Just ten minutes by car from the city centre, stretched along the white beaches at the base of the western slopes of the Table Mountain range, are the highly coveted residential areas of Camps Bay, Fresnaye, Bantry Bay and Clifton.

With awe-inspiring views of the ocean from almost every property, the Atlantic Seaboard is the very embodiment of 'des-res', and boasts the highest real estate prices in Africa. Houses range from beach bungalows to vast villas around Camps Bay and Clifton, with seafront apartment blocks being the dominant architecture of Fresnaye and Bantry Bay.

Camps Bay's beach promenade is lined with cafs, bistros, discotheques and restaurants and is the place to be seen during the long summer months. Other than a respectable secondary school in Camps Bay, basic amenities are quite thin on the ground - but with the city lurking just over the crest of the hill, such trivialities hardly matter.