August 2025

A stroll through the charming coastal town of Kalk Bay

I think it’s time we show you a bit more of the Cape Town surroundings – after all, we’ve been living here for more than four months now.

Kalk Bay is only 29km/18 miles from Cape Town and is a suburb on the coast of False Bay. It is known as a fishing village, and you cannot miss a visit to their quaint little harbour with several sea restaurants and fresh fish market.

Views from Boyes Drive:

But before we reach Kalk Bay itself, there is the scenic drive over Boyes Drive (a 7km/4-mile-long mountain road) from where one can see the vast Atlantic Ocean and False Bay, with views over Muizenberg and Kalk Bay. You can even see Gordon’s Bay and Cape Hangklip in the far distance.

View of Muizenberg from Boyes Drive

Muizenberg is one of the best surf spots in South Africa for beginners

Gordon’s Bay and Cape Hangklip in the distance

At one of the lookout points, you’ll see the shark spotters in action. They are equipped with binoculars and coastal watches to ensure the safety of swimmers while simultaneously monitoring shark movements. When a shark is spotted, a siren is heard and a flag is raised on the beach, indicating to water users to leave the water and only return when it is safe to do so.

Lookout point for shark spotter

View towards Simon’s Town

Tidal pool at Kalk Bay

Our first glimpse of the tiny Kalk Bay Harbour

The mountain range Cape Fold Belt (includes Simonsberg and Table Mountain) with Simon’s Town on the water’s edge

A kayaker and boat in False Bay

Closer look at Kalk Bay Harbour

Kalk Bay:

Finally, it was time to find parking in Kalk Bay. In the summer months, this can be quite a challenge, but fortunately not so for us this time because it’s still early spring.

We decided to walk over the train tracks to have a closer look at the small harbour before exploring the main street of Kalk Bay. The railway line from Cape Town to Simon’s Town passes Kalk Bay, with the station near the harbour.

Train tracks at Kalk Bay

Closer look at Kalk Bay harbour

The colourful architecture is beautiful and Main Road in Kalk Bay is a bustling area lined with shops, restaurants and coffee spots. It’s no wonder that Forbes Magazine named Kalk Bay as one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world in 2018.

Main Road in Kalk Bay

Flowers and fruit for sale in front of a lovely shop

The Majestic (luxury self-catering apartments)

We don’t easily let an opportunity pass by to quickly pop into an antiques shop. We remember, from our previous visits to Kalk Bay, that the Kalk Bay Trading Post a wonderful place is to spend a bit of time.

Entrance of the Kalk Bay Trading Post

Collectables, glassware, retro signage and old books (and much more)

Do you remember these? Vintage pewter items and marbles

Tiled picture outside the shop – this looks like Jan van Riebeeck and his wife, Maria de la Queillerie who arrived in Cape Town from Europe by ship in 1652

After our visit to the antiques shop, we slowly walked down Main Road. If you want to look in at every shop, you probably need a whole day just to do that. Today however, we enjoyed just taking photos of all the beautiful buildings – being outside on a warm spring day was more than welcome after the cold and wet winter we had.

Two shops next to each other

Anglican Church – 151 years of ministry since its establishment in 1874

With Main Road running along the Atlantic Ocean, the views of the sea are just as beautiful as those of the old buildings.

Another kayaker enjoying the warm spring day

There were even swimmers in the tidal pool

Lovely house in Kalk Bay

St James:

We decided to follow Main Road for a little longer until we reached St James. This is another seaside village located next to Kalk Bay. We stopped in front of the small Catholic Church of St James. This church was constructed in 1901 and it’s lovely to see how beautifully it blends in with the mountains in the background.

Catholic Church in St James

Back to Kalk Bay:

We turned around and walked back to Kalk Bay. It was time for a cup of coffee (and perhaps something sweet on the side). On the way, we still saw a few interesting things that we had missed on our earlier walk.

A shredded shark flag

Interesting alleyway

Maybe a beaded Mickey Mouse?

Spot the surfer against an old garage door

Wood carvings against a wall

We finally found a café with a free table and rested for half an hour, enjoying hot coffee and tea while sharing a delicious slice of carrot cake between us.

Delicious carrot cake

It was now time to walk to the charming harbour of Kalk Bay. On the way, we saw colourful flowers all along the pavement – spring is definitely here!

Wild spring flowers

Kalk Bay harbour:

The construction of the harbour began in 1913, and the project was largely completed by 1918, resulting in an 8-acre basin with a breakwater, fish-landing quay and a slipway.

Fishing boats at the Kalk Bay harbour

Fishing boats

The harbour still hosts an active fishing industry; however, it has now also become a popular tourist attraction.

Snoek (a popular fish on the West Coast) drying in the sun at the fresh fish market

Locals catching fish on the jetty

Colourful fishing boat

Fishing boats with Kalk Bay in the background

Although the small Kalk Bay Breakwater Head Lighthouse is not officially listed as a South African lighthouse, it’s still worth a visit where it’s situated at the tip of the bustling pier. This beacon was established in 1919 to safely light the path of sailors at sea.

Kalk Bay Breakwater Head Lighthouse

We saw a big seal basking in the sun on one of the tyres against the harbour wall. It paid little attention to everyone who walked past while taking photos – just another lazy day in Kalk Bay harbour.

Seal enjoying the sun

As usual at these small harbours and where tourists wander, there were also locals displaying their artwork. I’m always amazed at how creative people can be.

Artwork made from cold drink- and beer cans

Beautiful paintings

Of course, we couldn’t leave Kalk Bay harbour without enjoying lunch at one of their restaurants. There are quite a few options here, and although we always enjoy eating fish and chips wrapped in paper on the rocks by the sea, this time we chose a bit more of an upmarket restaurant.

Harbour House Restaurant, Kalk Bay:

This restaurant is located in the heart of the old working fishing harbour and offers fine dining with amazing views over the ocean through their big windows.

Entrance to the Harbour House Restaurant

View of the ocean when you take the stairs to the restaurant

It feels as if the restaurant is floating on the sea

Our lunch view

The tables are beautifully decorated with fresh Cape fynbos flowers

We received complimentary freshly baked bread rolls that could be dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Berto decided on a starter (Fried Calamari), while I indulged in the fresh rolls.

Freshly baked bread rolls and Fried Calamari

For the main course, the waiter recommended the line fish paired with a Chardonnay sauce. There were a few choices of fish, and we decided on Cob. It was one of the most delicious fish dishes we had enjoyed in a very long time.

Cob paired with a Chardonnay sauce

All that was left was to try and decide what to choose for dessert (that carrot cake from earlier was of course completely forgotten). I could hardly look past the Crème Brûlée and Berto went for the more modest Lemon Sorbet.

Ending with dessert

We spent a lovely day in the charming fishing village of Kalk Bay. With one last look over the Kalk Bay harbour, we happily walked back to where our vehicle was parked. It’s good to be back in Cape Town and Kalk Bay was the perfect place to celebrate our return to the Western Cape Province.

Kalk Bay Harbour

A couple of weeks later we visited the beautiful Simon’s Town (which is mentioned a few times in this post). If you want to read about our weekend in Simon’s Town, click here.