Camps Bay, Clifton & the Atlantic Seaboard

Drop your bags at your hotel and change into something you don't mind getting sandy. The Atlantic is calling and the day is young.

Camps Bay is Cape Town's most cinematic stretch of sand — the Twelve Apostles mountain range rises behind you while the cold Atlantic glitters ahead. Spread out a towel, wade into the surf, or simply walk the long, clean sweep of the shore. It's the kind of beach that makes you forget the flight entirely.

Step Brothers Restaurant and Bar sits right on Victoria Road, steps from the Camps Bay shoreline. Pull up a seat, order something satisfying, and let the sea view do the rest — there is no better post-swim reward than lunch with the ocean still in your ears.

A short drive or a breezy walk along the coast brings you to Clifton, where four distinct coves are carved between giant granite boulders. The sheltered pockets of sand catch the afternoon sun long after the breeze picks up elsewhere — ideal for an unhurried hour of reading, swimming or watching Cape Town's evening crowd begin to gather.

Head back toward the city and settle into Tiger's Milk for a drink as the light turns gold. It's a lively, unpretentious bar with the kind of energy that suits the end of a good beach day perfectly.

Round off Day One at Beluga on Prestwich Street — a polished, convivial restaurant that earns its reputation night after night. Order generously, linger over your wine, and plan tomorrow's beaches over dessert.

Glen Beach is the quieter, more intimate neighbour tucked just around the headland from Camps Bay. It rewards early risers: the sand is less crowded in the morning, the light falls at a beautiful angle, and the swimming is as good as it gets on this coast. A proper start to the final day.

Before lunch, make a brief detour to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa at the V&A Waterfront — one of the most architecturally striking buildings on the Cape Town waterfront. The converted grain silo holds some of the continent's most compelling contemporary work. One hour here is genuinely worthwhile without pulling you too far from the shore.

Quay Four on Dock Road puts you right on the harbour edge for lunch. The water is right there — tugboats, yachts and the occasional seal passing by — and the food is the kind of straightforward, well-executed fare that suits a mid-beach-day meal perfectly.

Drive out along the coast to Hout Bay — a wide, working-harbour beach framed by mountains on three sides. It has a different character from Camps Bay or Clifton: more windswept, more local, with fishing boats bobbing in the bay. Walk to the far end of the sand, paddle in the shallows, and watch the afternoon slowly soften into evening.

Back at the Waterfront, Cause and Effect on Dock Road is the place to decompress with a cocktail as the day winds down. The harbour turns copper in the last light — a fitting send-off for two days spent chasing the Cape Town shoreline.

End the trip at Grub & Vine on Breë Street — a warm, grown-up restaurant with serious food and a wine list that does justice to the Cape winelands a short drive away. It's the right note on which to close a trip that never strayed far from the water.