On the corner of Theo-Ben Gurirab Avenue and Nathaniel Maxuilili Street, opposite the Swakopmund Hotel and Entertainment Centre, The Delight Swakopmund stands a ten-minute walk from the Mole and the Atlantic beachfront. Two storeys of balconies and glass wrap around a green courtyard garden, a deliberate break from the dark colonial-German architecture found elsewhere in town.
Cold Atlantic on one side, Namib dunes on the other.
Mornings are the event, with fresh coastal oysters and cold bubbly on the breakfast buffet beside artisanal Namibian breads and cured meats. Cold Atlantic on one side, Namib dunes on the other. The Delight Host arranges kayaking beside the Cape fur seal colony at Pelican Point, Living Desert tours after Namaqua chameleons and shovel-snouted lizards, and sandboarding on the dunes at the edge of town.
Turquoise and red walls, mismatched armchairs and bare bulbs in wire cages set the tone downstairs, where a wall-sized map carries a neon sign reading We Are Here. Light hardwood floors and private balconies run throughout. There is no lunch or dinner service, by design: guests eat out in Swakopmund’s seafood restaurants and German taverns, tables booked from the lobby by the Delight Host.
On cold nights the fog rolls off the Atlantic and into the streets.
Evenings begin and end at the lobby bar, set around the same courtyard garden that anchors the building’s layout by day. On cold nights the fog rolls off the Atlantic and into the streets. Housekeeping answers it with a hot water bottle slipped under the sheets during turndown, so the walk home from dinner is the coldest part of the night.
Fifty-four rooms fill the hotel, and ten of them are built for families on a loft plan: two twin beds and the bathroom below, a staircase to an open mezzanine with two more beds above, so parents and children share a room without sharing a ceiling. The rest are flat-level twins with writing desks, walk-in glass showers under rainfall heads, air conditioning and en-suite bathrooms. One ground-floor twin is fully wheelchair accessible. Behind the headboards hang enlarged maps and seascape prints.
Breakfast has a floor of its own upstairs, waffle and pancake stations working alongside the oyster bar, at a pace set by whoever is eating rather than by a closing time. Corks pop before nine. Coffee machines wait in the rooms for anyone up earlier than that. Downstairs the Delight Host is already working through the day’s bookings, the fog thinning over the rooftops as the first excursions leave: kayaks and catamarans for Walvis Bay, scenic flights for Sossusvlei and the Skeleton Coast wrecks.
Gulls work the shoreline, and Cape fur seals and dolphins turn up off the beach.
The Kristall Galerie and the German Evangelical Lutheran Church stand within a couple of hundred metres, the Swakopmund Museum, the lighthouse and the National Marine Aquarium of Namibia a little beyond, and the Swakopmund Hotel and Entertainment Centre directly opposite the door. Beyond them, the Mole and the beachfront are a ten-minute walk. Gulls work the shoreline, and Cape fur seals and dolphins turn up off the beach. Walvis Bay Lagoon, down the coast, holds flamingos and waterbirds in numbers.
Spitzkoppe’s granite outcrops lie inland, tandem skydiving and paragliding can be arranged, and fat-bikes cover the sand flats beyond town, where the quad-biking also starts. Families are well provided for, with no minimum age for children, though the primary guest checking in must be at least 18, and the loft rooms sleeping four, with children under two sharing existing bedding. In 2019 the hotel was awarded Green 5 Flowers by Eco Awards Namibia, the scheme’s top environmental rating, and residual carbon from each stay is calculated and offset through a green hotels programme.
accommodation
Fifty-four rooms. Forty-four are twins with writing desks, walk-in rainfall showers, air conditioning, flat-screen televisions and coffee machines; ten more are family rooms on a loft plan sleeping four. One twin is wheelchair accessible, all open onto private balconies, and the Wi-Fi is free.
activities
Excursions are arranged through the hotel's Delight Host: Living Desert tours for Namaqua chameleons and shovel-snouted lizards, sea kayaking at Pelican Point, catamaran cruises from Walvis Bay, sandboarding, quad-biking and fat-biking on the dunes, scenic flights over the Skeleton Coast, and Mondesa township visits.
conservation
Anja Rohwer runs the DRC Women's Community Project in Swakopmund's Democratic Resettlement Community, which operates the Grow Together Pre-Primary School, a community soup kitchen and craft workshops. Beadwork and sewing made by the women is purchased and resold. Nearby, the Tangeni Shilongo Open Doors Education Centre teaches 275 learners sewing, leatherwork and academic subjects.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
Walvis Bay International Airport is about forty to forty five minutes away by road, with flights from Windhoek, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Most guests arrive by road as part of a wider Namibian route, and the hotel sits in central Swakopmund, ten minutes' walk from the beachfront.
We arrange the transfer or the hire vehicle to suit how the rest of the trip is built.
The Namibian coast is treated as a very low risk area, so Swakopmund on its own does not usually drive a recommendation for antimalarial tablets. The UK's official travel health service treats most of Namibia as very low risk all year, and the American CDC takes the same view of the desert and the centre. Low risk is not the same as no risk.
We do not make medical recommendations. We are travel planners, not doctors. Which tablets are right for you, whether they suit your own health or anyone else's in the party, and what is appropriate for a child, is a conversation between you and your doctor or a travel clinic.
The practical side we can speak to is not medical: cover arms and legs from late afternoon and keep repellent to hand.
Yes. Children of five and under stay free under the published family rates, and those from six to thirteen generally pay half.
The central position is the practical advantage with a family: cafés, shops and the beach are all a short walk away, so nobody is stuck in a vehicle at the end of a long driving day. The excursions, particularly the Living Desert tours, work very well with children.
Cool and foggy in the mornings, thanks to the Benguela current running up this coast, with very little rain and a small temperature swing through the year. Inland it may be baking; here it rarely is.
Bring a windproof jacket and warm layers whatever the season, plus sun protection for when the fog lifts, and comfortable shoes. The sea is too cold for most people to swim in, so treat the beach as a place to walk rather than bathe.
Any month works, and the coast is at its most useful in the hot inland summer from December to March, when Swakopmund is a genuine relief from the interior.
May to October brings the most comfortable conditions for the desert and marine excursions, with clearer mornings and less fog. Because the town is a staging point between the Namib and the north, the timing usually follows the rest of the route rather than the other way round.
rated five stars by our clients
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
