Big Bay, Blaauwberg

A little further north up the West Coast than Milnerton, and set in a bay of its own on the west side of Bloubergstrand (blue beach mountain), Big Bay is but twenty minutes from the centre of Cape Town, yet close enough to Melkbosstrand to call itself the start of the Cape West Coast. It's a fiendishly popular spot for surfing, wind surfing and kite surfing with a beach that offers those typical, can't-get-enough-of views over Table Mountain and Robben Island.

This whole beach area falls within a Marine Nature Reserve and is renowned for diving delicacies like Cape rock lobster, and perlemoen or abalone (although catching the latter is a no-no). Whilst all of this draws one to the beaches, there is another major attraction for others just off the shore in the form of Big Bay's Eden on the Bay - a new 'mixed development' in the form of shops, restaurants and a series of residential and office space interspersed with pedestrian walkways, open spaces, courtyards and nothing between the development and the sea, other than the beach.

And Big Bay is rather 'famous' for having Blue Flag status, which was then revoked by the City whilst they sort out certain groundwater management problems, but that's another story.

Whilst this part of the coastline might once have been the site of little rowing boats casting their nets for mullet, today it's a modern metropolis that fairly hums over weekends, and is a fantastic place for those in Cape Town who want to live with 'that view'. There are downsides, believe it or not. Big Bay can be rather unpleasant when the wind escalates a couple of notches, and when it's busy here, it's busy.

But spend a tranquil sunset on the white sands, and you'll remember why it is that you love Cape Town.