Durban or Knysna?

Durban's beaches are in the city itself. The Golden Mile runs straight off the promenade for several kilometres, with piers, shark nets and lifeguards, and the water is warm enough to swim in any month. Tidal pools along the front give small children somewhere calm to splash, and Umhlanga and Ballito add quieter sand within easy reach.

Knysna sits on its lagoon, so a sea swim means driving to Brenton-on-Sea, Buffalo Bay or Plettenberg Bay. The water there is several degrees cooler, and upwelling can chill it within a day. The lagoon itself makes up for some of that: the sandbanks and shallows around Leisure Isle let toddlers paddle in still water with no surf at all, a quieter alternative to the tidal pools on Durban's busy front.

Durban's cooking has a real identity. Its Indian community gives it red, fiery curries and bunny chow, best eaten from takeaway counters, and masalas to buy at the Victoria Street Market. That alone makes eating out worth exploring.

Knysna's table is narrower and depends more on the setting: lagoon oysters, line fish and seafood platters over long lunches on Thesen Island, with local beer and Cape wine. It is pleasant, but once you have had the oysters there is little left to discover.

Durban is no grand sightseeing city, but it gives you a day or two of real substance. The City Hall with its art gallery, the Juma Masjid, the KwaMuhle Museum on the pass laws and Gandhi's Phoenix Settlement together trace a layered Indian, Zulu and apartheid-era history.

Knysna has far less: the small stone church at Belvidere, the gold-rush remains at Millwood and museums on the timber trade. Its real landmark, the Heads, is scenery rather than heritage.

Durban at least gives you choices. There are the terrace bars of Florida Road, polished lounges in Umhlanga and, with a local guide, the loud Sunday shisanyama sessions in the townships. Venues are spread out and you reach them by ride-hailing, but a night can run late.

In Knysna the evening is sundowners on a waterfront deck followed by a long dinner. Outside the summer peak and the festival weeks, the town is quiet well before midnight.

Nature is Knysna's strongest card. Trails under yellowwood trees, the lagoon for kayaking and sailing, the cliff paths of Featherbed and the Robberg Peninsula walk all lie within a short drive, and whales come inshore in winter and spring.

Durban's outdoors is mostly at sea: surfing all year, diving with ragged-tooth sharks at Aliwal Shoal and the winter sardine run. On land, Krantzkloof and the Valley of a Thousand Hills make good outings, but the Drakensberg and the big game reserves need overnight stays.

Both are pleasant rather than essential bases for outings, and both need a car. Trips from Durban lean towards history and farmland: Pietermaritzburg and its Gandhi station, the craft studios of the Midlands Meander and the Mandela Capture Site near Howick.

From Knysna the coast road links Plettenberg Bay, Wilderness and Mossel Bay. The drive over the Outeniqua passes to Oudtshoorn and the Cango Caves takes you into the dry Little Karoo, the biggest change of scenery either city offers.

Both work for children, in different ways. Durban has attractions: uShaka Marine World's aquarium and water park, the shark dissections at the Sharks Board, the cable car over the stadium and a beachfront promenade for scooters.

Knysna is an outdoor vacation instead, with boat trips through the Heads, walks with rescued elephants, and the primate park and bird aviary near Plettenberg Bay, but no theme parks or aquariums. Children who want rides will prefer Durban. Those who love animals and boats will be happy in Knysna.

You will need a car or ride-hailing in both. Durban has the beachfront promenade and a small bus along the shore, but it is a big, spread-out city whose old centre is uncomfortable to explore on foot, and ride-hailing is the easy answer.

In Knysna you can walk between the centre, the waterfront and Thesen Island, but everything you come for is strung along the N2 and up forest roads. Most visitors pick up a hire car at George airport, about an hour away.

Durban has more to buy, if not more style. There are the vast malls of Umhlanga Ridge for brands, spices and Indian goods at the Victoria Street Market, and Zulu beadwork and telephone-wire bowls along the beachfront.

Knysna is a place for browsing, with galleries and boutiques on Thesen Island. Its distinctive buy is furniture and turned wood made from local yellowwood and stinkwood by the town's craftsmen.

Both are good value, and Durban is the slightly cheaper stay. Bunny chow and takeaway curry make eating cheap and beachfront rooms are moderately priced, though daily ride-hailing adds up and Umhlanga costs noticeably more.

In Knysna, seafood dinners and guesthouses are reasonably priced and most outdoor activities cost little. Car hire is unavoidable, though, and coastal rooms are at their dearest over the December and January summer season.

Durban has a modest but genuine stage calendar: the Playhouse, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic in the City Hall, the Jomba dance festival and the Durban International Film Festival. It also has its own township sounds, gqom and maskandi, for those willing to seek out a local event.

Knysna has no theatre season or orchestra. Live music means weekend bands in pubs and the concerts that come with its festivals.

Knysna is the easier place to switch off. Lagoon decks, forest lodges, yoga retreats in the hills and a town that never hurries do most of the work, and the larger lodges have spas.

Durban itself is noisy and busy, and wellness there means good-value resort spas in Umhlanga or up towards Ballito. Visitors who want real quiet tend to head inland to the country spa hotels of the Midlands.