East London
East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen.
East London developed as London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of railways in the 19th century encouraged the eastward expansion of the East End of London and a proliferation of new suburbs. The industrial lands of East London are today an area of regeneration, which are well advanced in places such as Canary Wharf and ongoing elsewhere.
Getting to East London
East London can easily be reached by car. The N2 highway connects East London to Port Elizabeth and Durban ; the N6 goes to Bloemfontein. If you are coming from or going to Port Elizabeth you should consider taking the scenic R72 "Romantic Coast Road", which takes a bit longer, but offers spectacular views and some nice little coastal towns (such as Port Alfred).
- 01East London Airport
South African Airways flies from East London to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, as well as to some smaller cities in the country.
- 02East London
Station St (In the city centre, on the corner of Station and Terminus streets.).
Worth seeing
East Londoners are fortunate enough to have access to an amazing coast line with white sand beaches and excellent surfing spots like Nahoon Reef. "Vaalies" (as visitors from Gauteng, formerly Transvaal, are called) flock down to East London for sun, sea and sand over the Christmas/New Year and Easter periods. The East London Harbour is the only natural deep-water port South Africa has.
- 01East London Museum
319 Oxford Street, Southernwood (Entrance from Dawson Road), derekh@elmuseum.za.org.
Things to do
Inkwenkwezi Game Reserve, +27 43 734 3234, email: pdr@inkwenkwezi.co.za, website: www.inkwenkwezi.com. It has all of the Big Five game animals for a reasonable price. Mpongo Private Game Reserve, info@mpongo.com. Mpongo Private Game Reserve features rolling hills and river valleys on more than 3,500 hectares of conservation land. The Lion Park, info@thelionpark.co.za. Tue-Sun 8AM - 5PM.
Where to eat
The Guidos beach front should be visited while here, not forgetting the Milkshake Shop and the locally legendary Windmill. Cafe Neo, Windmill, 128 Moore Street Quigney (From East London Central drive along Fleet Street, turning left into Fitspatrick Road. Turn right into Moore continue straight ahead until Windmill Park.), info@neocafe.co.za. 7:30AM-10:30PM. Greek cafe, opened in 2017. R28.
Getting around East London the local way
- Get inon the corner of Buffalo and College streets are Minibus taxis going to port Elizabeth for R100.
From Wikivoyage: East London, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Unknown artistUnknown artist (Public domain), Wikimedia Commons.