Swakopmund

Namibia's main resort on the Atlantic coast, with around 45,000 people in the place where the Namib meets the cold ocean. Founded by German colonists in 1892, it remains the most German town in Africa: pastel 19th-century architecture, German cooking, German heard in the street after Afrikaans, and a Lutheran church. It is the ideal place to recover after a safari — a cool climate (20°C even in summer, thanks to the cold Benguela current), clean beaches, and adrenaline tours in the dunes next door.

Main sights

• The Swakopmund dunes — the Namib begins right at the edge of town. Sandboarding, standing or lying flat down 100-metre faces, costs $50-80, quad biking $60-100, and skydiving over the dunes $250-300.
• Walvis Bay — the neighbouring town 30 km away, with thousands of flamingos on the lagoon and boat trips out to the dolphins and seals at Pelican Point, $50-80.
• Sandwich Harbour — where the giant Namib dunes, some up to 100 m, run straight into the ocean; a 4×4 tour from Walvis Bay costs $100-130.
• Cape Cross Seal Reserve — the largest fur seal colony in the world, some 200,000 animals, 130 km to the north.
• The Marine Aquarium of Namibia — an ocean aquarium on the promenade.
• The Swakopmund Museum — the main local museum, covering the colonial period and mineralogy.
• The Mole — the old harbour breakwater of 1899.
• The Woermannhaus — the principal colonial building, from 1894, with a lookout tower.
• The Skeleton Coast — 200 km to the north, the legendary shore of shipwrecks and whale bones.
• Sossusvlei — the finest dunes in the Namib, five hours away (see its own page).
• Etosha — Namibia's main national park, six hours away.
• Damara Market — the ethnic market in Mondesa.

Food and prices

The cooking is mixed — German, African and South African: schweinshaxe, apfelstrudel, kapana (grilled street meat), oryx steak and Walvis Bay oysters. Lunch in a café is $10-18, dinner in a restaurant $25-50. Namibian beer (Windhoek Lager, Tafel) costs $2-3. A litre of petrol is $1, a taxi across town $4-10, and a 4×4 hire $80-130 a day. Prices are as of 2026.

Getting there and getting around

Walvis Bay airport (WVB), 35 km away, is served by Air Namibia and FlyAirlink from Cape Town and Johannesburg. Swakopmund airport (SWP) is small, with infrequent flights. From Windhoek it is 45 minutes by air ($200-300) or four hours by road (350 km on excellent tarmac; hiring a car is recommended for the country as a whole).

When to go

March to October is dry at 14-22°C and ideal — the coast is cooler than the interior because of the Benguela current. Summer (November to March) runs 18-25°C but brings frequent morning fog. The main event is Karneval in March, in the German tradition. Skeleton Coast tours are best from October to April.