Camps Bay (Cape Town) Travel Guide - Free
Explore Camps Bay in Cape Town with Evendo's free guide. Find the best shops, historic streets, restaurants, and gems on web or mobile.
Camps Bay, Cape Town pairs a broad Atlantic beach with Twelve Apostles scenery, sunset dining, coastal walks and easy access to Table Mountain attractions.
Beachfront Setting
Camps Bay occupies a dramatic stretch of Cape Town's Atlantic seaboard, pressed between the ocean and the Twelve Apostles range. Its broad beach, pale sand and palm-lined promenade create the neighbourhood's most recognisable scene, while the mountains rise sharply behind the villas and apartment buildings. The Atlantic water is often cold, but the beach remains a popular place for walking, sunbathing, watching the changing light and meeting friends at the cafés and restaurants along Victoria Road.Read more about Camps Bay
From Coastal Village to Seaside Resort
Mountain Walks and Evening Life
Best landmarks in Camps Bay
Camps Bay Beach and its palm-lined promenade form the neighbourhood's defining public landmark, framing an unusually immediate relationship between an urban street, the Atlantic and the Twelve Apostles. The Rotunda at The Bay Hotel is a notable reminder of the area's history as a seaside resort and hotel destination, while Theatre on the Bay has become an important cultural reference point within the local streetscape. Victoria Road is significant not because of one monumental building but because it concentrates the commercial life that made modern Camps Bay recognisable. The winding alignment of Camps Bay Drive expresses the terrain, climbing between the city side and the coastal basin. Mountain paths and the lower Twelve Apostles provide a natural landmark system rather than a single structure, linking the neighbourhood's present-day identity to the slopes that have always enclosed it.
Explore Camps Bay on the map
A handpicked selection of must-see spots in Camps Bay, mapped for you.
Best hotels in Camps Bay
Best restaurants in Camps Bay
Dining in Camps Bay is concentrated along Victoria Road and the beachfront, where ocean views shape the experience as much as the menus. Visitors find a broad mix of seafood, grills, contemporary South African cooking, sushi, cafés and casual meals, alongside familiar international styles suited to a neighbourhood with a substantial visitor economy. Established names associated with the area include The Hussar Grill Camps Bay, Codfather Seafood & Sushi and Paranga, while the broader strip also includes coffee shops and bars that blur the boundary between a meal and an evening out. The setting encourages lingering over a late lunch or sunset drink, though the busiest terraces are not representative of the quieter residential streets uphill. For a less scenic but more local-feeling meal, explore individual businesses away from the central beachfront rather than treating the promenade as the whole dining scene.
Best shops in Camps Bay
Shopping in Camps Bay is concentrated around Victoria Road and the beachfront rather than organised as a large traditional market district. Visitors will find convenience shops, beach and resort-oriented retail, independent boutiques, beauty businesses, galleries and small specialist stores mixed among cafés, restaurants and residential services. The commercial character reflects the neighbourhood's role as both a home and a visitor destination: it is useful for everyday provisions and browsing, but it is not the place to expect a major craft market or a dense network of historic specialist streets. Boutique retail is strongest around the central strip, where fashion, design and gift-oriented businesses cater to the coastal setting. For a broader range of city shopping, visitors generally need to travel beyond Camps Bay, while the neighbourhood itself works best as a compact browsing stop combined with the promenade and beachfront.
From Eve
Local phrases worth knowing
You don't need to get them perfect. A few words go a long way, and locals appreciate the effort.
Basics
| English | Local | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | Hallo | [ha-lo] |
| Goodbye | Totsiens | [toht-see-ens] |
| Yes | Ja | [yah] |
| No | Nee | [nee] |
| Please/You're welcome | Asseblief | [us-seh-bleef] |
| Thank you | Dankie | [dahn-kee] |
| Excuse me/Sorry | Jammer | [yah-mer] |
| How are you? | Hoe gaan dit met jou? | [hu gahn dit met yoh] |
| Fine. And you? | Goed. En met jou? | [khut. en met yoh] |
| Do you speak English? | Praat jy Engels? | [praht y eng-els] |
| I don't understand | Ek verstaan nie | [ehk verstahn nee] |
Eating & Drinking
| English | Local | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| I'd like to see the menu, please | Ek wil asseblief die spyskaart sien | [ehk vil us-seh-bleef dee spay-skart seen] |
| I don't eat meat | Ek eet nie vleis nie | [ehk eet nee flay-s nee] |
| Cheers! | Gesondheid! | [heh-sunt-hate] |
| I would like to pay, please | Ek wil asseblief betaal | [ehk vil us-seh-bleef buh-tahl] |
Emergencies
| English | Local | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Help! | Help! | [help] |
| Go away! | Gaan weg! | [kahn vehkh] |
| Call the Police! | Bel die Polisie! | [bel dee poh-lee-see] |
| Call a doctor! | Bel 'n dokter! | [bel un dohk-tehr] |
| I'm lost | Ek is verlore | [ehk is fuh-rah-ruh] |
| I'm ill | Ek is siek | [ehk is seek] |
Shopping
| English | Local | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| I'd like to buy... | Ek wil ... koop | [ehk vil ... kohp] |
| I'm just looking | Ek kyk net | [ehk kayk neht] |
| How much is it? | Hoeveel kos dit? | [hu-veel kohs dit] |
| That's too expensive | Dit is te duur | [deet is teh duhr] |
| Can you lower the price? | Kan jy die prys verlaag? | [kahn y dee prays fuh-rahkh] |
Time & Numbers
| English | Local | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| What time is it? | Hoe laat is dit? | [hu laht is dit] |
| It's one o'clock | Dit is een uur | [deet is ayn oor] |
| Half past (10) | Half tien | [hahlf tehn] |
| Morning | Oggend | [oh-khent] |
| Afternoon | Middag | [mi-dahk] |
| Evening | Aand | [ahnt] |
| Yesterday | Gister | [khis-tehr] |
| Today | Vandag | [fahn-dahk] |
| Tomorrow | Môre | [moh-ruh] |
| 1 | Een | [ayn] |
| 2 | Twee | [twee] |
| 3 | Drie | [dree] |
| 4 | Vier | [feer] |
| 5 | Vyf | [fayf] |
| 6 | Ses | [sehs] |
| 7 | Sewe | [seh-veh] |
| 8 | Agt | [ahkht] |
| 9 | Nege | [ne-khe] |
| 10 | Tien | [tehn] |
Transport & Directions
| English | Local | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Where's a/the...? | Waar is 'n/die...? | [vahr is un/dee] |
| What's the address? | Wat is die adres? | [vaht is dee ah-drehs] |
| Can you show me (on the map)? | Kan jy my wys (op die kaart)? | [kahn y may vase (op dee kart)] |
| When's the next (bus)? | Wanneer is die volgende (bus)? | [vah-nehr is dee full-ehn-duh bus] |
| A ticket (to ....) | 'n Kaartjie (na ....) | [un kah-uh-kee (nah)] |
History of Camps Bay
Farms on the Atlantic Slopes
Before Camps Bay became a leisure district, the valley and lower mountain slopes formed part of a rural landscape outside Cape Town's historic centre. The bay appears in older records under forms including Kamps Baai and Camps Bay, while farms and estates used the sheltered valley, streams and coastal land. Access across the mountain slopes was difficult, and the area remained separated from the developing city by terrain. This agricultural and estate-based past helps explain why the neighbourhood's present streets sit in a narrow coastal basin rather than following the regular grid found in central Cape Town.
A Road to the Seaside
Improved road access gradually connected Camps Bay more closely with Cape Town and made the coast easier to reach for excursions and leisure. The route over Kloof Nek and along the mountains encouraged visitors to travel to the bay for its beach, sea air and views. The settlement began to acquire the character of a seaside retreat, with villas and recreational facilities replacing some of the earlier rural isolation. Camps Bay Drive and Victoria Road remain visible expressions of this geography: one climbs and curves through the slopes, while the other follows the developed edge of the bay.
The Resort Takes Shape
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Camps Bay developed more firmly as a coastal resort within the expanding Cape Town metropolitan area. Hotels, bathing facilities, holiday houses and improved roads brought seasonal visitors, while the mountain-and-sea setting became central to the area's identity. The beachfront was progressively shaped for public recreation, and later buildings filled the slopes above it. The Rotunda, associated with the historic hotel landscape of Camps Bay, is a reminder of the period when seaside hospitality helped define the neighbourhood's public image.
Contemporary Coastal Neighbourhood
In the later twentieth century and after the end of apartheid, Camps Bay became increasingly integrated into Cape Town's international visitor economy while retaining a substantial residential role. Apartments, villas, restaurants and hotels expanded around the established beachfront and along the slopes, bringing new investment and debate about development, access and the cost of living. Today the neighbourhood combines a heavily visited public beach and commercial strip with private homes, mountain paths and long-standing local institutions such as Theatre on the Bay. Its identity continues to depend on the close relationship between ocean, mountains and urban leisure.
Camps Bay in Photos
Browse through our photo collection highlighting the charm and character of the destination.
Neighbourhoods near Camps Bay
The closest neighbourhoods to Camps Bay, if you have time for more than one stop.
-
-
-
-
Swipe for more neighbourhoods
