Things to do in Muizenberg, Cape Town.

Surfers Corner is the middle of Muizenberg's beachfront, the point where Beach Road meets the sand and where a large share of Cape Town's first-ever surf lessons happen. From there the beach runs north-east in a long flat arc towards Strandfontein, wide enough at low tide to walk for an hour without turning around.

It is the beginner beach for reasons that are geographical rather than fashionable. The bottom is sand rather than reef, the gradient is shallow, and the waves arrive as slow rolling lines instead of a dumping shorebreak. False Bay water is usually a few degrees warmer than the Atlantic side of the peninsula too, which is what makes an hour in a wetsuit here bearable in a way it is not at Llandudno. Shark Spotters work this beach from the mountain above it, and the flag system is worth reading before you go in.

Surf schools and board hire cluster along the Beach Road strip, close enough together that comparing them is a matter of walking past. For what the sea is actually doing today — wave height, swell, wind and water temperature — read the live Muizenberg webcam and surf report rather than any guide, this one included. We are two minutes inland at 11 York Road.

The row of painted wooden huts on the sand near Surfers Corner is the picture that sells Muizenberg, and it is the reason a lot of people search for the place at all. They stand in a line facing the water, each one a flat block of primary colour against pale sand, which is why they photograph well in almost any weather. Further along the coast at St James there is a second and older set — the Victorian bathing boxes on the small sheltered beach beside the tidal pool. The two get confused constantly. They are about twenty minutes apart on foot.

Between them runs the catwalk: a paved coastal path laid above the rocks, railway line on the inland side, False Bay on the other. It is flat the whole way and takes roughly twenty to twenty-five minutes one way at an unhurried pace, which makes it the best free thing to do in the suburb. There are benches every few hundred metres, southern right whales pass through the bay in the winter and spring months, and the Metro trains go by close enough to wave at. For which hut is which, where the light works and where to leave a car, read the full guide to the Muizenberg beach huts.

The coast between Muizenberg and Kalk Bay carries a chain of man-made tidal pools, and they are the calm-water answer to a beach that is mostly about surf. St James is the best known and the easiest to find, sitting directly below the bathing boxes at the far end of the catwalk. Dalebrook is a few hundred metres further on and quieter, and is where the regular swimmers go. The Kalk Bay pool sits close to the harbour, and Woolley's — the quietest of them — is a little further on again, towards Clovelly.

All of them are governed by the tide rather than the clock. At high tide the sea washes over the walls and the pools effectively merge with the bay, which is exciting and not much use to a four-year-old. At low tide they sit shallow, clear and noticeably warmer, and that is when to bring small children. Aim for a falling tide, check a tide table before you leave, and read the St James tidal pool guide for depths and walking directions, or the surf report for what the swell is doing.

The Blue Bird Garage is the market people mean when they say the Muizenberg market. It is a food and goods market housed in the old airmail hangar, a working piece of aviation history turned over to traders, and it draws people from across the southern suburbs. Smaller craft and flea markets run in the village and along the beachfront through the year. Market days and seasons here have changed more than once, so check the organiser's own page for current days and times rather than trusting any guide to them.

The village itself is the handful of blocks around Palmer Road and York Road: independent shops, surf shops, a couple of galleries and a run of cafes, all of it flat, all of it within a five-minute walk of Muizenberg station. It is small enough that wandering works better than a plan. If you want the eating end of it laid out properly, the guide to where to eat in Muizenberg covers it.

The stretch of Main Road running along the seafront is known as the Historic Mile, and it is what separates Muizenberg from every other pretty beach on the peninsula. Three buildings on it are open to visitors in one form or another, and all three are close enough to the station to see in a morning.

Opening days along the Historic Mile move with the season. Check with each venue directly before you plan a morning around one.

This is guidance rather than a schedule, and it uses only the things named above. Everything in it is walkable from one arrival point, so the order matters more than the timing. Park or step off the train once, and let the tide decide the middle of the day.

Stretch it over a full day by adding one of the Main Road buildings before lunch. For parking, train times and the drive from the city, read getting to Muizenberg; for the meal stops along the way, where to eat in Muizenberg.

Transport, parking and the safest way to arrive are covered properly on the getting to Muizenberg page rather than repeated here.