Matthew C.
Yelp
This is not a review of the Hillarys Markets, which run every Saturday, nor of the Sorrento Quay, which is full of shops, cafes and restaurants I plan on reviewing one at a time over the next couple of weeks. Instead, it is a review of the boat harbour itself, which for the next couple of months, as the mercury rises, is going to be the go-to swimming spot for the vast majority of locals.
It isn't hard to see why. The area is enclosed, which means that it's safe, and it offers immediate access to the shops and restaurants mentioned above. A relatively small area, it nevertheless includes all the variety one looks for in a beach: the shallows for toddlers and families, the slightly deeper waist-height depths for ball games, and best of all a much deeper, colder section over towards the boats and the pier, the latter of which serves as the launch pad for every madcap, boardshorted, dreadlocked teenager who wishes to show off to the stick-thin girls with leaps and somersaults and other not entirely safe means of entering the water.
It's not the place for ocean swimming--there's a nearby dog beach that is better-suited to that sort of thing--and the sheer number of families with children may put some people off. But as a place to cool off before sourcing a drink or a bite to eat, not to mention as a place for people watching, Hillarys is a one-stop shop.