Long Beach, Kommetjie

What to expect at Long Beach, Kommetjie

Long Beach at Kommetjie is the southern half of the vast, unbroken sweep of sand that runs from the rocks below Kommetjie village north to Noordhoek and the base of Chapman's Peak, roughly eight kilometres in all. It is not a resort beach and has none of the trappings: no restaurant on the sand, no sunbeds, no lifeguard tower for most of the year, no boardwalk. What it has is space, a powerful Atlantic swell and the Slangkop Lighthouse, a 33-metre cast-iron tower commissioned in 1919 and the tallest of its kind in South Africa, standing on the point just south of the beach. The break at the Kommetjie end is one of the most reliable left-handers in the Cape and works through most of the year, which is why the small car park is full of surf-worn bakkies at dawn even in winter.

A visit is a walk and a look at the ocean. From the Beach Road car park a short sandy path crosses the dunes onto the beach, and from there you can walk north for as far as your legs allow: forty minutes gets you a long way towards Noordhoek, and the full traverse to the Hoek car park takes about two hours one way. Kelp banks pile at the southern end, oystercatchers and gulls work the tide line, and horse riders come through from the Noordhoek stables. The surf break sits off the rocks at the southern corner, best watched from the path along the point. Southwards, a short boardwalk and coastal path runs past the tidal pool towards the lighthouse and on to the Kommetjie kom, the small natural inlet the village is named for.

Plan it as a morning or a late afternoon. There is no shade whatsoever, no shop on the beach and no water fountain, so bring everything. Wear something windproof: this is one of the windier corners of the peninsula and the sand moves. If you intend to swim, understand that this is exposed Atlantic water at around 12-15C with strong rips and no lifeguards for most of the year, and that most locals treat it as a walking and surfing beach rather than a swimming one. Skip a full traverse to Noordhoek unless you have arranged a car at the other end, because the walk back is longer than it looks. Surf lessons and board hire are available in the village.

Getting there means driving. From the City Bowl the fastest route is the M3 south, then Ou Kaapse Weg over the Silvermine ridge and down into Noordhoek, then the M65 through Sun Valley to Kommetjie: about fifty minutes and forty kilometres. The alternative is the coastal route through Hout Bay and over Chapman's Peak Drive, which is slower, spectacular and carries a toll of roughly R60 a car for a single trip. There is no train nearer than Fish Hoek, about fifteen minutes east by road, and no MyCiTi route. E-hailing from the city runs approximately R320-R450 and is often hard to get for the return leg, so a hire car is the practical answer. Parking at the Beach Road car park is free.

Costs are essentially zero at the beach. No entry fee, no parking charge, no facilities to hire. Money is only spent in the village: a coffee and pastry at the Kommetjie cafes runs R40-R90, a surf lesson through a local school is broadly R450-R650 for ninety minutes with equipment, and board and wetsuit hire is roughly R250-R400 for the day. Tours of the Slangkop Lighthouse, run by the harbour authority when staff are available, carry a small charge of around R20-R30 for adults and less for children, though access depends on staffing and weather. Fuel and the Chapman's Peak toll of about R60 are the other real costs of the trip.

Dawn is the local hour. Surfers are in the water before sunrise, and the beach at 07:00 in summer is windless, cool and almost empty. The southeaster typically builds through the middle of the day in summer and can make the beach unpleasant by mid-afternoon, so plan around morning or evening. Winter, May to September, brings the biggest swells, sometimes double overhead, and the beach becomes a spectacle for watching rather than entering. Whales pass offshore between roughly July and November. School holidays and the December to January weeks bring far more dog walkers and families, but the beach is so large it never feels crowded. Fog is common in late summer mornings.

It suits walkers, surfers, dog owners, birdwatchers and anyone who wants a beach with nobody on it. It is a poor choice for small children who want a safe paddle, and a genuinely bad choice for weak swimmers: the rips here are strong and the water cold. Wheelchair access is limited to the car park and the short boardwalk near the tidal pool, as there is no matting onto the sand. On a windy day, or a hot one without shade, families are far better served at Fish Hoek or Muizenberg on the False Bay side. If you have an hour, walk out twenty minutes and back and you will have seen the point of the place.

Fold it into a southern peninsula half-day: Noordhoek Beach and the Farm Village sit at the northern end of the same sand, about fifteen minutes by road, Imhoff Farm is five minutes east on the M65, and Cape Point is about twenty-five minutes south. Kommetjie village itself has a good bakery and a tidal pool. Honest caveats: there is no lifeguard, and people underestimate that. There is no shade, no shop on the beach and no toilet at the car park worth relying on. The wind can be relentless. And visitors expecting a swimming beach in the Camps Bay mould will find something much wilder, colder and emptier than the brochures of Cape Town suggest.

Plan your visit TicketsFree Free entryYes Time needed2-3 hr visit WhereHout Bay Opening hours Beach open 24 hours, no gates, no lifeguards outside occasional peak-season cover Slangkop Lighthouse grounds generally Mon-Fri 10:00-15:00 for tours, weather permitting Kommetjie village shops and cafes daily 07:00-17:00 Hotels near Long Beach, Kommetjie

Questions about Long Beach, Kommetjie

Live prices · free cancellation

9.2 km away Hout Bay Breeze

4.3/5 R1239/ night

4★

11 km away Hout Bay Manor

4.5/5 R2928/ night

3★

14 km away The Muize

4.6/5 R1142/ night

24 with a full page

More things to do

All things to do

camps-bay Camps Bay Beach

The wide white crescent under the Twelve Apostles that most visitors picture when they picture Cape Town, with a palm-lined strip of restaurants two minutes from the sand.

clifton Clifton Beaches (First to Fourth)

Four white-sand coves separated by granite boulders and sheltered from the southeaster, reached down long flights of steps below some of the most expensive houses in Africa.

simons-town Boulders Beach and the Penguin Colony

A sheltered cove of 540-million-year-old granite boulders where a colony of endangered African penguins nests within touching distance of the boardwalk, and where you can swim in calm, warm-ish False Bay water.

From the journal

All posts

Hotel round-ups Hotels with pools in Cape Town

The Atlantic sits at 12-16°C most of the year, which is why a heated hotel pool is worth paying R400 a night extra for — here is where to find the good ones, by area and price band.

Hotel round-ups Best beachfront hotels in Cape Town

Cape Town has roughly 70km of coastline inside the metro and startlingly few true beachfront hotels — here is where the sand-to-lobby options actually are, in six areas, with the honest catch on each.

Hotel round-ups Hotels with Table Mountain views in Cape Town

Table Mountain is 1,086m high and looks completely different from six different suburbs — here is which side of the city gives you the flat-topped postcard from your bed, and which gives you a wall of grey rock.