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Swakopmund Town: A Coastal Getaway In Namibia

After staying in Windhoek, Swakopmund was an entirely different experience. Located 3 hours away on the Atlantic coast, it is a warm, humid, friendly little coastal town where many middle and upper class Namibians and tourists come for a break from the heat.

Where To Stay

We stayed at A La Mer, a very nice, locally run hotel near the main pier. We mailed some postcards from here (which arrived in Europe and the United States in under two weeks), had a nice view from the rooftop of the beach and the town, and stayed in a small but nicely furnished room with an amazing hot shower. Breakfast was provided and was a nice, full buffet. There are also several AirBnB’s and smaller hotels to stay at. Location doesn’t matter too much because the town is quite small and walkable.

Booking.com

Where To Eat

Namibia is known for its steak, so we tried out the Brewer & Butcher near the main beach. It had a brewery and a large indoor seating area. The steak was ok, but not as tasty or tender as others we have had. Normally, you can also have a beer tasting, but as we were there on a Sunday they could only serve alcohol to hotel customers from the Strand Hotel. Sadly, we don’t know how their beer tastes!

We also tried out the Tug Restaurant, a quaint seaside converted tugboat that is now a seafood restaurant. We had the best grilled calamari I have ever tasted here. It was tender, not chewy, and deliciously flavorful.

What To Do In Swakopmund

For some reason, Swakopmund is full of guinea fowl. If you are a fan you will find them everywhere. We believe that people feed them because they acted quite tame and would walk towards us when they saw us. In other countries, we have found guinea fowl quite shy, so this was a change for us!

There is also a public beach next to the Strand Hotel. There were quite a few people swimming, too. The water was cold, but not too bad once you’re in. Along the beach is a long path made just for walking or jogging. We went for an early morning run and really enjoyed running next to the ocean. There were quite a few people out exercising, too.

Running path along the Swakopmund beach

If you are into local markets, there is also a small one near the Strand Hotel. After living in East Africa for so long, we didn’t see anything very unique.

As a strange point of interest, there is a statue near the parliament and lighthouse celebrating the genocide of local people by Germans before WWII. The statue was defaced at one point in red paint, however, it is still standing and no one has protested enough for it to come down.

The town itself is very cute and full of German inspired architecture. Most buildings are quite colorful and it’s worth a stroll through the streets just to look at the architecture.

Another close by point of interest is Walvis Bay. A 30 minute drive south, it’s here that you can find sand dunes that extend down to the Atlantic Ocean. Our friends told us that pre-Covid and during non-curfew times, it’s a nice place to sit on a dune and have a sundowner. You can also rent quad bikes and have some fun driving around in the dunes. We do not recommend doing this in your rental car! Walvis Bay itself is not an attractive town, and we ended up driving through without stopping.

We can understand why many people from Windhoek enjoy spending their holidays in Swakopmund. It is a quiet coastal town with great food and opportunities to swim and do a lot of outdoor sports. It is also a must-see if you are doing a road trip of central or southern Namibia. We felt the town itself was not very local, however, and was full of Germans on holiday or white Namibians. If you are looking for a more local scene, it’s best to look elsewhere.