Muizenberg

This laid back seaside town on the shores of False Bay comes alive in season, with holiday-makers crowding its streets as they make their way down to what is perhaps Cape Town’s nicest swimming beach.

Although Muizenberg beach lacks the dazzling turquoise ocean and dramatic boulders of beaches like Clifton and Llandudno, it is much warmer to swim in than the beaches on the Atlantic Seaboard, is flat, wide, and the water is generally calm – so is very child-friendly. It’s also a popular surfing spot, although the waves aren’t enormous. It is ideal for body-boarders and novices.

There are a variety of surf and adventure operators, restaurants, coffee shops and apartments located along the main beach. Contact Cape Town Tourism’s Muizenberg Visitor Information Centre, conveniently located at the Pavillion on the main beach, to assist you to book accommodation, activities and transport. The friendly team will provide you with all the local knowledge, maps, brochures and what’s on information for any time of year. They’ll also make bookings for you at no cost.

Look out for the brightly coloured Victorian beach houses, a visual echo of a time when this was Cape Town’s premier swimming beach. Muizenberg is the start of a vast white sand beach that stretches all the way to Gordon’s Bay – a distance of about 40km (25mi), curving around False Bay, so named because sailors in centuries gone by often mistook the large bay for Table Bay, home to Cape Town’s harbour and V&A Waterfront on the Atlantic seaboard.

Although there have been some shark attacks in the area that have received a lot of coverage, these incidents are statistically tiny – one or two out of hundreds of thousands of people who swim and surf here each year. The sharkspotter programme that has been rolled out at a number of beaches along False Bay, had its humble beginnings at Muizenberg. 

Behind the beach, the historic town of Muizenberg boasts the oldest building on the False Bay coast – Het Posthuys in Main Road, dating to the 1600s. Nearby, the public is invited to visit the Battle of Muizenberg site, where the British captured the Dutch colony in 1795 – a significant marker in the history of Cape Town and South Africa (call +27 21 788 5542 for more details).

Other heritage attractions in the area include Rhodes Cottage, the house overlooking False Bay where mining magnate Cecil John Rhodes lived and died in 1902 (246 Main Rd, Muizenberg; +27 21 788 1816), and which presents displays on this larger-than-life icon.

It is also worth having a look at the Edwardian-era Muizenberg Railway Station (177 Main Rd, Muizenberg), which now houses a restaurant. The train journey, know as “The Southern Line”, from Cape Town to Simon’s Town is highly recommended. Find out more information by contacting our Visitor Information Centre.

Contact the Cape Town Tourism Muizenberg Visitor Information Centre or the Muizenberg Historical Society (+ 27 21 788 5542) for more historical information on the area.

Flickr Images

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