Put Simon's Town on your radar

Simon’s Town has been the headquarters of the South African Navy for more than two centuries. But you don’t need a military rank to enjoy the sun and the sea. Here’s your guide.

- FRANÇOIS HAASBROEK

It’s the middle of the week and there are no tourists in Jubilee Square to throw a few coins into his guitar case, but that doesn’t stop Machawe Ndlovu. His solo echoes out over the waterfront, past yachts bobbing in the swell and past the statue of Just Nuisance, Simon’s Town’s famous Great Dane.

You can tell by a guitarist’s body language when the music is playing him, and not the other way around. Especially when he lifts the instrument to his mouth and starts plucking strings with his teeth…

It might not be busy today, but it makes sense for a street musician like Machawe to play here. Simon’s Town, just down the coast from Cape Town, is a favourite hang-out for locals and international tourists alike. Everyone comes here for the laid-back vibe, the dramatic views, the fish and chips, and the penguins.

1 Go see the penguins

Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Colosseum in Rome, the African penguin colony at Boulders Beach is a must-see attraction when you’re in Simon’s Town. The first two breeding pairs arrived in the early 1980s, and now there are as many as 3000 of them waddling between the towels on the beach. (The penguins recently became international superstars, thanks to the Netflix series Penguin Town.) There are only two mainland African penguin colonies in the country – the other one is at Stony Point in Betty’s Bay.

The two beaches closest to the colony fall within the ambit of Table Mountain National Park – you have to pay a conservation fee to go down to the water. Boulders Beach is fantastic for swimming and Foxy Beach has boardwalks and a deck from where you can watch the penguins.