Muizenberg
Beginner surf beach, rainbow bathing boxes and cheap guesthouses 25 km south of the city on warm False Bay water.
Rainbow-coloured bathing boxes on Muizenberg beach with Surfers' Corner and the mountain behind
Why people stay in Muizenberg
Muizenberg is a genuine suburb of Cape Town, at the top of the False Bay coast about 25 km south of the Grand Parade, and it is the one place in the metro where a person who has never surfed can stand up on a board before lunch. Surfers' Corner breaks over a long sandbank in waist-deep water, the beach runs flat and wide for kilometres toward Strandfontein, and False Bay sits at 17 to 20 degrees in summer, several degrees warmer than Camps Bay. A two-hour group lesson with board and wetsuit runs about R550.
The village had thirty bad years and has only half come back. Around the corner of Beach Road and York Road you get flat whites at R42, secondhand bookshops, three surf shops within eighty metres and Empire Cafe doing eggs from 7am to the dawn-patrol crowd. Two streets inland, past the railway line and onto Main Road, it turns into fried chicken, tyre fitment and taxis hooting. That contrast is the whole place. People who need their neighbourhood uniformly polished should book Kalk Bay or Constantia instead and drive in for the surf.
At 9pm on a Tuesday Muizenberg is quiet enough to hear the sea from Palmer Road. The Striped Horse on Main Road will be pouring craft draught at around R48 and doing a decent burger, Tiger's Milk near the beachfront runs later, and that is broadly the extent of it. Friday changes things: the Blue Bird Garage market on Albertyn Road fills an old airmail hangar with food stalls and live music from 4pm to about 10pm, and the whole suburb turns up. Otherwise, dinner is at 7pm and the streets empty by ten.
Sun and wind matter here in a way they do not on the Atlantic side. The sun rises over the water and drops behind the Steenberg ridge, so the beach loses light in mid-afternoon in winter and there is no sunset drink on the sand. The summer southeaster blows hard across the bay from about 11am for days on end. Shark Spotters fly flags from the mountain hut above the beach: green means spotters are on duty, white means a shark was seen and the beach is closed. Read the flag before you paddle out.
The stretch worth paying for is the block bounded by Beach Road, York Road, Palmer Road and Camp Road, plus Atlantic Road above it, because you can walk to the sand, the coffee and the station without crossing Main Road. Guesthouses and surf lodges here run R700 to R1,300 a night for a double in January and dip under R550 in June. Dorm beds at the backpackers on Atlantic Road sit around R320. Above the town, Boyes Drive apartments get the view and the morning light but need a car for everything. Avoid anything advertised as Muizenberg that is actually east of the railway on the Capricorn or Lakeside flats side, and avoid the ground-floor units directly on Main Road, which take truck noise from 5am and nightclub bass on Saturdays.
Things to do in Muizenberg
Every school works the same 300 m of sand in front of the pavilion on Beach Road. Gary's Surf School has been there since 1989 and rents boards at about R200 for two hours plus R80 for a wetsuit. Go at 7am before the southeaster arrives; by noon the lineup holds two hundred people.
The row of red, yellow, green and blue wooden huts stands on the sand directly below the corner of Beach Road and the pavilion car park. Shoot them at sunrise, from the low side, with Muizenberg Peak behind. By 9am there is a queue of people doing exactly this and the light is flat.
Main Road between Muizenberg station and St James is lined with Rhodes Cottage Museum, Het Post Huys and the Casa Labia cultural centre, a Venetian-styled villa at 192 Main Road with a cafe doing cake and tea for about R95. Casa Labia closes at 4pm and all day Monday, so do not leave it late.
Ten minutes on foot north along the catwalk from Surfers' Corner. A walled rectangle of seawater beside the St James huts, safe for children, no waves, no sharks, free. Best two hours after high tide when it has refilled. It gets packed on public holidays; weekday mornings you may have it alone.
The vlei sits behind the beach off Axminster Road in Lakeside, ten minutes from Beach Road. Kayak and SUP hire runs about R150 an hour on flat water with cormorants and the occasional otter, and it is the sensible plan on the days the southeaster makes the open beach unusable.
Albertyn Road, off Main Road behind the station, in a 1920s airmail hangar. Doors from 4pm Fridays; twenty-odd food stalls, most plates R80 to R140, craft beer and a band from about 7pm. Cash-light, card works, and parking on the surrounding streets fills by 6pm.
What to see
Hotels near Muizenberg
No hotels are listed in Muizenberg yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Every hotel we cover in Muizenberg
- 7 on Henwick 4★ · 4.6/5
- Cape Capsules Back Packers 2★ · 4.4/5
- 'Imagine' Surfers Corner Muizenberg Village 4★
- 1 Bedroom Muizenberg Beach Apartment with Pool and Mountain Views 4★
- Birds Holiday Accommodation 2 4★
- Casa Da Gama Luxe 4★
- Chamomile Cottage 2 4★
- Coral Sands on Muizenberg 4★
- Fleurs Place 4★
- Jefa Heights 4★
- Muizenberg apartment 100m from beach 4★
- Muizenberg Mountain View Apartment 4★
- Muizies Peak Walk to Beach No Load Shedding 4★
- Near Beach Pool Mountain Views On Canal 4★
- Pro Moni’s Guesthouse 4★
- Royal at Sea 4★
- Royal@Sea2 4★
- Sea Spray Chalet 4★
- Sunrise Villa Apartment 4★
- The Mk House 4★
- The Spotted Owl 4★
- The Waves Muizenberg Beachfront 4★
- Admiralty B&B 3★
- Cozy corner apartment Muizenberg 3★
Getting around Muizenberg
From Cape Town International it is 30 km, roughly 35 minutes on the N2 and M5 outside peak, and an e-hailed car costs R380 to R470. Muizenberg station sits on Beach Road opposite the pavilion, on the Metrorail Southern Line between Cape Town and Simon's Town; the ride from Cape Town station takes about 40 minutes and a MetroPlus single is around R13. Trains run roughly every 30 to 60 minutes, daylight travel only is the local rule, and service can be cancelled without warning. Golden Arrow buses use Main Road. MyCiTi does not reach here. Inside the village walk everything; Kalk Bay is 4 km, St James is 1 km.
Questions about Muizenberg
Great white numbers in False Bay have collapsed since 2015 and sightings are now rare, but Shark Spotters still work the mountain hut above the beach every day. A green flag means spotters are on duty and conditions are clear, a white flag with a black shark means a shark was seen and a siren clears the water. Stay inside the flagged swimming zone in front of the pavilion and you are fine.
The beach block bounded by Beach, York, Palmer and Atlantic roads is walkable in daylight and generally fine early evening when the restaurants are open. After about 9pm the streets empty and locals drive or e-hail even short distances, particularly across Main Road or up towards Boyes Drive. Do not walk the subway under the railway after dark, and do not leave anything visible in a parked car.
False Bay runs 17 to 20 degrees from December to March and 14 to 16 degrees in winter, warmer than the Atlantic side by a useful margin. Most people surf in a 3/2 mm steamer year round; in February plenty swim in nothing but boardshorts. Rental wetsuits at Surfers' Corner cost about R80 for two hours and every school includes one in a lesson.
Yes, more easily than almost anywhere else outside the City Bowl. The surf, the shops, the station and a dozen places to eat are inside a four-block square, and the Southern Line train reaches Kalk Bay, Simon's Town and central Cape Town. You will want a car or e-hail for Cape Point, the winelands and Table Mountain, and an Uber to the City Bowl runs about R250 each way.
