Things to do
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Cape Cross
Short and level, a 200 m boardwalk takes you within a few metres of wild Cape fur seals in the world's largest breeding colony of the species. No guide or vehicle stands between you and them, on an easy stop north of Henties Bay.
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Swakopmund Jetty
262 metres of iron and concrete carry you out past the breakers off Swakopmund, and from the end you watch the sun drop into the Atlantic with the town and the desert behind you.
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Swakopmund Lighthouse
The red and white tower you can see above the low roofs from most of Swakopmund is a working lighthouse, still guiding ships through the coastal fog. It is the easiest landmark in town to find, and a good place to start a walk.
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Welwitschia Drive
Follow a marked gravel route east of Swakopmund across lichen plains and the Moon Landscape. It ends at one of the largest welwitschias in Namibia, alone on the open gravel.
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Zeila Wreck
A condemned fishing trawler broke its tow on the way to be scrapped and grounded on a reef just off the beach south of the town, where it has stayed since. Cormorants use the hull now. It sits close enough to the road to photograph from the gravel, which is rare on this coast.
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Cape Cross Lodge
Thatch and whitewash on the shore a short way from the seal reserve, and the only lodging of its kind between the town and the park gate. Rooms face the water, the noise of the colony carries down on the wind, and the restaurant is the last proper meal before the salt road runs north.
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Dorob National Park
Book a morning tour into the dunes: the guides find chameleons, sidewinding adders and lizards that you would walk straight past. Sandboarding and quad-bike trips run here too, and all of them start within twenty minutes of town.
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Hohenzollern Building
Look up as you pass for Atlas carrying the globe on the roof, then carry on to Woermann House a few blocks away.
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Kristall Galerie
Come for the single giant quartz cluster at the centre, which is as large as a small car. An hour covers it, and the shop is optional.
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Living Desert Snake Park
Seeing a black mamba, a Cape cobra and a horned viper at close range, with only glass between you, is why you give this small Swakopmund reptile park an hour.
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Martin Luther
Stop on your way in or out of town on the Windhoek road, since it stands beside the highway. Ten minutes is enough to read the story and see the engine through the glass.
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Messum Crater
An eroded volcanic ring some twenty kilometres across lies inland on the gravel plains, part of the igneous province that also built the Etendeka. Welwitschias grow across the floor and stone circles left by earlier inhabitants sit among them. Travelling in two vehicles is the standard advice here, and there is no water.
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Moon Landscape
Time it for late afternoon, when the shadows fill the gullies and the ridges stand out. It lies on the Welwitschia Drive, so pick up the permit in town and do both in one trip.
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Strand Hotel
The promenade ends at this hotel, which occupies the Mole itself with water on three sides and the jetty in view from most of the rooms. Several restaurants and a bar open onto the seafront below it. The position is the reason to book it, and the sea fog is part of the deal.
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Swakopmund Museum
The Namib's minerals, its desert animals and a display on the Cape Cross seal colony all sit in one building on Swakopmund's seafront. Come on a fog day, and see the dioramas before you drive out to find the real seals.
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The Mole
Come here for a walk on the sand and the sunset rather than a swim. It is the closest beach to the old town and the most sheltered from the wind.
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Woermann House
Climb the tower for the only view over the whole town, the dunes on one side and the sea on the other. Ask at the library for access, and come on a weekday, when the top level is more likely to be open.
