Collection

Best Swimming Beaches

Where the water's calm enough and the sand good enough to actually swim — Atlantic and Indian Ocean picks that aren't just photogenic.

8 places

Cape Town's glamorous Atlantic-Seaboard beach — palm-lined, sunset-facing, and crowded for good reason.

Four coves of sheltered white sand below Clifton's apartment stacks — wind-free when the rest of the coast is howling.

A tiny sheltered cove at Gordon's Bay — False Bay's warmest, most protected swimming spot.

The main beach of the Dolphin Coast resort town — warm water, a protected cove, and daily dolphin sightings.

A mile of warm-water beachfront in central Durban — promenade, surf schools, and the South African beach-holiday archetype.

A sheltered cove of granite boulders and an African penguin colony, half an hour from central Cape Town.

A secluded cove on the Atlantic Seaboard — no shops, no parking if you're late, and one of the city's best sunbathing beaches.

The learn-to-surf beach of Cape Town — a mile of gentle break and a row of photogenic coloured bathing huts.

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