Scarborough Beach, Cape Town

Scarborough is where the peninsula runs out of city. Near the southern tip, not far from Cape Point, a tiny bohemian village of artists and surfers sits above a wide, wild beach of soft white sand, backed by fynbos and granite with the open Atlantic rolling in. There is no resort and no crowd, just big southern skies, the smell of the sea and the fynbos, and a sense of being at the edge of things.

The village has long drawn people who want to live lightly and close to nature, and that easy, off grid spirit carries down onto the sand. Surfers work the breaks, walkers cross the wide beach below the dunes, and the whole stretch sits within the Cape of Good Hope section of the Table Mountain National Park, so the wildness is protected. A cafe or two in the village handles the coffee and lunch; the beach itself stays bare.

The honest read is the same as for the Cape's other wild beaches. The water is cold exposed Atlantic with surf and strong currents, lifeguard cover is thin, and you are a long way from the city if anything goes wrong, so swimming demands real caution. The wind can sweep this open coast hard. Come for the remoteness, the surf and the walk under huge skies near Cape Point, time it for a still late summer day, and Scarborough gives you the wildest beach mood within reach of Cape Town.