Regulus K This blog post aims to offer you a precise location to swim with penguins at Boulder Beach with a full review based on my personal experience.
To be specific, it is the Middle Beach & 1st Beach located next to Boulder Beach that you can swim with the Cape Town penguins hassle-free. You will have to enter Boulder Beach and walk there (which takes 3 minutes). That’s why many people mix up the exact location and even harder for one-timer visitors or tourists like me and you to find.
On average, there are around 20 to 30 penguins there daily. This is due to the fact that Middle Beach is located on the right (East side) of Foxy Beach the restricted reserved area for South African penguins.
Thus, you will probably see some penguins chilling around Middle Beach and 1st Beach daily. In short, you can swim with penguins not exactly at Boulders Beach, but at the Middle Beach and 1st Beach nearby.
Swimming with penguins and tasting game meats are not frequently mentioned but shall fit well in your overall Cape Town itinerary.
Now let’s start with the exact way to get to the precise location.
Table Mountain National Park – Boulders Area Full Map
The Boulders Area consists of four main beaches including “Foxy Beach”, “Middle Beach”, “1st Beach” and “Boulders Beach”. As you can see from the below full map for the whole area, there are two ticket booths. One located at the visitor center (“the you are here point in the below image) and the one located at Boulders Beach. The map also has an opening town each month.
Suppose you go to the area by car, on a day trip or from Simon Town. You are likely to start from the Visitor Center.
From Boulders Visitor Center to Willis Walk to Boulders Beach
The booth at the visitor center gives you access to the viewpoints of Foxy Beach via Boardwalks. However, you can only watch the penguins from a far point, because it is a reserved area.
So to swim with them, you should head right through the Willis Walk. There you will see some Cape Town Rodents (Rock Hyrax or Dassie) and penguins in the bushes on both sides. Walking from around 8 minutes, you will locate the booth for the entrance of Boulders Beach.
As we detailed in our Boulders Beach review, both booths are selling the same entrance ticket at the same price. You will need to retain the ticket to get access to the Boardwalks of Foxy Beach if you buy the ticket from the Boulders Beachside.
The queue at Boulders Beach is usually less crowded regardless of time.
From Boulders Beach to 1st Beach & Middle Beach
From Boulders Beach, you then turn left walking for 3 minutes or so. You will see a little tunnel in between two big rocks. Crawling through it, you will see a big stone in front with an accessible path to climb through. After climbing through, you arrive at the “1st Beach”. If you go there in the early morning, you will probably see some penguins chilling around having fun and doing their own things. Walking along the beach will also reach Middle Beach with more penguins there.
I even see a pair of penguins mating in front of us. Indeed, the penguins there are so used to people around.
Best time to swim with penguins
The best time to swim with Cape Town penguins is in the early morning. That means you will need to arrive at the Boulders Beach booth at 8 am or 7 am during Dec – Jan.
This is the time with the lowest tide and easy to get to 1st Beach and Middle Beach from Boulders Beach. Remember the tide would be in general higher after 3 pm, making both beaches not accessible. You can check low tide and high tide time for Boulders Beach here.
Getting there early also gives you exclusive time to be and swim with the penguins there. They are also more active in the morning than at noon. There are always penguins at 1st and Middle Beach, sometimes even Boulders Beach. However, the quantity would decrease when there are more tourists.
So the best time is the earliest time you can get there.
The best month to swim with penguins
The best months to swim with penguins in Cape Town are from January to March when the water is warm and not too windy.
December is also acceptable but the wind would make you feel cold. April to November is the coldest, getting into the water is hard there.
Other ways to play with penguins
Other than swimming with penguins. You can also take a lot of close-distance photos with penguins there. You can even sleep aside with them, but be careful not to get too close as they may bite you. As long as you find the exact location for Boulders Beach penguins and go there early, you have plenty of time to enjoy the beach with fellow penguins.
Rules to be with penguins
The rules for being with penguins are more or less common sense. First, you should not touch the penguin, as they will bite you. Second, you should not feed them. Third, you should not scare or attack them. Noting that dogs are not allowed to get into Boulders Beach to protect the penguins.
There are also rangers standing at the slope of Middle Beach for monitoring.
Boulders Beach Penguin Shop
For other information on Boulders Beach, feel free to check out our tips for Boulders Beach which includes ticket prices and also features in Foxy Beach. Also, remember there is a Boulders Beach penguin shop near the visitor center for souvenirs.
