Durban, ZA

Durban's most-awarded fine-dining address, now in a waterside Morningside spot — the six-course tasting menu is the destination dinner, with locally sourced seasonal seafood and a kitchen that has held the city's top ranking for over two decades.

Upmarket Florida Road room drawing its menu down the East African spice route — Northern African and Mediterranean flavours, grills and a strong vegetarian list, in a design-led space. The destination dinner on the Morningside strip.

Florida Road's busiest curry house, casual, cheap, doing the canon: bunny chows in lamb, broad bean and prawn versions plus a full tandoori list. The city's defining curry-and-beer dinner.

Family-run Morningside Indian doing north and south Indian dishes consistently for decades. The everyday curry restaurant — locals' default, no-reservations friendly, BYO.

Florida Road specialty-coffee bar and breakfast cafe with a designer interior, a Probat roaster on display and a tight food menu. Coffee-nerd compulsory and the city's best brunch room.

Restaurant built inside the fake shipwreck at uShaka, with glass walls into the main aquarium tank — diners eat while sharks and rays cruise past. Touristy but real fun.

Long-running Berea Japanese doing counter sushi and a classic menu — sashimi platters, gyoza, miso. Modest room, reliable kitchen, fairer prices than the beachfront sushi options.

Morningside Italian doing wood-fired pizza, fresh pasta and serious antipasti. Garden seating, family-friendly without being a family restaurant.

Slick Point Waterfront jazz bar and restaurant — small plates, live music nightly, a long whisky list. Less a place to eat, more a place to spend an evening.

Beachfront cafe at North Beach's surf-club shed, doing breakfast through lunch in surfer-cafe style — eggs, bowls, smoothies, coffee. The post-swim default for locals.

Stylish Glenwood neighborhood restaurant doing a wider menu than the name suggests — wood-fired meats, salads, pasta, a tight wine list. The reliable nicer dinner outside the Florida-Windermere axis.

Greek-Mediterranean institution near the Workshop, all-day room with souvlaki, mezze, frappe and a long Greek wine list. Open since the 1970s and unchanged in the right ways.

Crusted-edge corner restaurant in Berea doing wood-fired pizzas and casual mains in a courtyard setting. The Tuesday-night neighbourhood place — easy, well-priced, takes kids.

Eight-kilometre sealed promenade along the uMhlanga coast from Granada Square south to the lighthouse and pier and back. The cleanest walking surface in the area and the easiest way to cover the coast.

Gorge nature reserve in Kloof, west of central Durban — multiple loop trails from gentle 2km to a 13km gorge circuit, plus a waterfall lookout, lots of monkeys.

Easy figure-eight paths through Africa's oldest botanic garden; about 4km if you walk every loop. Shaded, flat, suitable for prams and wheelchairs in the main areas.

Pocket reserve in Morningside with a 3km loop through coastal scarp forest, hadeda colonies and a small bird hide. Quiet, easy, almost no other people on weekdays.

Boardwalk through the protected mangrove estuary at the mouth of the uMgeni River, north of central Durban. Two hours, easy walking, mudskippers and herons.

Research institute that runs the shark nets along the KwaZulu-Natal coast; the public audiovisual presentation and shark dissection (with body parts that don't ID a species, fortunately) is a Durban tradition.

Beachfront entertainment complex with a casino, cinemas, comedy club, beachfront restaurants and a private beach. The night-out fallback when the weather is bad.

Sixty-metre pendulum bungee off the Moses Mabhida arch — listed in Guinness World Records as the world's tallest swing of its kind. Two seconds of free-fall, 90 seconds of pendulum.

Funicular up the inside of the stadium's 350m arch to a viewing deck with 360-degree Durban panoramas. Easier than the Adventure Walk stairs and worth the price for the view alone.

Two-kilometre Berea avenue lined with restaurants, bars, cafes and a few clubs — the city's defining nightlife strip. Walkable, neighbourhood-feel, the alternative to the casino-and-mall scene.

Monthly first-Saturday market for South African designers and makers, currently at the Moses Mabhida Stadium precinct. Curated, design-led, the antidote to mass-tourist craft markets.

Rotating exhibitions inside the ICC complex, often touring shows from Joburg and Cape Town. Free, air-conditioned, the rainy-day fallback.

The 2010 World Cup venue with the iconic 350m white arch spanning the bowl. SkyCar to the top of the arch is the easy way; the 550-step Adventure Walk is the cheaper, harder version. The Big Swing pendulum off the arch is a real adrenaline option.

Africa's largest marine theme park at the south end of the Golden Mile — a serious aquarium built into a fake shipwreck, a water park, dolphin shows, restaurants. Half a day with kids, longer if you do the slides.

Two-storey covered market in the old Indian quarter — 200 stalls of spices, brass, beadwork, fabric and Indian food. Loud, chaotic, the city's most concentrated taste of its Indian heritage.

Africa's oldest surviving botanic garden, founded in 1849 on the edge of central Durban. Orchid house, cycad collection, a working tea garden, weekend concerts. Free, shady, the city's lung.

Six-kilometre sandy promenade from Blue Lagoon to uShaka, lined with pools, surf clubs, restaurants and the city's famous rickshaw drivers in feathered headdresses. Day or evening, the city's defining outdoor space.

Newer paved promenade hugging the coast north of central Durban, finishing at the whalebone-shaped uMhlanga Pier. Cleaner, calmer, more upmarket alternative to the Golden Mile.

Cult Glenwood museum of southern African material culture inside a Victorian house — beadwork, headrests, fertility dolls, courtship pieces. Small, idiosyncratic, the best ethnographic collection in the city.