You will end up in JBay if you date a surfer – other than that – you probably won’t.
So if you do, make sure you stay somewhere comfy and in close proximity to Supertubes – the ultimate surf break apparently.
We stayed at African Perfection and it was just that – everything you need and almost spitting distance to Supertubes. Book a suite overlooking the surf break and you’ll be able to take pics of the surfers without even leaving your room – my idea of heaven ;) (hey surfers are up at 5:30am to catch waves – crazy!)
The beds are super comfy, linen is luxurious and rooms are serviced daily. There are self catering options, but we did the bed and breakfast option which is insane, as you have a buffett at breakfast, as well as cooked-to-order hot food options each day – most delicious omelette ever.
The beaches in JBay are covered in shells – thousands of them, so you can take a towel down, find a spot and sit and hunt for your favourites for hours literally just within a metre radius of your spot, without moving (starting to see a pattern here). There are always sea urchin shells to be found – these are my favourite!
So there’s the beach, surfing and shell collecting – what else? There’s food!
JBay has a small but awesome coffee/deli/cafe scene and you have to head to In Food, Nina’s, Love Food, The Greek or Kitchen Windows.
In Food is lovely – there’s one just off the main road as well as on the marina and both are great. The one on the marina is perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon where you’ll often find live music and it’s the perfect place to watch the sun go down. The one in town off Da Gama Road has a quaint courtyard to chill for a while. Both serve amazing coffee and heavenly cakes – lemon meringue to die for!
Nina’s is a very vibey family restaurant, funkily decorated with surfboards and surfing memorabilia and they serve good home cooked style meals – pretty reasonably priced too. Their calamari was excellent and there are good kids options.
If seafood is your game, head to The Greek Restaurant or Kitchen Windows. Both were excellent. The Greek Restaurant is off a side street in a small space with sliding doors, so not much ambience but the calamari and prawns were insane, so were the chicken wings. Whereas Kitchen Windows overlooks the beach so there’s a beautiful view and a massive lawn in front of it has a jumping castle to keep kids entertained for hours. The linefish there was pretty impressive, as was the calamari.
Love Food makes hands-down the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had, coffee and cakes are good too. There’s a pretty impressive Spar on the main road which has everything you’d need if you were in self-catering accommodation – they have a great deli/condiments section with so many cool sauces available – perfect for mezze/tapas style eating at home.
It’s not big on traditional shopping – there is a mall – not a great one – but it’s got a woolies/foods at least. But you have to head to the JBay Surf Village and visit Country Khaya for beautiful decor sourced from Bali and locally and the surf shops and factory shop outlets for amazing bargains. Both Billabong and RVCA have stores and factory shops there and the sales are phenomenal.
All in all, it’s a sleepy town, but sometimes you need that hey – recharge the batteries, no stress, where the most difficult decision of your day is where to have coffee ;)
I’ve been twice now and we’ll be going again this year for sure, definitely to African Perfection – those beds are heavenly…
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