Durban’s Golden Mile – South Africa’s favourite holidayplayground - has taken on a new lustre. The famous stretch of beachfront, punctuatedwith fisherman-friendly piers, is now bookmarked between 2 world-famous entertainmentfacilities: the Suncoast Casino in the north and uShaka Marine World in the south.
Adjacent to the beach is a promenade featuring pavement traders selling African art and crafts, restaurants, clubs, swimming pools and funfairs. Behind that is a strip of hotels, mostly built in a distinctive Art Deco style only rivalled by South Beach in the United States city of Miami, Florida.
Sunset at the Suncoast
The Suncoast Casino, rising in neon-outlined Art Deco splendour at the northern end of the Golden Mile, is far more than just a place to gamble. It is an entertainment complex with cinemas, restaurants, a private beach, conference facilities and an area for open-air events and Big Top attractions.
The buzz never sets at Suncoast – whether you are family or friends looking for a day out, a couple on a date, or a corporate climber looking to mix business and pleasure.
Arc of Golden Sand
From the casino, the beach stretches southward in a six-kilometre arc of golden sand, with piers and breakwaters to provide safety for swimmers. In the early morning, late afternoons and over weekends, the beach and its bordering pavement is thronged with joggers, cyclists, rollerbladers, buskers and strollers, while diners sit at the sidewalk cafes and watch the passing parade.
North Beach for Surfing
North Beach is a magnet for surfers, with waves that invite board riders of all ages to carve their initials in the water. North Beach and the adjoining Bay of Plenty are venues for an annual international professional surfing contest.
Endless Entertainment
As the promenade continues there is one attraction after another. Fitzsimmon’s Snake Park has a large collection of reptiles from all over the world. Mini-Town is a miniature scale model of Durban, the Amphitheatre is the venue for Sunday flea markets, the Ice Rink offers a cool escape just behind the first fringe of buildings, and Fun World has an amusement park for small children, with roundabouts, dodgems, a skateboard park and an aerial chairlift so that you can get a birds eye view of the seaside.
Abuzz on the Beach
Dairy Beach is home to the Ocean’s Entertainment Centre with its bars and restaurants. From here it is possible to keep an eye on a swathe of golden sand, where there is always something interesting going on.
The beaches have become Durban’s main venue for sporting and entertainment events, from international beach soccer to music shows. The Durban Beach Africa Festival is the largest of its kind in the world.
South Beach for Swimming
South Beach has the reputation of being the busiest beach in South Africa, almost round the clock. Four of Durban’s beaches have Blue Flag status, which means that they conform to the highest international standards of cleanliness, provision of beach facilities and swimmer safety.
Neighbouring Addington Beach is a gentle stretch of water and sand that is ideal for apprentice surfers and people who want a slight distance between themselves and the bustle of South Beach.
The Marine Parade
Fronting the beach is a strip of hotels, bars and restaurants, ranging from high-end to budget with everything in between. And as most of the hotels here cater for business travellers, there are plenty of special packages for weekends.
The Parade is the only place in Durban where you will encounter the famous, extravagantly ornate rickshaws: their Zulu drivers decked out in beads and streamers, headdresses adorned with tusks and feathers in a curious collision of Indian and Zulu culture.
Where to eat
A visitor to the Golden Mile will certainly not go hungry. Snack bars jostle with restaurants to offer a range of cuisines from all over the world. Vendors sell peanuts, masala pineapple (chunks of pineapple on a stick, dusted with curry powder), roasted mealie-cobs, chips, sweets, ice creams and cool drinks. A new development is the lifestyle Beach Café, where you can sit at your table right on the sand and have dinner while the waves lap your feet.
uShaka Marine World
The southern side of the Golden Mile is taken up by uShaka Marine World – 15 hectares of Africa’s largest marine theme park with its own beach. The aquarium is the fifth-largest in the world and has been built to resemble an underwater ship-wreck, with fish peering through the portholes.
Dolphins cavort in their own pool while seals and penguins waddle between the visitors. For a bit of fun there is a snorkel reef as well as slides, rides and water pools. Intrepid adventure-seekers can dive with sharks or kayak from the beach. And the Village Walk is an African-themed beach-side shopping centre – the only mall in the world with a tide!
So, if you’re after sunny skies, golden sands and non-stop buzz and entertainment, look no further than Durban’s new Golden Mile.
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