Clifton Beach Karachi is without any doubt the most visited place in the Karachi by residents and tourists for leisure and picnic. Commonly known as Sea View, this beach on Arabian Sea is open to public 24/7 and 365 days a year. I have visited Sea View multiple times, either for dinning, shopping or for activities as well. These all are covered in this post.
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Why is it called Clifton?
Clifton is a combination of two words – Cliff and Ton. According to Dictionary Cliff means a steep rock face, usually at the edge of the sea. Ton is used as suffix with many city names in the World like Washington, Hamilton, Wellington, Preston, Kingston, and it means farm or estate or fashionable society. Hence, Clifton means the Town on the Cliff.
Many people in Karachi, like me before, don’t focus on why an area is called by a certain name. With traveling to various places and seeing around how the history is preserved, I am now more focused in my traveling to learn about history and to know how a certain place got its name. This is learning while traveling and I encourage the readers of this blog to do that as well. Traveling can teach you what books cannot.
Clifton Beach is in Karachi City
Since Karachi is the only metropolis in Pakistan with a coast, the sea lovers have option to go to Sea View and other beaches located in the suburbs of the city.
By other beaches I mean Hawksbay, Sandspit, Paradise Point, French Beach, Cape Mount, and Russian Beach, and they are located at Subrubs and Industrial areas. This makes access to these places difficult and time taking. Usually people visit those after booking beach hut and transport to the beach. I didn’t visit Hawksbay / Sandspit since 2013.
As Clifton beach is located in the residential area, it’s quite easy for everyone to go there either by bike, or car, or even by public transport. Even people who are visiting Karachi for short time gets time to visit this area.
Where is Sea View Clifton Beach Karachi?
Clifton beach is located across Abdul Sattar Edhi Avenue (previously called Sea View Road) passing through the affluent seaside residential areas of Clifton and Phase 5 / Phase 8 of Defence Housing Authority a.k.a. DHA Karachi.
The road is named after of the most famous philanthropists in Pakistan – Abdul Sattar Edhi after his death in 2016. Edhi was and still is a household name.
I have personally used the ambulance services by his welfare organization multiple times for my ailing father and grand mother in the past when they were alive. May Allah give them and all the dead Muslim highest place in Jannah. Ameen
Activities at Sea View Clifton Beach
There are many activities for the visitors in beaches in Karachi. Sea View is full of activities for all sort of visitors.
Shore Walk
Shore walking at Sea View is very popular activity for all age groups. There are many people at the beach all the time so it wouldn’t be a romantic walk but nevertheless it’s good walk for the families. Kids play around the shore.
Some people swim in the sea water as well. There’s no life guard, it’s good to not go far in the sea water.
Camel Riding and Horse Riding
On Karachi beaches, the visitors are seen riding the camels. The main difference between the camels on the beach and other places is the decoration pattern.
The camels at Clifton beach are colorfully decorated with glass, cloth and laces. This looks attractive to visitors.
Well, Camel ride is not only limited to Karachi beaches, these are also done in other parts of the world. Read Camel riding in Salalah Oman.
Horse riding at Clifton Beach is another popular ride after camel one.
Beach Buggy
Although beach sports are common site at many beaches in the world, but I am not of the favor of fast buggies / go karts running around on a public beach where there are many people around. This is dangerous for the visitors and create sound pollution as well.
Beach buggies at Sea View are banned after an accident that killed one child in June 2019.
Parks in Clifton
A. K. Khan Park and Beach View Park are popular public gardens on Clifton Beach, which provide visitors with green grass and tree shades along the shore.
I would highly recommend to visit Nishan-e-Pakistan Monument, next to A.K. Khan Park, which is a national solidarity monument and has the second tallest flag pole in Pakistan.
Bin Qasim Park (In Urdu, Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim), just across the road, is largest urban park in Pakistan. The park is quite old, previously called Rupchand Bilaram Park.
The garden is recently revived by Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan and Wasim Akhtar, Mayor of Karachi in March 2019.
I visited this park in June 2019 and found it in great shape. From Jahangir Kothari Parade, the view of this park and Clifton Beach is stunning. Parade is located at cliff, which was previously house of Sir Jahangir Jee Hormas Jee Kothari.
On one side of Parade, the tallest building of Pakistan, Bahria Town Icon, is under final stages of construction.
Food
Salt n Pepper Village and McDonald’s are the most popular beach restaurants at Sea View. There are couple of tea shops, which I haven’t tried but are selling some snacks and beverages.
Do Darya, literally meaning two rivers, is a dedicated dining area with restaurants built over the sea in DHA Phase 8. Sajjad, Al Habib, Kolachi and Kabab Jee are most famous restaurants in Do Darya.
Shopping
Dolmen Mall, one the largest shopping malls in Pakistan, is located on Clifton Beach, making it perfect shopping destination along the shore. This air-conditioned mall has 4 levels – Lower Ground, Ground, Level 1 and Level 2.
The shops in the mall sell men, women and kids garments, jewelry, leather products, household items, handbags, watches and others.
The First Carrefour (previously Hyperstar) in Karachi opened in Dolmen Mall and is on the ground level of the mall. Later on another one opened in Lucky One Mall in Rashid Minhas Road.
There’s food court on the top level (Level 2) of the mall with options of fast food and local cuisine.
In food court of Dolmen Mall, below are the restaurants in left to right order:
- Mirchili
- Burger King
- California Pizza
- Hardee’s
- China Grill
- Solen Istanbul
- Chachajee
- Hoagie
- Chattar Pattar
- KFC
- OPTP
- Bar B. Q. Tonight
- Subway
- Geeen O
- McDonald’s
Other than food court, Gloria Jeans, Baskin Robins and Del Frio have restaurants on Level 2.
When I visited this mall in June 2019, my wife ordered Bun Kabab with Chatney from Chattar Pattar, which was delicious.
China Port
China Port is a break water, which is now a closed tourist destination. In 2018, this was one of the most visited place by Residents in Karachi, when it become popular.
nice article, thanks for sharing.