Ten minutes from breakfast. Forty from the sea.
The cottage sits in Gillits, near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, between Hillcrest and Kloof, on the edge of the Valley of a Thousand Hills. It's a good part of the world to do nothing in — but if you'd rather not, here is everything we'd send you to.
Photo Jean & Nathalie, CC BY 2.0
Where everything is
Hillcrest one way along the old main road, Kloof the other, the valley opening out to the west and the sea down the highway to the east. The rings are how long you'll be in the car — most of this list is inside the second one.
Every place below opens in Google Maps for directions, without closing this page.
Ten minutes
Breakfast, a short walk, a zipline, and whatever you forgot to pack.
Twenty or thirty
The gorges, the markets, a steam train and the road into the valley.
Worth the drive
Sea, game and the Midlands — each an easy day out and back.
Drive times are approximate and depend on the traffic through Hillcrest. Days and hours change — worth a quick look at a place's own page before you set out.
Photographs, with thanks: Jean & Nathalie (CC BY 2.0) · JMK (CC BY-SA 3.0) · EricEnfermero (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Deversoirlibere (CC BY 3.0) · Bgabel (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Sherwin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Nicolette de Lange (CC BY-SA 4.0).