Port Elizabeth

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Aerial view of Summerstrand Beach, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Getty Images/Gallo Images

Overview

Port Elizabeth (PE for short) fringes Algoa Bay at the western end of the Sunshine Coast, and offers many good bathing beaches, great surf spots and excellent water sports. Marine life in the bay is also sensational, with plenty of dolphins and whales that can be spotted throughout the year. The city centre, once a place to avoid, has started to smarten up thanks to a few urban regeneration projects, and it boasts numerous heritage buildings that are well worth a gander.

01 / Attractions

Must-see attractions

Donkin Reserve
Port Elizabeth
This pleasant hilltop park is a good place to get your bearings, particularly if you climb to the top of the lighthouse. The pyramid is a memorial to…
SANCCOB
Port Elizabeth
Most of the world's remaining 25,000 breeding pairs of endangered African penguins are found around Algoa Bay; they are threatened by currents pushing…
Campanile
Port Elizabeth
This bell tower, visible from the city centre, was erected to commemorate the landing of the 1820 British settlers. Unfortunately, it’s near the entrance…
South End Museum
Port Elizabeth
Multimedia exhibits relate the history of South End, a vibrant multicultural district destroyed by apartheid bulldozers during forced removals between…
Bayworld
Port Elizabeth
In desperate need of modernisation, this complex includes a museum, an oceanarium and a snake park. The Xhosa gallery and the First People of the Bay…
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum
Port Elizabeth
The museum housed in two handsome buildings at the entrance to St George’s Park has a small gallery of paintings and sculpture by contemporary South…
Kings Beach
Port Elizabeth
Sandy central beach, popular for sunbathing and swimming in the shallows. Take extreme care when swimming; the current is very strong.
No. 7 Castle Hill
Port Elizabeth
This museum-house, occupying a picturesque cottage dating from 1827, evokes a settler family's life during the mid-Victorian period.