Durban is the main city and it is a truly bustling, typical seaport. It also has some fantastic surfing right on its doorstep good diving close by and some great shopping and arts and crafts. And for beach lovers South Beach is another Blue Flag Beach.

Durban hotels are centered on the beach front of Durban. Hotels in Durban are all relatively close to the beach.

If Johannesburg has a business culture and Cape Town has a culture culture, Durban has a beach culture. Even the high-rise offices look out over the Indian Ocean, and busy executives hang up their suits and ties, slip into shorts, and jog along the beachfront at lunchtime. Many keep a surfboard in their cars and catch a quick wave before or after work (or both).

The Durban beachfront is a cultural experience. Here you will find holidaying families, young surfer brats (grommets), Indian ladies elegantly walking the sand in flowing silken saris, beaded traditional healers collecting bottles of seawater to use as muti (medicine) and young girls strutting their stuff in the skimpiest of bikinis. Somehow it all works in one, pretty weird, decidedly heterogeneous whole.

The sea really does play an important part - there are two yacht clubs and one very big commercial harbour. The Bat Centre, Durban's most interesting cultural venue, overlooks the small boat harbour where stubby-nosed tugs come to rest after a hard morning pushing tankers around. You can also lunch virtually in the shadow of huge container ships and cruise liners as they enter the harbour through the narrow entrance in front of the Bluff.

Shopping is a special experience in Durban - the eastern influence of the enormous Indian population adds a touch of spice, literally and figuratively. You can explore the Indian Market or just wander down Grey Street, where you'll find all kinds of interesting little shops. At the beachfront itself, you will find wonderful examples of traditional beadwork and basketry for sale at incredibly low prices. For something more upmarket, and very interesting, you just have to see the Gateway Shopping Centre. It's so much more than your average mall. It has a climbing wall and an enormous artificial standing wave - the first artificial double-point break in the world.

Of course, Durban is really about surfing . Another fun thing to do is to paddle out on a sea kayak, or even do a short, gentle white water trip on the nearby Umgeni River. Some of the hardest climbs in South Africa are at the Wave Cave at nearby Shongweni, and there are some fun bolted routes in the Kloof Gorge. The diving just south of the city is great. In winter and early spring, migratory ragged tooth sharks (Carcharias tauras) are in residence at Aliwal Shoal, and can be visited on a specially organised dive. But there are also a lot of coral-encrusted rock reefs with pretty tropical fish for the less intrepid. For the hardcore diver, Protea Banks is a must.

 On the South Coast youll find lots and lots of lovely beaches, with another Blue Flag one at Margate. There are more golf courses than you could shake a stick (or a club) at, and the nearby Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve offers lovely scenery and small game. This is a favourite family holiday destination and the long, lovely beaches offer every imaginable facility.

Try Margate for all the facilities associated with Blue Flag Beaches. This is the southern limit of the Mozambique Current and the diving is fantastic, with lots of colourful tropical fish on rocky reefs. In winter and early spring, migratory ragged tooth sharks are in residence. Although there are many easier and more accessible dive sites, Protea Banks, off Margate, is one of the best dive sites in the world for large pelagics, including big game fish and many species of shark. Not for beginners, though.

The Zulu name for the Drakensberg is uKahlamba the barrier of spears. Its an appropriate name as this huge wall of basalt just rises up out of the pretty green Midlands forbidding and impassable. But don’t let the formidable names put you off.The Drakensberg is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Cosy inns, characterful hotels and wonderful wayside pubs create an ambience of comfort and country homeliness in the shadow of the High Berg.

You can walk for miles literally. There are lots of lovely day walks but, if youre feeling energetic, you could hike out for a few days, or even a few weeks. 

The Drakensberg Traverse is pretty hardcore but, if you have the time, inclination, energy and equipment, you could tackle this 300 km (180 mile) hike. Most people do much shorter ones.

The Drakensberg is designated wilderness, which means there are no laid out trails or overnight spots. You just buy your permit and a map and head off.

Less extreme activities include golf, fly fishing and some short or not-so-short pony trails. In winter, the summit may be covered in snow, and in summer, the whole mountain is bright green with new grass.

Animals you’re likely to see here include the enormous eland, delicate reedbuck, curious baboons, and the highly endangered and endemic lammergeier (bearded vulture)