Cape Jem nestles on the slopes of Elsie’s Peak and views over the Indian Ocean.

Whether you want a family holiday, a weekend getaway, or a honeymoon stay in Fish Hoek, this quiet little Cape Town village is the perfect retreat for locals and international travellers to South Africa. It has been frozen in time, hardly affected by the push for development that has altered much of the Cape’s coastline.

Drive through the main road of Fish Hoek and shops still delight with original character - interspersed with the odd second-hand furniture shop, and grocers and delis have not yet been nudged from the high street by corporate shopping centres. Fish Hoek Beach is one of the loveliest and safest beaches on the False Bay Coast.

Fish Hoek is an ideal family beach and its calm bay is almost guaranteed to provide good swimming, snorkeling along the rocks and a lot of sandy beach to make sand castles or on which to soak up the sun. Even the beach front coffee shop and restaurant seems imbibed with the local placidness and serves you as and when they see fit, but you don’t seem to mind as the views are so spectacular.

During whale watching season, whales and their offspring often cavort in these waters, whilst canoeists carefully circle to catch a close-up inspection.

The beach tends to be the stamping ground of retired pensioners and families, and the bay lies in the shadow of the Kalkbaaiberg and Elsie’s Peak headlands scattered with homes that offer wonderful views over the bay. Jager Walk is a favourite with Sunday strollers and runs along one arm of the beach.

Close to Fish Hoek is the beautiful village of Simon’s Town, and just beyond here is Boulders beach and one of the few land-based colonies of African penguins. Cape Town is only a 25-minute trip over Ou Kaapse Weg and on to the M3.