Visiting the Penguin Colony at Boulders Beach
Are penguins the cutest animals or what? The African penguin colony at Boulders Beach is a must-see for anyone visiting Cape Town.
The Basics
- Open between 7am-5pm
- R42 for SA residents or R170 for international visitor; keep your ticket for both entry sites
- Pay-what-you-want parking is available here. I paid R20 mostly because I assumed that was the cost… only as I gave the money the attendant said I can pay what I feel like. Still cheap for tourist site parking
- We spent 10 minutes on the first 2 walkways and then spent 40 min at the beach figuring out how we can get close to a penguin
- 40 minutes drive from Cape Town; also accessible via Uber
When to Visit the Penguin Colony at Boulders Beach
From my own googling, the late afternoon is the best time to visit the penguins because there are fewer tourists. However, we visited around 3pm and there were still many people around and the beach was practically full. The beach started to lose some crowds around 4:30pm, just as the park closes at 5pm.
Penguin Viewpoints
There are three sites within the Penguin Colony at Boulders Beach. The first two are boardwalks right by the entrance. The boardwalk straight ahead of the entrance is the most crowded but has the most nesting penguins right by the boardwalk, so you have a super close view of them.
Boardwalk straight ahead of the entrace
The boardwalk to the right of the entrance has fewer people.
Boardwalk to the right of the entrance
The third walkway (to the beach) starts after you exit the preservation area. Instead of going back to your car, take a left and follow the walkway through the mini forest. You’ll pass some of the plastic penguin homes as you walk.
In a minute or two, you’ll come across a preservation area on your left. You’ll need to show your ticket to enter the beach area. There are changing rooms and bathrooms.
At the beach, you can (attempt to) take pics with the penguins that get close enough to people or walk/jump/swim among the boulders to get a good view. To be honest, I am not sure how people on Instagram are getting their boulder pictures with penguins unless they are jumping this fence by the beach.
Most of the penguins are close to the right side of the beach once you get down the stairs.
As usual, the water was cold, but we got in a bit to get close to this chillin’ penguin.
Besides hanging out with penguins, you can lounge on the boulders.
What else can you do at Boulders Beach?
Shopping— There are some street stalls selling African souvenirs that you’ll pass after you park.
Check out the town—Simon’s Town looks really cute. You can walk up and down the main street and check out the waterfront.
Visit the Cape of Good Hope— If you visit the penguins in the morning, then you can head to the Cape of Good Hope for a bike, beach day, or drive. Be sure to save at least 3 hours for this national park.
Make stops on your way back to Cape Town—My siblings and I stopped in Kalk Bay on the way back to Cape Town to see the harbor (and the fun seals!) and walk the town. Then we continued to see the St. James Tidal pool and then stopped for just a minute to see the Muizenberg Fishing Huts.
Hi from me and the sibs!
What did you think of Visiting the Penguins at Boulders Beach? Let me know in the comments.