There is plenty to see and do. Tour operators offer tours featuring the unique landscapes of the Namib. There is sheltered bathing at Palm Beach, the town has an Olympic-sized, heated indoor swimming pool, and a grassed golf course in a desert setting. The tannery, which manufacturers the well known kudu leather shoes, can be visited, as well as the local brewery which produces some of Namibia's fine beers. The Swakopmund Museum captures the colourful past and also highlights the desert flora and fauna, as well as the marine life, of the area.
Accommodation is available in hotels, bungalows and a caravan park, as well as comfortable pensions.
There is excellent rock and surf fishing along the stretch of beach which extends northwards. Favorite angling and camping spots are Mile 4, Mile 14, Mile 72, Mile 108 and Jakkalsputz. Henties Bay, a resort village named after Major Hentie van der Merwe who started recreational fishing there in 1929, still attracts keen fishermen from far and wide. The town has one hotel, bungalows, holiday flats and a golf course. Here a prodigious number of Cape Fur seals flourish in the cold waters of the Benguela Current.