How does a stay in this guide support the featured causes?

When you book accommodation from this guide through Spekboom, a portion of the booking commission is directed to the linked causes. You can also donate to them directly.

Which causes does the Beach stays guide feature?

This guide features National Sea Rescue Institute, SANCCOB.

How many places to stay are in the Beach stays guide?

This guide currently includes 98 places to stay. Nightly rates range from about R287 to R40,480.

Insider Guide: The Coast

Beach stays: where to sleep by the sea in South Africa

Two oceans and five very different shores, from the whale bays of the Overberg to the warm surf of KwaZulu-Natal, with the stays that sit on them

South Africa has one long coastline and two oceans, and the difference between them decides your holiday. The Atlantic side is cold, clear and dramatic, with white beaches you look at more than swim from. The Indian Ocean side warms steadily as you go east, from the mild bays of the Overberg and the Garden Route to the subtropical surf of KwaZulu-Natal where the water is swimmable in every month.

This guide runs west to east: the West Coast and the Peninsula, the Whale Coast, the Garden Route, the Eastern Cape and the Wild Coast, then KwaZulu-Natal. Each section says when to go and what the shore is for, and lists the stays that sit on it. Two causes run the whole length: the volunteer sea-rescue crews of the NSRI, and SANCCOB, which rehabilitates the seabirds and penguins of this coast. Both are funded by a share of the commission on the stays linked to them.

The West Coast and the Peninsula: cold water, big light

North of Cape Town the Atlantic coast is fishing villages, white beaches and a sea too cold for most people to swim in, which is why it is empty. Paternoster and Jacobsbaai are whitewashed cottages on the rocks; Langebaan sits on a turquoise lagoon warm enough for a swim and calm enough for a kayak; Elands Bay is a surf point and little else. The Cape Peninsula's own beaches split the same way: Atlantic sand and cold water at Kommetjie, Noordhoek and Scarborough, milder False Bay water and the penguins at Simon's Town and Muizenberg.

Summer, November to March, is the season for the light and the beaches, though the southeaster blows hard. Spring brings the flowers of the West Coast National Park to the shore itself.

Stays on the West Coast and the Peninsula

Fishing villages, lagoon houses and the False Bay penguin shore.

The View Langebaan

Vanaf R 10,000 per nacht

Klokkiebosch Guesthouse

Vanaf R 1,200 per nacht

The Whale Coast: Hermanus to Agulhas

Over the mountains from Cape Town the Overberg coast is the best shore-based whale watching in the world. Southern right whales come into Walker Bay to calve from June to November, and at Hermanus you watch them from a cliff path. Either side are the penguin colony at Betty's Bay, the shark-diving harbour at Gansbaai, the fishing cottages of Arniston and the southern tip of the continent at Agulhas, where the two oceans meet.

Winter and spring are the whale months; summer is for swimming at Grotto Beach and Kleinmond and for the fynbos walks above the sea. The NSRI runs stations along this whole coast.

Stays on the Whale Coast

Cliff-top guesthouses, wine-estate cottages and fishing-village houses.

Bramber - Stanford Country Cottage

Vanaf R 2,350 per nacht

40 on Longmarket - Stanford Country Cottages

Steunt National Sea Rescue Institute

Vanaf R 1,150 per nacht

Barbie's Beach House

Steunt Kogelberg Biosphere

Vanaf R 4,500 per nacht

The Garden Route: forest to the water's edge

From Mossel Bay to the Tsitsikamma the coast is lakes, lagoons and indigenous forest running down to long beaches. Wilderness and Sedgefield sit between the sea and a chain of lakes; Knysna is a lagoon behind sandstone heads; Plettenberg Bay is a wide bay with whales and dolphins in it for much of the year and the Robberg peninsula at one end. Nature's Valley and Keurboomstrand are the quiet ends.

The water is milder than the Cape and swimmable in summer; the forest walks and the lakes work in every season. December and January are full; autumn is the local secret.

Stays on the Garden Route

Lake houses, lagoon-side lodges and bay-view cottages.

Pansy Shell Cottage

Steunt National Sea Rescue Institute

Vanaf R 2,900 per nacht

Bitou River Lodge

Steunt National Sea Rescue Institute

Vanaf R 2,000 per nacht

The Eastern Cape and the Wild Coast

East of the Tsitsikamma the coast opens out and empties. St Francis Bay and Jeffreys Bay are surf towns with world-class points; Kenton-on-Sea and Port Alfred are river-mouth holiday villages; beyond East London the Wild Coast begins, with cattle on the beaches, waterfalls into the sea and rondavel stays at Chintsa, Morgan Bay and Coffee Bay reached on gravel.

The water is warm, the surf is best in winter, and the Wild Coast is best walked, village to village, in the drier months from April to September.

Stays in the Eastern Cape and on the Wild Coast

Surf-town houses, river-mouth cottages and the rondavels of the Wild Coast.

Cycads On Sea

Steunt National Sea Rescue Institute

Vanaf R 1,320 per nacht

KwaZulu-Natal: warm water all year

North and south of Durban the Indian Ocean is warm in every month, the beaches are protected by lifeguards and shark nets at the main resorts, and the surf runs all year. Ballito, Umhlanga and Salt Rock are the north-coast towns; the south coast runs down to Southbroom and Ramsgate. Further north, St Lucia and Sodwana Bay sit inside the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, with turtles nesting on the beaches in summer and coral reefs offshore.

Winter, May to August, is dry, warm and the best beach weather in the country. Summer is hot, humid and the turtle season at Sodwana.

Stays on the KwaZulu-Natal coast

North-coast apartments, south-coast cottages and the wetland-park villages.

3 Driftwood Ballito

Steunt National Sea Rescue Institute

Vanaf R 3,995 per nacht

Beach Forest Lodge

Steunt National Sea Rescue Institute

Vanaf R 1,150 per nacht

Kingfisher Cove Umdloti

Vanaf R 13,000 per nacht

The causes along this coast

The sea-rescue crews and the seabird hospital funded by a share of every booking at the stays linked to them.

National Sea Rescue Institute

Saving lives. Changing lives. Creating futures.

Doneren

SANCCOB

Saving seabirds and marine life along the South African coast

Doneren

Every coastal stay, by what you want to do

The guide above is a shelf. These pages list every stay that matches, updated as new places publish.

The coast on a map

Every stay in this guide, west to east.

Questions travellers ask

When is the best time for a beach holiday in South Africa?

It depends on the coast. The Cape beaches are for summer, November to March. The Overberg is for whales in winter and spring. KwaZulu-Natal has warm water all year and its best beach weather in the dry winter, May to August. The Garden Route and Eastern Cape are mildest from October to April.

Where is the sea warm enough to swim?

From the Eastern Cape north the Indian Ocean is warm in every season, and KwaZulu-Natal is the warmest. The Garden Route and False Bay are swimmable in summer. The Atlantic coast, from the Cape Peninsula up the West Coast, is cold all year, with the Langebaan lagoon the exception.

Is it safe to swim at South African beaches?

At beaches with lifeguards, yes, between the flags. Rip currents are the main danger on the open coast, so swim where others swim and ask locals. The NSRI, a volunteer service funded by donations, covers the whole coast, and some KwaZulu-Natal beaches also have shark nets. Several stays in this guide are linked to the NSRI as their cause.

String the coast together

Cape Town to Plettenberg Bay is a week of beaches and lagoons; the Wild Coast and KwaZulu-Natal are another. Sign in to plan the route and request the stays in one go.

Plan a trip

How your stay makes an impact

Book any stay in this guide through Spekboom and a share of the booking supports the causes above. You can also donate to them directly.

Book your stay

Choose from the places to stay in this guide

Choose a cause

A portion of booking fees goes to the linked causes

Make an impact

Your stay supports conservation and community work on the ground

Insider Guide: The Coast

Beach stays: where to sleep by the sea in South Africa

Two oceans and five very different shores, from the whale bays of the Overberg to the warm surf of KwaZulu-Natal, with the stays that sit on them

The West Coast and the Peninsula: cold water, big light

Summer, November to March, is the season for the light and the beaches, though the southeaster blows hard. Spring brings the flowers of the West Coast National Park to the shore itself.