Atlantis is not a postcard town, and nobody here pretends it is. It was built from scratch in the 1970s on the sandy plains north of Cape Town, part of the apartheid government's plan to move coloured families out of the city and to create an industrial centre far from the suburbs. The result was a planned town of factories, schools and housing estates, some forty-five kilometres from the city, which still struggles with unemployment and crime. It is worth understanding that history as you ride through.
What the area offers is landscape. Around the town lie the Atlantis dunes, a great sea of white sand that has been used for sandboarding, quad biking and, of course, filming. The flat sandveld here is covered in tough, low scrub, part of the fynbos and strandveld vegetation of the West Coast, and in late winter and spring, roughly August and September, the plains burst into colour as wild flowers bloom after the rain.
Just north of Atlantis lies Mamre, an old Moravian mission village founded in the early nineteenth century, with whitewashed thatched cottages, a church and a mill, one of the most charming places on this coast. To the west lies the coast itself, with Silwerstroomstrand and other beaches where the Atlantic is cold, clear and sometimes rough, fed by the Benguela Current from the Antarctic. The Koeberg nuclear power station, the only one in Africa, stands on the coast to the south.
The rides from here are straight and open rather than curvy. The R27, the West Coast road, runs north toward Langebaan and the West Coast National Park with long straight stretches, while the R307 heads inland toward Darling and Malmesbury, through wheat fields and vineyards. Wind is the main challenge, especially in summer when the southeaster blows hard and the sand can drift onto the road. For the Clarence Drive and Bainskloof rides, the route leads back south and east, past Cape Town toward the mountains.
Atlantis has fuel, supermarkets and fast food, and it is a sensible place to fill up before heading north or into the hills. Stick to the main roads and busy places, keep your bike in sight, and avoid wandering into residential areas. For a calmer stop, ride to Mamre or the coast, where a picnic with a view of the ocean is a better reward.