Introduction
East London is a city of 250,000 people on the south-east coast of South Africa, set in the Eastern Cape and situated in between Port Elizabeth and Durban. Despite new development in recent years, the city is not the most exciting place to visit, but it does provide a good base from which to explore some of the more beautiful parts of the Wild Coast.
Sights and Activities
The beachfront is the place to check out if you are in town, with restaurants, hotels and of course some nice sandy beaches. Surfers, windsurfers and kite-surfers are advised to hit Nahoon Beach which lies north east of the main city area.
Getting There
By Plane
There is an airport to the west of the city connecting East London to all the major urban centres in the country.
By Train
Shosholoza Meyl has the following trains:
- Johannesburg - East London via Bloemfontein, 20 hours, economy sleeper class, daily except Saturday
- Cape Town - East London via Matjiesfontein, De Aar and Queenstown, 28 hours, economy class only, once weekly
By Car
Visitors coming from Port Elizabeth or Cape Town take the N2, as should those coming from Durban. Travellers coming inland from Bloemfontein and the north should take the N6.
Getting Around
By Car
East London, like most South African towns, lacks a public transport system, so getting around is difficult if you do not have a car. There are many car rental companies available in South Africa, of which, Avis, Budget, Hertz, Europcar and First Car Rental have branches at the East London Airport.
Sleep
Budget
| Property | Address | Type | Popularity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amanda's B&B | 2 Hart Street Gonubie, | Guesthouse | - |
| Sugarshack Backpackers | Eastern Esplanade Rd, Eastern Beach Quigney | Hostel | 92 |
| Ebenezer Bed & Breakfast | 2 a Somerset street Bedford | Hotel | - |
| Selborne Lodge | 18 Dawson Road Selborne | Guesthouse | - |
| Parrot Peak Inn | 22 Kelvin Grove Beacon Bay | Hotel | - |
| Buccaneers Lodge and Backpackers | Chintsa west Wildcoast Eastern cape | Hostel | 82 |
| Santa Paloma Guest Farm | 101B Thornycroft Rd Summerpride | HOSTEL | 97 |
| Thornycroft Lodge and Camp | C70 Thornycroft Road Horseshoe Valley | HOSTEL | - |
Keep Connected
Phone
See also International Telephone Calls
Post
The SAPO (South African Post Office) is the nation's postal service. Post offices are open from 8:30am to 4:30pm from Monday to Friday, and 8:00am to noon on Saturdays. Domestic and international deliveries are reliable but can sometimes take up to several weeks. If you want to send something oversees of any value, try using one of the private mail services, like Postnet.
On Travellerspoint
Contributors
Utrecht (64%)
from http://utrecht.travellerspoint.com
Kieran-M (23%)
from South Africa Travel Plan
as well as Hien (9%), KKHSM (5%)
Help contribute to this article to share the ad revenue.
East London Travel Helpers
Go Alternative
Ask Go Alternative a question about East LondonHi
I'm an Italian guy living in London since October 2007. I have been living in East London for more than a while, so if you want some tips, just drop me a line!
Ciao, sono un ragazzo italiano che vive e lavora (dopo averci studiato) a Londra da piu di 4 anni. Ho vissuto nell'est di Londra e vi posso assicurare che alcuni posti sono veramente interessanti!
Se volete consigli - idee, contattatemi!
This is version 19. Last edited at 2:02 on May 24, 13 by sleepBot. 8 articles link to this page.
Except where otherwise noted, content of this article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License
