Durban

Introducing Durban

Stretching along a swathe of butter-yellow sand, South Africa’s third-largest city offers a lively, if slightly tacky, prepackaged seaside holiday. The beachfront, with its multi-km stretch of high-rise hotels and snack bars, remains a city trademark, and the city centre, peppered with some grandiose colonial buildings and fascinating Art Deco architecture, throbs to a distinctly African beat. Home to the largest concentration of people of Indian descent in the country, Durban also boasts the sights, sounds and scents of the subcontinent. While the beachfront is still a favourite spot, many visitors, wary of the city’s increasing reputation for crime, base themselves in the suburbs, which are chock-a-block with accommodation, shopping malls, funky bars and stylish eateries.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009