Betty's Bay
Scattered self-catering village on the Kogelberg coast with a mainland penguin colony, a botanic garden and no streetlights.
African penguins on the boulders at Stony Point with the Kogelberg mountains behind
Why people stay in Betty's Bay
Betty's Bay is a village of a few thousand people, most of them part-timers, strung along 10 km of the R44 between Pringle Bay and Kleinmond, about 90 km from Cape Town. It is not a resort and barely a town: houses sit among fynbos on sand roads with no pavements and very few streetlights, the mountains of the Kogelberg rise straight off the back gardens, and baboons treat the place as their own, which is why every bin is bolted shut. There is a small supermarket, a bottle store and a handful of places to eat, and that is the entire commercial life of the village.
Two things bring people. Stony Point, at the end of Waterkant Street off the R44, is one of only two mainland breeding colonies of African penguins in the country, with several thousand birds nesting among the ruins of a 1930s whaling station, plus cormorants, dassies and the occasional mongoose. Entry is around R30, gates from 08h00 to 17h00, and it is far less crowded and cheaper than Boulders at Simon's Town. Second is the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden on the R44, where 200 hectares of mountain fynbos climb into two kloofs behind a formal garden.
Evenings are the point of coming and the reason some people hate it. There is no nightlife whatsoever. Once the light goes the village is properly dark, you can see the Milky Way from the beach, and the loudest sound is the surf on Silversands. Dinner is either self-catered, which is what the vast majority of visitors do, or a fifteen-minute drive to the small restaurant cluster at Pringle Bay, or twenty minutes to Kleinmond on the Beach Road. Most kitchens in the area close their doors around 20h30, earlier in winter, and several shut entirely from Monday to Wednesday out of season.
Come here if you want a self-catering house with a view, long empty beaches, serious hiking on the doorstep and complete quiet. Do not come if you have no car, want restaurants, or expect a swimmable beach with lifeguards: the water off Betty's Bay is Atlantic-cold at 13 to 16 degrees, the shore break is rough, and the safe swimming is in the Palmiet lagoon towards Kleinmond. Also know that the whole Kogelberg is fire country. Big fynbos fires have run through here more than once, and in high summer the fire danger boards on the R44 are not decoration.
There are only a handful of guesthouses; nearly everything here is a self-catering house, and the choice is about which side of the R44 you take. The sea side, along Clarence Drive, Sunny Seas and the roads down to Silversands and Main Beach, gives you surf noise and sunsets over False Bay at R1,300 to R2,600 a night for a three-bedroom house in December, and R800 to R1,500 in winter. The mountain side, towards Harold Porter and the Disa Kloof, is cheaper, more sheltered from the southeaster and gets the morning sun, but has more baboon traffic. Bring your own groceries from Somerset West or Kleinmond: the village shop covers milk, bread and braai wood and little else. Check whether the house has a generator or battery backup, and check whether the access road is sand, because some are not fine in a small hire car after rain.
Things to do in Betty's Bay
End of Waterkant Street, signposted off the R44 in the middle of the village. A boardwalk runs through the nesting colony and the old whaling-station ruins, entry roughly R30, open 08h00 to 17h00. Go at 16h00 when birds come ashore. Fewer people than Boulders, closer views, and the cormorant colony on the point is a bonus.
On the R44 at the mountain side of the village. Formal fynbos garden with proteas and ericas, entry about R60, gates 08h00 to 16h30. The short Disa Kloof boardwalk leads to a waterfall in 25 minutes; the longer Leopard Kloof route needs a permit and a key from the office and closes to entry at 14h00, so ask when you arrive.
The R44 west from the village hugs the cliff above False Bay for 20 km through Pringle Bay to Rooi-Els, with pull-offs at Dappat se Gat and Hangklip. Whales are visible from the road between August and November. Drive it at 08h00 or an hour before sunset, watch for baboons, and use the marked laybys rather than stopping on blind bends.
Fifteen minutes west, where the track past the last houses in Rooi-Els runs along the mountainside. This is the most reliable spot in the country for Cape Rockjumper, with Cape Siskin, sunbirds and Verreaux's eagle overhead. It is free, exposed and best from 07h00 to 10h00. Take water and a hat; there is no shade at all.
The CapeNature reserve gate is off the R44 towards Kleinmond, about 15 minutes east. Conservation fee near R70. The Palmiet River trail follows clear water through the most species-rich fynbos on earth, an easy 5 km return, and the Perdeberg route climbs for a full day. Book online in peak season; they cap daily hiker numbers.
Twenty minutes east on the R44 where the Palmiet River meets the sea. Tea-coloured, tannin-warm water behind the dunes, shallow enough for small children and far kinder than the 14-degree open ocean. There is parking at the river mouth and a caravan park alongside. Weekday mornings are empty; the December holidays fill it by 11h00.
What to see
Hotels near Betty's Bay
No hotels are listed in Betty's Bay yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Getting around Betty's Bay
This is a car destination, without qualification. From Cape Town International take the N2 over Sir Lowry's Pass, exit at Gordon's Bay and follow the R44 Clarence Drive along the coast: 90 km and about an hour and a half, and one of the best drives in the country. The inland alternative via Botrivier and the R43 is duller but sensible after dark, when baboons and unlit bends on Clarence Drive make the coast road unpleasant. There is no train, no scheduled bus and effectively no e-hail supply in the village. Distances inside Betty's Bay itself run to several kilometres on sand roads, so you will drive even to the penguins.
Questions about Betty's Bay
For seeing penguins, arguably yes. It is a working mainland colony with a boardwalk through the nests, entry around R30 against several times that at Boulders, and on most days a fraction of the visitors. What you do not get is the swimming beach beside the birds that Boulders is famous for. If penguins are the goal rather than a swim, come here.
Only if you are hardy. The open beaches face the cold Atlantic side of False Bay at 13 to 16 degrees with a heavy shore break and no lifeguards, so most people paddle rather than swim. The realistic swimming options are the Palmiet lagoon at Kleinmond, twenty minutes east, and the sheltered corner at Pringle Bay. Bring a wetsuit if you plan to be in the water long.
Bring the main shop with you. The village has a small supermarket and a bottle store, adequate for milk, bread, braai wood and basics, but the range and prices are what you would expect of a tiny coastal village. Stock up in Somerset West on the way in, or in Kleinmond twelve minutes east, which has a larger supermarket. Almost all accommodation is self-catering.
They are a genuine issue rather than a photo opportunity. Troops move through the village daily, open unlatched doors and windows, and will take food off a kitchen counter. Keep doors closed even when you are inside, never leave food visible in a parked car, do not feed them under any circumstances, and use the bolted bins. They are strong animals and can be aggressive when cornered.
