Chinchilla sits two floors up in the Promenade building on Victoria Road, looking straight across the Camps Bay strip to the Atlantic. It was the first proper rooftop bar this beach suburb had.
The draw is simple and hard to beat. A west-facing deck, a DJ easing into the golden hour, and a cocktail in hand as the sun drops into the sea.
Come for the sundowner and the view, the reason most people climb the stairs. Skip it if you want a serious cocktail den, because this is a sunset lounge first and a drinks bar second.
The room
The deck is open and breezy, low couches and high tables angled toward the water, with the bar set back and the Twelve Apostles rising behind you. Live DJs run the soundtrack from late afternoon, and the room tilts from café calm to lounge energy as the light goes amber. It belongs to the Kove Collection, the group behind several of the strip's higher-end rooms, and the polish shows in the service and the staging.
The drinks
Order a signature cocktail and time it for sunset, which is the whole proposition here. The list runs creative and seasonal, with one recurring favourite being the herb-forward "dill not dill", and there is a long wine and whisky selection beside the spirits. The kitchen leans continental, with sushi, seafood platters, and crudités built for sharing across a table. Reviews split on value, some calling the cocktails creative and well made, others finding stronger drinks elsewhere on the strip. A signature serve runs in the upper range for the city, which buys the deck and the sunset as much as the glass. The wine list leans local, with Cape vintages by the glass that suit a slow platter as the light fades. On the view, no one argues.
The crowd
The crowd is a holiday and sundowner set, visitors and locals dressed for Camps Bay, busiest from late afternoon into the early evening as the DJ builds. It books up fast on clear summer nights, so a reservation for the sunset window pays off. Dress is beach-smart rather than formal, in keeping with the strip below. Daytime runs quieter and more café than bar, which suits a slow lunch with a sea breeze and a glass of something cold.
What regulars say
Reviewers are near unanimous on the setting, the sunset, and the lounge mood with live DJs. The recurring notes are to keep expectations measured on the food and to book ahead for a rail-side table at golden hour. It holds 3.8 stars across more than 150 Tripadvisor reviews, with the view doing most of the lifting and the service drawing steady praise.
Who it is for
It is for a Camps Bay sundowner with the Atlantic in front of you, a relaxed lounge afternoon that drifts into evening, and a first-timer's view of the strip from above. For more in this register see Cape Town rooftop bars and our best rooftop bars in Cape Town guide.
Best time to go
Go for sunset on a clear summer evening and arrive ahead of the golden hour for a rail-side seat. Off-season afternoons are calmer and easier to walk into. Pair it with Gigi Rooftop, Cape Town for a livelier deck, The Silo Rooftop, Cape Town for a design-led view, or Rosary Rooftop Bar, Cape Town for a quieter pour. The best bars in Cape Town guide maps the rest.
Sources: Kove Collection official Chinchilla page (2026); The Rooftop Guide Cape Town; EatOut venue listing; Tripadvisor (3.8, n=158); Chinchilla Facebook; Camps Bay diner reviews.