False Bay

False Bay, South Africa’s largest true bay, was named by early sailors who confused Cape Hangklip with the legendary Cape Point. The bay water here is warmer than on the Atlantic Seaboard side and gave rise to its picturesque village-like suburbs dotted along the coastline. The little towns each have their own unique characters. Definite must-sees are the famous surfer’s hub of Muizenberg, St. James with its popular tidal pool and much-photographed colourful bathing huts and the bohemian Kalk Bay for its fresh fish, antique stores and local arts and crafts. Fish Hoek offers one of the peninsula’s finest family beaches and offers excellent whale-watching opportunities, while near Simon’s Town – South Africa’s third-oldest European settlement and today the country’s main naval base – you can see the colony of African Penguins at Boulders Beach. At the peninsula’s southern tip are the towering sea cliffs of Cape Point in the Good Hope Nature Reserve.