The 640-metre iron jetty stretches out into the Atlantic from the northern end of the beach. Walk to the end and you are surrounded by open ocean — the cold Benguela swell running hard underneath — while the town and the dune-backed coast recede behind you. It is one of those simple viewpoints that earns its reputation. Windy and cold in the mornings; better in the afternoon when the desert air has warmed things up. The restaurant at the end of the jetty is average; the view is not.
The Jetty
640-metre iron jetty stretching into the cold Atlantic
A story
The original wooden jetty was already derelict by 1910. The replacement — an iron structure designed by two firms from Mannheim — was completed in 1914, just in time to become strategically irrelevant when the German colonial period ended the following year. It has survived storms, neglect, and several restoration campaigns, and is now Swakopmund's most-walked landmark.