay, the offi­cial nud­ist beach of the city and pop­u­lar amongst the male gay pop­u­la­tion, is an ideal beach to get away from people – there is plenty of space in which to get lost. It is one of the most secluded beaches in Cape Town and you can only reach it if you're pre­pared to walk, either by clam­ber­ing over rocks from Llandudno, or approach­ing it from the cliffs above the beach via a car park on Eustegia Way just above Hout Bay.

Blaauwberg – des­pite being incred­ibly pop­u­lar with kite surfers and body boarders, Blaauwberg is big enough to still find a secluded spot away from every­one. This is one of the beaches with the renowned view across the water to Table Mountain, and when the wind is not blow­ing, is a won­der­ful spot for sun­down­ers and sun bathing.

Cape Point – the beaches within the Cape Point Nature Reserve, like Dias beach just below the light­house, are extremely beau­ti­ful, and, because they are far off the beaten track and require a gate admis­sion fee to reach, tend to be a lot less fre­quen­ted than other beaches in Cape Town. You will need to be dis­cip­lined about going early, though, as get­ting to and from the little coves involves a bit of a down­hill, and later uphill, slog. But well worth it.

Off the beaten track:

Oudekraal

Bakoven – littered with huge boulders, the beach at Bakoven is very much a secluded beach, almost regarded as private by res­id­ents, and rather off the beaten track for vis­it­ors in the sense that you need to know the beach is there to find it. It barely qual­i­fies as a beach actu­ally, as there is very small piece of white sand but it is a great spot for sun­bathing away from the crowds, and the back­drop of the Twelve Apostles is hard to beat.

Scarborough, and its neigh­bour, Misty Cliffs, are the last beaches on the Atlantic Seaboard before enter­ing Cape Point. As such, and des­pite the fact that Scarborough is pop­u­lar with kite surfers and surfers, it is never so busy that you feel inund­ated, and both beaches are lovely, and so remote, that you will really enjoy your time in amongst the loc­als. The drive here is pretty spec­tac­u­lar, and scenery heav­enly. Best of all is spend­ing time in the vil­lage of Scarborough, which has only one res­taur­ant and no shops to speak of.

Oudekraal – depend­ing on whom you speak to, Oudekraal goes from being very pop­u­lar to the best kept secret of Cape Town. Most people don't know where the beach is, which should give you a fair idea of how often it's vis­ited. Certainly dur­ing the hol­i­day sea­son, it is prob­ably bet­ter to give it a skip as the braai spots and pic­nic sites make it a firm favour­ite, but actu­ally the beach is not all that well fre­quen­ted dur­ing other times of the year. Its set­ting is quite spec­tac­u­lar and secluded from the wind, it has its own seal colony out on the rocks, and is a beau­ti­ful spot for sun­down­ers or a secluded swim.

Things to remem­ber when in the sun:

• cover up (whilst sun­screen is import­ant, UVA rays still bat­ter the skin and cause skin can­cer later on)
• wear a hat, always
• take an umbrella or beach tent so that there is some res­pite from the weather

Useful Links:

Cape Town Beaches
Cape Town Attractions
Things to Do in Cape Town
Cape Town Accommodation