Boulders Beach and its penguins
A colony of African penguins settled on a white sand beach, three metres from the boardwalks.
Duration
1 hr – 1 hr 30 min
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
176 ZAR
The colony settled here on its own in 1982, with two pairs from a nearby island, and it now numbers several thousand birds. The African penguin is endangered, and the beach is part of Table Mountain National Park.
You do not walk among them: three wooden boardwalks run above the sand and the scrub where they nest, a few metres away. Neighbouring Seaforth beach is for swimming, and the penguins sometimes come through.
Getting there
At Simon's Town, forty-five minutes from central Cape Town along the coast. The Metrorail train serves Simon's Town, then twenty minutes on foot.
What the price covers
international visitor entry
What to bring
- Swimsuit
Rules on site
A penguin bites hard and goes for fingers and ankles: do not crouch to their level and do not touch them. The Boulders car park is regularly hit by smash-and-grab thefts.
Checked on 28 August 2026 at SkySonar — honest Cape Town guide 2026
Other places in Cape Town
Table Mountain, by cable carA thousand-metre plateau above the city, and a cabin that rotates on the way up.
Robben IslandThe cell where Mandela spent eighteen years, visited with former prisoners as guides.Kirstenbosch Botanical GardenFive hundred hectares of Cape flora at the foot of the mountain, with a walkway slung through the canopy.
Lion's Head at sunsetA spiral around the peak, a few ladders and chains near the top, and the whole city lighting up below.