Durban or Gold Coast?

Both are beach cities first, with warm water all year and lifeguarded, flagged swimming, but the Gold Coast has the finer and more varied shore. Durban's Golden Mile runs from uShaka to the north beaches behind piers and shark nets. Umhlanga is the quieter alternative, and after heavy summer rain the water near the river mouths can be closed.

The Gold Coast's sand runs almost unbroken from Main Beach to Coolangatta, and each stretch has its own feel. Surfers Paradise is wide and backed by towers, and Burleigh has a grassy headland. The sheltered point beaches at Rainbow Bay and Greenmount are the gentlest swims, and the Broadwater lagoon offers flat water for small children.

Durban is the place to travel for food. Its Indian heritage gives it a fiery red curry and the bunny chow, best eaten from a plain takeaway counter in the centre. The Victoria Street Market sends you home with masalas. Away from curry the range narrows to seafood, braai and the restaurants of Florida Road.

The Gold Coast eats well but generically. Brunch cafés in Burleigh and Mermaid Beach, prawns and Moreton Bay bugs, brewery taprooms and twilight markets make for pleasant meals rather than a dish worth seeking out, and Surfers Paradise leans on chains.

Durban has more to understand. The City Hall holds the art gallery and the natural science museum, the Juma Masjid stands on Grey Street, the KwaMuhle Museum covers the pass laws, and Gandhi's Phoenix Settlement lies on the city's edge. Together they tell a layered story, even if a day or a guided walk covers most of it.

The Gold Coast is a young resort with little to see beyond the HOTA gallery by the Nerang River and the view from the SkyPoint deck. Serious sightseeing means a train to Brisbane.

The Gold Coast goes out harder and later. Cavill and Orchid Avenues in Surfers Paradise mean big clubs and young crowds into the small hours. Broadbeach's wine bars and Burleigh's rooftops and taprooms cover the calmer end.

Durban's evenings gather on Florida Road's terraces and in Umhlanga's hotel lounges, and you reach them by car rather than on foot. Its most memorable outing is a Sunday afternoon at a township shisanyama, ideally with someone local, and that is something the Gold Coast has no equivalent for.

The Gold Coast has the stronger outdoors. Inland, the World Heritage rainforest of Springbrook and Lamington lies within about an hour and a half, with the glow-worms at Natural Bridge. Offshore, the point breaks at Snapper Rocks and Kirra are among the best known surf waves anywhere, and humpbacks pass close from June to November.

Durban's best outdoors is underwater. Aliwal Shoal, an hour south, is a superb dive for ragged-tooth sharks, and the winter sardine run fills the coast with dolphins and gannets. The Valley of a Thousand Hills and Krantzkloof are close by, but the big game parks and the Drakensberg are overnight trips.

From the Gold Coast, the best outings are both quick and very different from the coast itself. Brisbane's galleries and South Bank are a train ride away, and Byron Bay and its hinterland villages lie about an hour south over the border. Tamborine Mountain adds wineries.

Durban's outings are gentler, and every one of them needs a car. You can visit Pietermaritzburg and the station tied to Gandhi, the craft studios and cheese makers of the Midlands Meander, and the Mandela Capture Site near Howick. The Zulu battlefields, the region's major heritage, are too far for a day.

Durban is a sound family beach city, though on a smaller scale than the Gold Coast. uShaka puts an aquarium and a water park right on the sand. The tidal pools, the cable car over the stadium and the shark dissections at the Sharks Board fill further days. Parents will need a car and should keep to busy areas, which is why many base themselves in Umhlanga.

The Gold Coast is built for children in a way few places are. Dreamworld, Movie World, Sea World and the water parks are spread out between Coomera and the Spit, so it pays to plan a day around each one. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary has koalas and kangaroos, and family apartments with pools are everywhere.

The Gold Coast is far easier without a car. The G:link light rail runs through Southport, Surfers and Broadbeach and connects to the Brisbane train, buses reach Coolangatta and the airport, and you only need to hire a car for the hinterland and the trips over the border.

Durban has no transport a visitor can comfortably rely on apart from the small beachfront bus. Ride-hailing is how most people get about, and a hire car is needed for any outing beyond the city.

Both coasts shop mainly in big malls, at Umhlanga Ridge in Durban and at Pacific Fair and the Harbour Town outlets on the Gold Coast, and neither has a real boutique street. What sets them apart is what you bring home. From Durban that means Zulu beadwork, wire bowls and spices from Victoria Street. From the Gold Coast it is mostly surfwear and finds from the beachfront night markets.

Durban is much the cheaper trip. Beachfront rooms are moderately priced, and curry, wine and beer cost little. The extra spending goes on daily ride-hailing or a hire car, and on staying in Umhlanga if you choose it.

On the Gold Coast you pay full Australian prices for meals, drinks and attractions. Theme-park tickets add up quickly for a family, although self-catering apartments and the free beaches and national parks soften the bill.

Durban has more of a stage life. The Playhouse stages theatre and dance, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic plays in the City Hall, and the Jomba dance festival and the film festival anchor the year. The city also has its own sounds, gqom and maskandi, though hearing them live takes local help.

On the Gold Coast, HOTA hosts touring shows and outdoor concerts, and the rest of the live music happens in pubs and surf clubs or at Blues on Broadbeach. For orchestras or serious theatre you go to Brisbane.

Neither coast has a bathing tradition, but the Gold Coast offers more ways to slow down. There are health retreats with yoga and rainforest walks around Tamborine Mountain and Currumbin Valley, and the southern suburbs around Burleigh and Coolangatta keep an unhurried pace.

In Durban, wellness means good-value resort spas in Umhlanga and towards Ballito. Real quiet means driving inland to the country spa hotels of the Midlands.