Umhlanga’s grand old hotels still going strong
A revamped Oyster Box and the stylish Beverly Hills welcome new generations seeking a winter getaway
The slender red-and-white lighthouse is the iconic image of Durban’s always-on-holiday Umhlanga, and of The Oyster Box and Beverly Hills hotels overlooking it. The Beverly Hills opened in 1964, and was SA’s first five-star graded property. It was the first hotel in the Sun King’s empire, named after Sol Kerzner’s daughter. It still dominates the skyline and, now managed by Tsogo Sun, remains Umhlanga’s alpha hotel. Although built in the 1950s and one of the first hotels in the town, The Oyster Box Hotel’s glamorous reimagining by The Red Carnation Hotel Group in 2006 makes it the most stylish destination. It is no mean feat to create a hotel that has all the elegance of a grande dame where people still feel at home in their Vilbrequin swimwear trailing beach sand or water after they’ve had enough of the two heated pools. It’s a bit like Venice’s Hotel Cipriani in that respect — uber stylish, but well lived-in. It attracts regulars for long-stay vacations as well as being the go-to p...
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