Travel South Africa - Umhlanga




Travel Umhlanga

Hubby recently whisked us away for a family holiday in Umhlanga to celebrate my birthday. It was an incredible week of fun and relaxation, definitely one of my favorite holidays.

Umhlanga is one of the best holiday destinations in South Africa, and after spending a week there I was ready to pack up and move. There really is something fun for the whole family and it is just such a beautiful place.

Umhlanga is a sunny resort town north of Durban on the coast of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

Rather than bore you with a day by day account of our trip, I thought I'd highlight what we experienced and loved about Umhlanga, sort of a personal travel brochure. I think it"s great to spotlight the good in our country, so here we go.



 




Uber

We flew down to King Shaka International Airport on Monday afternoon and as we didn't hire a car we caught an Uber to the hotel.

We used Uber for the duration of our stay and we loved it. It was our first experience with Uber and it was so convenient and fast and easy. The longest we waited for an Uber was about 2 minutes, it was such a great service, and affordable.

Umhlanga is super close to the airport and everywhere we wanted to go during the week was close as well, so it was very practical.
I kind of wish I could sell my car and just Uber everywhere - Uber to ballet practice, Uber to the grocery store - can you imagine!






Umhlanga Sands Resort


We checked in to the Umhlanga Sands Resort and so our holiday began. The Sands is situated in the beautiful Umhlanga Rocks, right on the beach front and the view of the ocean from our room was amaze.


Rooms

The rooms at the Sands have everything you need, I wouldn't call them luxurious but they are fine. We had a space for the kids with two single beds, a bathroom and then the main room with a King sized bed, some additional seating and the balcony with the amazing view. 

I know that they are busy upgrading their rooms currently so that's something to look into in future, to see the changes made. 

The bathroom is very small, too small in my opinion, but the shower/bath had great water pressure. The beds were comfortable, although I had a dodgy pillow so I had to swipe one off the girls bed. We traveled by plane and so I never brought my own pillow, big mistake.

I really liked that the room had a little kitchen area, with a fridge, microwave and coffee station. It was very helpful with the girls because they still have to have their chocolate milk before bed and when they wake up every morning.

And the view made it worth it, best thing - the lights out in the water from the ships at night, its like a floating city out there.

I really could live at the coast if I had a view like that everyday, the ocean is so majestic and mysterious and you can look at it every day and see something a little different.


Resturants 

The Sands has two restaurants, a Maestro (super convenient for a quick breakfast before hitting the beach) and a Spur. We ate at the Spur for dinner the first night because of the play area. It was a really nice experience, I found something plant based to eat and the kids played the entire time, even Savanna who doesn't usually leave my side for too long. Hubby enjoyed his ribs.



Kids Area

I was super impressed with the hotel's kids area.
You have to use your room card to access the area and to leave it, so its pretty safe (although I wouldn't leave my kids there alone at their age, and they wouldn't like to be left).
It is a huge space with a dedicated play room for 0-4 and another room for 4 up and the third room for arts and crafts and cooking. There is also a huge open space filled with bean bags (the good quality kind) for movie nights. It was pretty cool.





Swimming Pool

The hotel features an awesome swimming pool area, it has a great pool and a splash pool for the little ones. As it is winter only kids were swimming but the pool area was genuinely nice. Lots of green astro to sit on in the sunshine while watching your tiny humans shiver in the pool. 
There are fun looking water slides as well but they were not working during our stay.

It was a lot of fun around the pool for the girls, they had a lot of games organised for them, musical chairs and dancing and the kids loved it. It is still really strange for me to see Vanna participating in these kinds of things, but she had a ball!

On one of the afternoons we arrived at the pool in need of a good long sit, when hubby and I got roped into an adult pool game. We had to throw water balloons at each other so it was actually pretty cool once we got over the annoyance of having to get up and participate. We never won the bottle of wine though, I can't throw.




Umhlanga Rocks Promenade 


The awesome thing about staying in Umhlanga Rocks is that it has a promenade running along the beach front, separating the hotels from the beach. It is such a great walk and it is full of joggers and dog walkers and happy people. 
I love Umhlanga because of this walkway. It really seems to be a huge part of life for the locals as well.

The prom runs all along the beach to the pier and the landmark lighthouse and there is so much see along the way. Gorgeous ocean, clean beaches, beautiful hotels and apartments, and all the people you could want for people-watching - can I just say surfers and leave it at that.

We walked every day, on our first day we had arrived late afternoon and it was pretty cold, the wind was pumping and it even started to rain on us.
Bright side - we were blessed with an incredible rainbow, we could see it end to end over the ocean and it was magnificent.


"the way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." - Dolly Parton





The Rox Coffee Company

Our saving grace that first chilly day was the Rox Coffee Company a tiny little spot with a window opening right on the prom, serving up some steamy and delicious coffee. They serve great coffee, even a vegan Golden Latte made with tumeric and almond milk. 
Paper straws, doggy treats and a clean the beach initiative (fill a bucket with trash for a free coffee) all make this one of my fav spots in Umhlanga.






Ushaka Marine World

The next day was still a bit chilly and so we decided to take the girls to Ushaka Marine World, a quick and easy 20 minute Uber ride away.


We never really do the Wet 'n Wild part of Ushaka, maybe when the kids are older but we have been going to the Sea World since Kesia was born. It is a remarkable experience for the kids.

The Sea World features a stunning aquarium and then also has dolphin, seal and penguin interactions. 


While I do not love the use of animals for entertainment, I must admit that Ushaka really emphasizes conservation and recycling in all of their exhibits and shows. 

They give the kids an appreciation of the ocean and its creatures and also an awareness of the problems they face and of what they can do as individuals to solve the problems. This is an amazing thing for the future generation.


Ushaka is also involved in the rehabilitation of marine animals found stranded along the coast.

So it is a question of weighing up the captivity of a few marine animals versus the awareness and appreciation of the ocean they can create for children. It is a tough question and I don't know what the answer is right now. I do know that the big sharks just kind of float around in their tank looking a bit sad but I'm not a shark expert and maybe that is normal behavior.

Anyway, the girls loved the experience and being able to see all the marine life up close, and of course they got to choose a souvenir at one of the excessive gift shops. They choose dolphins.





Maritimo's

After a morning at Ushaka we headed back to Umhlanga and a quick walk down the prom to the Cabana Beach Resort for a late lunch at Maritimo's - one of my all time favorite restaurants. We have visited several times in the past and had amazing experiences, and this visit was no different.

Amazing view and amazing curry.

We ate here twice during our stay, the food was perfection. They have a selection of curries, including mutton, prawn and vegetable (so something for everyone) and of course a whole other menu - that I didn't really concern myself with because I go there for curry.
They have a nice kids menu as well, my kids shared a burger.



Prawn Curry
 










The Beach

We managed to spend three mornings (out of four) on the beach, which is wonderful considering that it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere right now. The best part about winter holidays at the coast is the warmth! 
It is not hot but if you sit in the sun there is warmth and after the cold we've been having at home lately this was just the bee's knees.




Umhlanga Rocks is a beautiful and clean beach front and as we were not swimming we didn't even have to walk the couple of hundred meters to the lifeguard protected area and just plonked down on the sand right in front of our hotel, talk about convenience.

I spent my 33rd birthday morning soaking up some sun, stretched out in the sand and reading, it was bliss. There was also some sandcastle making, toe dipping and Baywatch style running with my girls.

My kids love the beach so much, especially Kesia and she has such a flower child surfer girl vibe that it seems to be her natural habitat. She spends the entire time with her feet in the water - the cold water.







The Italian Corner

The weather warmed up as the week progressed. Walking along the prom after a beach morning and spotting a gelato store is just perfection. 

The Italian Corner is a small gelato spot just up a little road along the prom, it really is very lovely. We all enjoyed a scoop of happiness sitting outside the store with a view of the ocean below. No one complained and so I'm sure all the flavors are great.






Gateway Theater of Shopping

I always shop on my birthday, it is my thing and it makes me happy. 

This year was no different, we caught an Uber to Gateway - one of South Africa's best malls. It is in Umhlanga and only a few minutes drive from the Sands. I particularly loved the experience of arriving at the mall at  the front entrance and not in the parking lot as usual.

Gateway has over 400 stores and all the ones you'd want are there. I had some much needed retail therapy and we enjoyed some Krispy Kreme as a family, the girls also had a good time on the exorbitantly expensive coin operated rides. 



We then met up with some family who live in the area, for a dinner. It took me an hour to choose a restaurant as there were hundreds of beautiful options but with 5 kids between us a play area was absolutely essential and eventually we settled on John Dory's  - only play area we could find. I must admit though it was a lovely evening and the food was good, and the kids had a blast.

We Ubered back to the hotel and arrived back so quickly that I'm sure we would have still be looking for our car in the parking lot under normal circumstances.



The Lighthouse District



If you are up for a bit of a longer walk (and you don't have a Vanna who at 4 still demands to be carried everywhere) then take a stroll down the prom toward the Lighthouse and hang a right up Lighthouse Road.

Literally food lovers central!

We were completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of restaurant choices available, we eventually choose Salsa Mexican Grill because it just looked awesome and had a chilled vibe.
I'm easily persuaded by pretty scatter cushions.

The food was incredible, we are not used to Mexican food and this was such a good experience, I loved that I could design my own burrito and the girls ate theirs which is unheard of. 
Also - we had churros, oh my golly gosh those things are good.



 


Slow Lounge 

We ended off our holiday at the Slow Lounge at King Shaka International Airport, how we love Slow Lounge. If you bank with FNB you have access to the Slow Lounge and it is frikken awesome. 

Beautiful bathrooms (you can even shower) comfortable seating, free and divine food (so much magnificent food) and just a chill place to wait for your flight - with coffee.


And then home.





We had a marvellous holiday and I am so incredibly grateful to my hubby for giving us this family time and this beautiful experience. It is so easy to get caught up in life at home and we don't always spend enough time together, so this was really special. 

Also we are not moving to Umhlanga (at least not in the immediate future) as we are very happy with where we live now, but a girl can dream!

Big disclaimer here folks - we went to Umhlanga off season, in winter, during school term. It was quiet and peaceful and empty and heavenly. I do not think we would have had the same wonderful experience in the peak holiday seasons. That being said it is well worth a visit and I hope you go there sometime, it's a lovely piece of the planet.

With love,
Chelsea




Comments

Popular Posts