Simons Town -
is this little village worth a visit or what?

Simons Town is still a small seaside village in the best sense of the phrase.

It's a bit quirky, too – where else in the world would you find a café named "the Bishop and the Lama" situated next to a building labelled Sartorial House!? and I've always found the locals are really friendly.

-- Search HERE to find Simonstown accommodation online --

It's impossible to visit Simons Town and not be reminded of its naval and colonial past. Anchors and cannons abound, as do Victorian broekie-lace and Cape Dutch gables!

If you're interested in history then the Naval Museum is a good stop for you, as is the Simons Town Museum. Slightly lighter-hearted is the Warrior Toy Museum and Collector’s Shop. All of these are easily spotted along Main Road.

Once the alleyways and crumbling old houses cease to enchant, you can always head down for a day on the beach at Boulders Simonstown!

Who was Simon anyway?

Simons Town is named for Simon van der Stel, the first Governor of the Cape Colony, original owner of Groot Constantia and founder of Stellenbosch. (Sheesh, the man got around!)

The village was established as the winter harbour for the ships of the Colony, to avoid having them battered by winter gales in Table Bay. At that time - way back in the 1690's - it took about 2 weeks to get from Cape Town to Simonstown!

Overland access was so tricky that the village didn’t really develop until the early 1800’s during the second British occupation. At that time the Royal Navy took over and based its officials at Admiralty House, which had been a private residence up to then.

The Navy base was important in both the First and Second World Wars, and defence positions were established on the mountains above the town. These old cannons are still in place today above Battery Beach (about 1km before you reach the station)

The railway line is precariously positioned just metres above the waves' edge and offers views that are literally good enough for royalty. Why do I say that, you wonder? Well, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 21st birthday while in South Africa in 1947 and part of her tour was this train ride offering a spectacular view!

A train ride through from Muizenberg is inexpensive and lots of fun for a family. We've done it and I recommend it. It's a pretty good stretch of track as far as personal safety goes, but leave your valuables behind anyway! oh, and don't expect Royal service from Metrorail these days!

Things to see and do

Our favourite food place is the Quarterdeck Coffee Shop in Jubilee Square. With a view like this you can see why!

False Bay is home to the world's largest concentration of Great White Sharks, and from May to November large numbers of Southern Right Whales visit the bay to calve. That means this is a great base for whale watching and shark watching. We did a boat trip to Seal Island with Simonstown Boat Company -- great! Personal service and a LOT of seals :-). Way better than the bigger more commercial operation from Hout Bay.

A visit to the penguins at Boulders is not to be missed, and visiting them by kayak from the harbour could end up being the highlight of your visit.

As far as scuba diving goes, Simons Town is home to the Shipwreck Route. It's a good place to get underwater, so what are you waiting for?!

We haven’t dived with them yet, but Pisces Divers at Glencairn look like they are on top of their game and they run childrens dive courses, too last time I checked.

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