Durban runs on cheap: the entire 6km Golden Mile promenade is free, every municipal museum charges R0 entry, and the Grey Street grid serves samoosas at R8 and mutton bunnies at R55. Three days here can run under R400 in attractions and food.
Inside the 1910 Edwardian City Hall, this free municipal museum holds a dodo skeleton reconstruction, an Egyptian mummy and KwaZulu-Natal's insect collection. Open Mon–Sat 08:30–16:00, Sun 11:00–16:00. Entry costs nothing, no booking needed.
Africa's oldest surviving botanic garden (1849) spreads over 15 hectares in Berea with an orchid house, a cycad collection including an Encephalartos woodii clone, and a tea lawn. Gates open 07:30–17:15 daily. Entry is free year-round.
The 1904 Juma Masjid on Denis Hurley (Queen) Street is the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere, with gold-domed minarets over a colonnaded arcade of spice shops. Free guided visits run outside prayer times via the Islamic Propagation Centre next door.
Skip the R260 uShaka Wet 'n Wild ticket and walk the free public pier beside it. Vetch's Beach at its base is a sheltered lagoon where local swimmers and surf-ski paddlers gather at sunset with Bluff bush as the backdrop.
The 1973 market on Bertha Mkhize Street sells masala blends by the scoop — 'Mother-in-Law Exterminator' runs about R40 for 250g, turmeric and jeera far less. 170 stalls over two floors, open Mon–Sat 06:00–18:00, Sun until 16:00.
A 1912 lunch counter on Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street serving bean and vegetable bunny chows around R35, with samoosas at R8 and a chilli-lime pickle on every table. No frills, no alcohol, cash preferred, closes mid-afternoon.
Nine linked markets under the freeway ramps where 8,000 traders sell imifino greens, izinyoka herbs and fruit at township prices — mangoes at R5 each. The bead market and muthi (traditional medicine) market are the most photographed.
A family curry house running since the 1970s where a quarter mutton bunny costs about R70 and a bean bunny R40 — the benchmark most Durbanites judge others against. Portions defeat most first-timers; a quarter feeds two.
Durban's municipal People's Mover bus loops the beachfront and CBD for roughly R12 a ride. Ride it to Moses Mabhida, where walking the stadium precinct and the arch's base plaza costs nothing — only the SkyCar and Adventure Walk charge.
A 50-hectare pocket of coastal dune forest in the Berea with three marked trails and a wooden lookout deck over the harbour and Umgeni valley. Vervet monkeys and blue duiker are common. Open 07:00–16:00, free municipal entry.
Built into a disused quarry beneath 30m basalt cliffs with waterfalls, holding around 200 species. Entry is roughly R110 for adults — the cheapest wildlife attraction in Durban and a fraction of uShaka Sea World's gate price.
Take a minibus taxi north for about R25 to Umhlanga, where a free public boardwalk runs through mangrove and dune forest to the red-and-white 1954 lighthouse. Sunset light hits the whitewashed tower from behind the dunes.