Durban is the busiest port in the Southern Hemisphere and is the capital of Kwazulu Natal. Its warm winters and hot summers provide all year round ocean bathing with no shortage of long, sandy beaches.
Durban is the closest beach destination to the inland commercial centre of Johannesburg and Pretoria and attracts flocks of visitors during the summer holidays and even during winter when the warmer climate is a welcome escape from the cold interior of South Africa. The coastal areas on either side of Durban, the South Coast and North Coast, are also hugely popular beach havens for seaside-hungry visitors in summer.
Durban’s newly refurbished Golden Mile stretches from Blue Lagoon in the north to uShaka Marine World in the south and includes safe bathing, pools, promenades, restaurants, hotels and lively nightspots.
uShaka Marine World includes an aquarium, a dolphin and seal stadium, a penguin habitat, a snorkeling lagoon stocked with coral fish and the Wet and Wild with the highest slide in Africa.
Experience Zulu culture at Valley of a Thousand Hills or Shakaland.
Umhlanga Rocks near the new Airport has good beaches, accommodation and shopping centres. This is also home to the Sharks Board which is worth a visit to learn more about the importance of these aquatic predators.
Durban is a pivotal area for any route that includes Johannesburg to Kruger Park, Swaziland, Kwazulu Natal Parks, the North Coast Beach Resorts, the Drakensberg, the South Coast, the Wild Coast and the Garden Route to Cape Town.