Travel to Port Elizabeth

a functional city with a beachy vibe

Port Elizabeth, also now known as Gqeberha, is located 650 km east of Cape Town and 700 km southwest of Durban, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

This is the largest city in the Eastern Cape, but is perhaps not the most alluring of destinations for the international visitor.

The place has a rather institutionalised feel, with decent beaches backed by water-parks, holiday homes and residential districts, beyond which lies a ring of heavy industry and urban highways

The airport is a major hub and, whilst most people manage to stay elsewhere and travel in to catch flights, some guests choose to overnight here in Port Elizabeth, where there is a good selection of high quality guest-houses.

When we do include the area in trips it’s virtually always as part of a self-drive exploration, usually starting in Cape Town, heading east through the Winelands, the Little Karoo and the Garden Route, to overnight here before ending at the main airport in town.

usually a simple transit stop for the local airport