3 nights East South Africa from Durban

When you alight from your MSC cruise in Durban – South Africa’s third-largest city and the continent’s largest port – you will be captured by its tropical colours and holidaying people. A shore excursion on your MSC South Africa cruise can be the opportunity to discover Durban’s second-largest ethnic group, its Indian population, whose mosques, bazaars and temples are juxtaposed with the Victorian buildings of the colonial centre. The pulsing warren of bazaars, alleyways and mosques that makes up the Indian area around Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street is ripe for exploration, and there are some excellent restaurants around Durban’s photogenic harbour area. Durban’s city centre grew around the arrival point of the first white settlers, and the remains of the historical heart are concentrated around Francis Farewell Square. Durban’s expansive beachfront on the eastern edge of the centre has one of the city’s busiest concentrations of restaurants, a surfeit of tacky family entertainment. Durban’s beachfront, a high-energy holiday strip just east of the centre, is South Africa’s most developed seaside. MSC South Africa cruises also offer excursions to the 6km-stretch of the beach from the Umgeni River in the north to the Point in the south, traditionally called the Golden Mile. The big draw of Addington Beach – and the only really worthwhile attraction along the beachfront – is instead uShaka Marine World. This impressive water adventure wonderland is a tropical African theme park, complete with palm trees, fake rock formations and thatched bomas. The most appealing section is uShaka Sea World, designed in and around a superb mock-up of a wrecked 1920s cargo ship. The complex also includes a dolphin stadium and a seal pool, where daily shows (three a day) feature these creatures, as well as uShaka Wet ’n Wild, a series of pools and water slides, including The Drop Zone, the highest water slide in Africa.

Set between the African coast and the Indian Ocean, Portuguese Island is a small, uninhabited island: one of the enchanting destinations of an MSC cruise to Southern Africa. It is located at the external limit of Maputo Bay, host to the capital of Mozambique, under the cover of Inhaca Island, the chosen location for some of the most luxurious resorts of the entire continent. During your holiday, take some time between dips in the warm, crystalline ocean waters to stroll around this island. It is six kilometres long, about an hour walk on sand that caresses the soles of your feet (during the central hours of the day, it is best to wear open sandals because the sand becomes very hot), with only the blue of the water and the green of the low vegetation for company. The mild effort involved will be repaid in kiosks serving refreshing beverages and local food. If you like rum, try the Tipo Tinto, which is distilled from local sugar cane. There is also no lack of beach activities: in addition to all the services available for those who just want to lay in the sun undisturbed, such as beach umbrellas, deckchairs and sunbeds, there is equipment for playing beach volleyball and beach tennis. However, a piece of advice for all: don’t stop as soon as you get off the tender t that brings you to the island, look for a more secluded bay; they are just a short, pleasant stroll away. For those who wish it, it is also possible to circumnavigate the island and admire the coast and the bay of Maputo in a traditional dhow: boats with a triangular sail of Middle-Eastern origins that have sailed the waters of the Indian Ocean for centuries. From Portuguese Island, it is possible to reach the nearby main island of Inhaca, where, in addition to fantastic beaches,there are restaurants, bars, a market and even a Marine Museum and old lighthouse.

When you alight from your MSC cruise in Durban – South Africa’s third-largest city and the continent’s largest port – you will be captured by its tropical colours and holidaying people. A shore excursion on your MSC South Africa cruise can be the opportunity to discover Durban’s second-largest ethnic group, its Indian population, whose mosques, bazaars and temples are juxtaposed with the Victorian buildings of the colonial centre. The pulsing warren of bazaars, alleyways and mosques that makes up the Indian area around Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street is ripe for exploration, and there are some excellent restaurants around Durban’s photogenic harbour area. Durban’s city centre grew around the arrival point of the first white settlers, and the remains of the historical heart are concentrated around Francis Farewell Square. Durban’s expansive beachfront on the eastern edge of the centre has one of the city’s busiest concentrations of restaurants, a surfeit of tacky family entertainment. Durban’s beachfront, a high-energy holiday strip just east of the centre, is South Africa’s most developed seaside. MSC South Africa cruises also offer excursions to the 6km-stretch of the beach from the Umgeni River in the north to the Point in the south, traditionally called the Golden Mile. The big draw of Addington Beach – and the only really worthwhile attraction along the beachfront – is instead uShaka Marine World. This impressive water adventure wonderland is a tropical African theme park, complete with palm trees, fake rock formations and thatched bomas. The most appealing section is uShaka Sea World, designed in and around a superb mock-up of a wrecked 1920s cargo ship. The complex also includes a dolphin stadium and a seal pool, where daily shows (three a day) feature these creatures, as well as uShaka Wet ’n Wild, a series of pools and water slides, including The Drop Zone, the highest water slide in Africa.