Cape Town Kite Spots

The kitesurfing beaches around Cape Town are among the most spectacular you’ll find anywhere, and enjoy some of the most consistent wind in the world. The unique coastline around Cape Town has beaches that face every compass direction. Whatever you level of riding, one of these Ca[e Town kite spots will be perfect for you.

To help you understand which kite spot will best match your level of riding experience we’ve provided a spot by spot breakdown. We’ve also  and split the spots into Northern Peninsula, Southern Peninsula and Langebaan Beaches.

Southern Peninsula beaches provide some amazing kitesurfing opportunities, but can be riskier. This means they are usually more suited to experienced riders.

Northern Peninsula beaches are also amazing and are generally more forgiving. This means they’re usually better suited to less experienced riders.

Langebaan beaches are ideal for beginners, and for more experienced riders looking for flat water to practice on.

There are exceptions to this rule of thumb, but it’s a good starting point to bear in mind if you’re going to kitesurf in Cape Town.

Langebaan is a favorite kite spot for kitesurfers of all levels. Beginners, intermediate and advanced riders all enjoy the flat water, friendly conditions and shallow warm water lagoons. This combination of favourable conditions makes Langebaan an ideal place to kite for almost everyone.

The two home spots of Main Beach and Shark Bay boast smooth thermal and venturi winds from September to May. High season runs from November to April.

Main Beach is in the heart of the Langebaan and only a stone’s throw away from the local restaurants and shops.

There is a rescue boat service here, which is needed because the current here can moderate to strong and the water becomes deep 5-10 meters from the shoreline. However, when the current opposes the wind, this can work to the advantage of the novice kitesurfer. The opposed forces can keep you in an upwind position in the water, which means less time walking and more time on the board and riding.

There is usually plenty of parking here, however in high season you may have to search closer to the town for a parking spot.

Shark Bay combines smooth wind with a picturesque setting. Its shallow, warm turquoise waters have no hidden dangers and this makes it an ideal beginners kitesurfing spot.

Your instructor can stand beside you in the shallows as you practice your board starts and riding in waist high waters hundreds of meters from the shoreline. This helps speed up your progression, as you have more hands-on time with your instructor. Shark Bay is only 10 minutes’ drive from Main Beach and there is plenty of parking here. If the parking lot is full just park on the side of the road.

We think it’s the best spot in Cape Town to improve your kitesurfing skills.

Kitesurfing beaches on the Northern Peninsula: These are some of the most popular kite spots in Cape Town and enjoy a side shore South East wind in the summer.

Big Bay gets a side shore south easterly wind, but it can be a little gusty here due to the wind coming over the point to the east of the bay. It generally gets lighter winds than Dolphin or Sunset Beach.

On the plus side, if you ride over to the north side of the rocks you will find some nice small to medium size left and right hand waves. There are some chilled out little bars here for an after session drink and great views overlooking Table Mountain.

Sunset beach enjoys strong south east winds and is without doubt the most consistently windy spot in Cape Town. An international and local crowd of kite and windsurfers can always be found chilling out here.

That means it’s a great place to kitesurf and meet kitesurfers. You’ll have a blast on the board and meet cool new people from all over the world.

What else do you need to know?

Dolphin Beach is known to the locals as kite beach. This should give you a clue that it boasts a world class venue for both waves and wind.

As the name suggests, this beach does get very busy with riders showing off their newest moves. This can make it tricky for beginners, but the beach is quite long so you can usually move downwind and find your own space.

It’s better for beginners to launch from a downwind location, so if there is a problem you don’t drift down through the busy zone where everybody is busting out big jumps.

Kitesurfing beaches on the South Peninsula – Winds South East. These beaches are truly spectacular with stunning views, both offering some good surf and incredible kitesurfing depending on your level.

Witsands is a fantastic beach for riders of all levels and skills.

Witsands is situated a little south of the well known surf beach, Long Beach. The big advantage of this spot is that the south easterly wind is side shore so you end up back on the beach if there is a problem.

For hard core big wave riders the CrayFish Factory out on the point is an option too.

If wave riding is your thing then inside Cape Point nature reserve, you will find the awesome kite spot of Plaboom. A relatively small isolated beach with rocks and fine sand.

This kite spot is for advanced kiters only, because not only with the rocks, but as the name might suggest, if you get into difficulty here you will more than likely find yourself getting ‘Pla’-boom-ed’ with over head to 5 + meter waves. The waves here are both big and clean breaking.

With SE wind direction, or other wise known as aka “The Cape Doctor, the spot can be a little gusty as the wind comes over the head land. However when coming from the S to SE, being side shore it is much more smooth.

Scarborough is next to the Cape Point Nature Reserve and is an amazing kite spot.

The wind here can be gusty at times but that’s a small price to pay for some fantastic wave riding opportunities with a left hand point.

Misty Cliffs is as beautiful a setting as the name implies, set under imposing cliffs that drop off into the Atlantic Ocean.

The beautiful backdrop makes it an inspiring spot to but the waves make it challenging.

This spot is ideal for confident kitesurfers and experienced wave riders.

Cape Point (The Cape of Good Hope)

People from all over the world have heard of the name Cape of Good Hope and this is for good reason. It’s the meeting point of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and is definitely worth a visit.

There are many different spectacular beaches to kite from depending on the wind direction and conditions.

We would like to stress this is only a suitable location for experience kiters.