Things to Do in Blythedale Beach: A Local's Day Plan

There is a three-kilometre run of open sand on the KZN North Coast where the swimming is netted and guarded in the middle and wild at both ends, where a river mouth pulls in birds behind the dunes, and where the busiest the village gets is a Sunday market with quad bikes running through the sugar cane behind it. The best things to do in Blythedale Beach nearly all start at that beach and work outward from there. It is a small, low-key holiday village about 72km north of Durban, and it trades on space and quiet rather than a strip of attractions. Here is how to fill a day.

Swim and sun on the main beach

The beach is the reason people come. It runs roughly 3km, from the Umvoti lagoon in the south to the Mdlotana lagoon below Princes Grant in the north, so there is always a quieter patch when the middle fills up. The central stretch is the one to swim: it has lifeguards in season and sits inside the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board's net-and-drumline protection, the same programme that covers Zinkwazi, Salt Rock and Ballito up and down this coast. Because this is the warm Indian Ocean, you can swim most of the year without a wetsuit. Two honest caveats a local would give you: the nets are not a solid barrier, and they come out of the water for a stretch during the winter sardine run, so treat the flags and the lifeguards' calls as the real guide on any given day. Keep small children to the guarded middle, because the pull near the river mouth is strong, and it is worth reading up on where it is safe to swim at Blythedale before you pick a spot.

Ride the quad trail through the cane

The one proper adventure activity in the village runs out of the Blythedale Event Bowl, the outdoor venue tucked behind the dunes at the end of a dirt road. The bikes are fully automatic and the guides take complete beginners, so no experience is needed. Children too young to drive ride along as passengers. The guided loop climbs over sugar-cane hills, ducks into indigenous coastal forest with ocean views, and drops down to the beach. There is a short 5km option and a longer 10km one, and a three-hour outride with a beach picnic if you want to make a morning of it. Booking ahead is essential; the trail runs on demand, and there is no walk-up counter at the gate.

The quad operation books through Ballito Quad Bikes, which despite the name runs its trail here at Blythedale, a 20-minute drive up the N2 north of Ballito.

Watch the birds at the Umvoti river mouth

At the southern end of the beach the Umvoti River meets the sea in a small conservancy, and it is the best quiet-hour spot in the village. The estuary and the coastal forest behind it pull in a lot of birdlife, and early morning or late afternoon is the time to walk down with binoculars. Watch the sand at the tideline too: ghost crabs bolt out of their burrows between the tides to forage, and they are half the entertainment for younger walkers. It costs nothing, and it is the kind of thing that makes a beach village worth more than one day.

Ride a horse along the sand

Horse riding on the beach and through the forest behind it is a long-running Blythedale activity, and one of the few ways onto the wilder ends of the sand without walking them. Operators run on demand and change from season to season, so confirm locally before you plan a morning around it. Ask at your accommodation; in a village this size someone will know who is currently running rides.

Eat and drink on the sand

Sit-down options in the village are limited, which is worth knowing before you arrive, but the one that counts is right on the beach. Grumpy's Bush and Beach Restaurant does seafood and cold drinks at the Event Bowl, with direct beach access for a stroll after the meal. The catch is the hours: it opens on weekends and through school holidays rather than every day, so check ahead before you drive out for lunch. When you want more range, there is more on eating in and around Blythedale Beach, including the spots worth the short drive out.

Time your visit for the monthly market

On the first Sunday of most months the Event Bowl hosts the Blythedale Day Out, a food, drink and activities market that turns the venue into the busiest it gets. There are stalls, room for children to run, and Grumpy's is open alongside it. If your dates are flexible, a first-Sunday visit is the single easiest way to catch the village at its liveliest, with the quad trail and the market running together. The same forest tracks behind the Bowl host the Blythedale trail run when the coastal race series comes to town.

Fish or launch a ski-boat

Blythedale has a long history as a fishing beach. Shore anglers work the gullies along the sand, and the ski-boat crowd launches off the beach for the deeper water, where dolphins show up year-round and humpback whales pass through in winter, which the season-by-season guide to Blythedale weather times out for you. You need your own gear, and for the boats the right permits, but if fishing is your thing this is an uncomplicated place to do it. A South African recreational fishing licence is required for shore angling, so sort that out before you come.

Make a day trip to the neighbours

Because the village itself is small, most visitors pair it with the towns nearby. The King Shaka Memorial and the Luthuli Museum are both a short drive inland at Stanger, roughly 7km away, worth an hour or two for the Zulu history. Zinkwazi and its lagoon are about 13km north, and there is a full day's worth to do around Zinkwazi once you are there. South of the village, the shops and restaurants of Ballito are around 20km down the N2 when you want a busier afternoon. None of these is far, and they turn a beach stay into a fuller trip.

Where to stay while you explore

Most people base themselves within walking distance of the sand, and in Blythedale that is less a luxury than the whole arrangement. The village runs from self-catering villas to a small beach lodge and a guesthouse or two, and you can sort the full run of Blythedale Beach accommodation by how close to the water you want to be. Mini Villas sits directly on the beach for self-caterers, Fig Tree Manor offers hosted rooms a short walk back, and Palm Dune keeps you on the guarded central stretch. Wherever you land, the day tends to sort itself out: the beach takes the morning, the lagoon or the trail takes the afternoon, and by the second day you stop checking the time.