Places of Interest

This has to be your first port of call. The old station houses Tourist Junction, home of Tourism Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority.

Here you can browse through hundreds of leaflets detailing attractions and accommodation not only in Durban but throughout the rest of KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa.

There are curio shops, videos to see and books to buy. You can also book accommodation in any of KwaZulu Wildlife's and National Parks Board reserves. 'Book a Bed Ahead' is a service to give you peace of mind when you a travelling to a strange town. The old station also houses the African Art Centre, chock full of ethnic African artworks.
Inside the doorway is a bust of Gandhi who spent many years in Durban.

Almost an exact replica of that in Belfast, the City Hall was built in 1910 and also houses Council Offices, the Library, the Natural Science Museum and Art Gallery and accommodates 1700 people. Immediately to the rear of the City Hall is the Local History Museum.

The style is neo-baroque. Note: the library has a special visitors' scheme.

This crowded square outside the City Hall is thought to be the spot where Lieutenant Francis Farewell pitched camp in 1824 with a group of settlers.

It has monuments to those who fell in WW1 & 2 and the Boer Wars, a monument to Field Marshal Jan Smuts, Louis Botha and one to Queen Victoria. The cenotaph is the country's largest and depicts a soldiers spirit departing from his body, supported by two angels. One of the entrances to the square is through a public toilet with Union Jack windows.

The monument to those of Durban who lost their life in the Boer War takes the form of a pedestal depicting scenes from the battles that were fought to relieve Ladysmith.

Other nearby monuments include one that marks the position of the Voortrekker camp during the siege of 1842, another at Congella Station commemorating those Voortrekkers who died during the siege and another in memory of Boer women and children who died in the concentration camp at nearby Jacobs.

Originally the Durban Town Hall, the Post Office is remembered for the speech that war correspondent Winston Churchill gave from its steps after escaping from a Boer POW camp in Pretoria during the second Boer War.

It was also the venue in 1908 where talks were first held to unify the four provinces. Full postal and telephonic facilities are available. The building is a National Monument.

A little oasis with a swimming pool right in the city centre.

At the centre on the ground floor of the BP Centre in Smith St (adjacent to the Local History Museum) you'll find lots of interesting exhibits. The centre acts as a mixture between a museum and information centre. There are guided tours of around one hour.

See Museums

See Theatres.

Named after the brig in which Francis Farewell landed in 1824, the building was erected in 1925 in Baroque Revival style.

The purveyors of the best coffee in Durban still occupy this quaint building from 1902.

Madressa and Ajmeri Arcades are full of the smells and ambience of the East - not Africa. You will find a myriad of small shops here selling all manner of goods amongst loud music and a continuous bustle.

See Architecture.

The cathereturn overlibl was built in 1904 in Gothic Revival style. The Stations of the Cross that line the side walls were a gift from the Empress Eugenie to commemorate the death of her son Louis Napoleon in 1879.

See Markets.

Once railway workshop sheds attached to the Workshop, these now form an exhibition area with a flea market on the adjacent plaza every Sunday.

See Museums.