5 Scenic Walks and Runs Around the Atlantic Seaboard

Few places stitch mountain and sea together quite like Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard. Here, granite sentinels rise from foam-flecked water, fynbos perfumes the breeze, and the light does that golden, painterly thing South Africans know and love.

Lace up, pack a bit of padkos, and let’s wander.

1) Sea Point Promenade

This is the Mother City’s open-air lounge, a paved ribbon gliding from Green Point to Clifton, flanked by sculptural waves on one side and lively lawns on the other. It’s flat, friendly, and fabulously social, perfect for walkers, runners, prams, and bicycles.

Expect gulls wheeling, kids chasing bubbles, and the Atlantic throwing diamonds at the horizon. Come at sunrise for pastel skies or at sunset when the whole place blushes.

2) Lion’s Head Summit Trail

A short, punchy climb with a big-city grin at the top. The trail spirals up Lion’s Head, gifting you ever-widening views: Table Mountain’s sheer cliffs, the City Bowl’s neat geometry, and the ocean yawning into forever.

It’s popular, and for good reason; the 360-degree summit panorama is a postcard that refuses to end. Take water, proper shoes, and a touch of patience on busier days; the payoff is a feeling that you’ve sipped the city from its rim.

3) Camps Bay Beach Walk

Powdery sand, palm-lined boulevard, and the Twelve Apostles looming like a royal procession...

...Camps Bay is pure theatre. Jog the firm shoreline where waves gloss your ankles, or amble between tide marks collecting sea-smooth pebbles.

Post-run, refuel at a café with a flat white or a stack of slap chips, and watch the light slide down the mountain faces. On windless evenings, the sea goes mirror-still and the whole bay hums with weekend energy.

4) The Pipe Track

A grand old path with a utilitarian past, the Pipe Track traces the base of the Apostles, hugging contour lines and serving up Atlantic tableaux at every bend. It’s relatively gentle (undulating rather than punishing), making it ideal for an unhurried run or a contemplative walk.

Proteas nod from the slopes, dassies sun themselves like small, furry emperors, and the ocean keeps you honest with great breaths of salt.

5) Porcupine Ravine

Start on the Pipe Track from Theresa Avenue in Camps Bay and aim for that pale, zig-zagging seam left of centre, the ravine that claws straight up the Apostles.

This is a proper graft: steep, hands-on scrambling over rock, with moments that will poke at anyone’s vertigo. Go only if you’re fit, properly kitted, and carrying food, water, and a warm layer. The grind is worth it, since the views from the top feel like a secret kept just for the brave!

Round off your wander with a soft landing at newkings boutique hotel in Sea Point; your chic perch between mountain and sea. From here, the Promenade is a casual stroll away, Lion’s Head glows at dusk outside your window, and Camps Bay cafés beckon just down the coast.

Slip into crisp linens, rinse off the salt and dust, then saunter out for sundowners before drifting back to a room that feels like a secret.

Book in, breathe out, and let newkings be your home base for every golden kilometre!