Flying to Port Elizabeth
The Port Elizabeth Airport has three runways and a modern terminal which allows it to handle about 2 million passengers per annum. The airport was formerly known as the H.F. Verwoerd Airport and is located less than a 10 minutes’ drive from the city. The Port Elizabeth Airport serves the city for both cargo and passenger traffic. It was upgraded in 2004 to handle international flights, but at this stage international visitors must take a domestic flight from Cape Town or Johannesburg.
The following airlines offer domestic flights to and from Port Elizabeth: 1Time; British Airways; Kulula.com; South African Airways; South African Airlink and South African Express. No international airlines have direct flights to Port Elizabeth.
Things to See and Do in Port Elizabeth:
Port Elizabeth is located at the end of the picturisque Garden Route and is one of the country's major tourist destinations. The city is commonly known as the watersports capital of South Africa, offering visitors scuba diving, game fishing charters, kiteboarding, surfing and windsurfing opportunities. At the harbour they offer you many cruises, they include sunset cruises, dolphin viewing cruises and whale watching tours. Other places include:
The Boardwalk Waterfront Complex
The Boardwalk Casino & Entertainment World is a complete entertainment destination located in Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth. The complex includes a casino with 802 slot machines, 21 casino tables, a choice of restaurants, specialty shops, a cinema, an amphitheatre and children's entertainment facilities. The Boardwalk has 4 different hotels to choose from.
Addo Elephant Park
The Addo Elephant park, a finely tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to the Big Seven, including more than 450 elephants, Black Rhinos, lions, Cape Buffalos, leopards, southern right whales and great white sharks. It also boasts a variety of antelope species, as well as the unique flightless dung beetle. It is also a marine reserve that includes islands with breeding populations of Cape Gannets and African Penguins.
The Oceanarium
This is one of Port Elizabeth's major attractions with daily dolphin and seal shows. It also includes an underwater tank area in the aquarium and various smaller tanks of 40 different species of fish, sharks and stingrays. You can also visit the Snakepark and Tropical House nearby.
The Donkin Reserve
The reserve is a historic attraction with a National Monument, the light house, originally built in 1862. It is the best place for an overall view of the city and very popular with visitors, especially photographers.
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum
The name of the King George VI Art Gallery has now been changed, because of it's "Colonial ties," to The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum. The Art Museum was opened on 22 June 1956 and renamed in December 2002. The collections are housed in two buildings framing the entrance to St George’s Park and consist of South African art , British art, international printmaking and Oriental art.
The city of Port Elizabeth
Port Elizabeth is also called Madiba Bay, the “Friendly city” and the “Windy city”. It is the provincial city of the Eastern Cape Province and is one of the major seaports in South Africa, located about 770km from Cape Town.
Port Elizabeth's climate
The city has light rain throughout the year with a subtropical climate. Summer is warm but less humid and hot than other parts of the east coast with average maximum temperatures of about 25C. Winters are cool but mild with average maximum temperatures of 20C.
Roads to Port Elizabeth
The national road to Port Elizabeth is the N2. This national road links Port Elizabeth to George, Cape Town, East London, Durban, Grahamstown and Mpumalanga. There are some regional roads that connects the city to Transkei.