4. Pumula Beach Resort (KwaZulu-Natal South Coast)

Pumula Beach Hotel is about an hour’s drive south of Durban on the KZN South Coast. It is the ideal base from which to explore what the ‘holiday coast’ has to offer. Or – in classic resort style – to simply stay put.

The hotel is surrounded by indigenous coastal vegetation and offers spectacular views over the Indian Ocean. Guests have exclusive access to a secure ‘blue-flag’ beach, and, perhaps most importantly, in peak season the holiday club offers a daily menu of different activities for kids.

There’s also babysitting if you want to enjoy a quiet meal at night or let the kids eat in the separate kiddies’ dining room with a special kids menu.

If the nine-hole adventure golf course, pools, jungle gym and trampolines are not to your kids’ liking, then the slides, swings and tree-house, or Sony Playstations and indoor games may be just the thing.

5. Cathedral Peak Hotel (Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal)

First opened in 1939 by the Van der Riet family, any list of classic South African family hotels would be incomplete without the inclusion of Cathedral Peak Hotel.

Situated within the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, a World Heritage Site, it lies some 250 kilometres from Durban and 400 from Johannesburg.

Keep the kids entertained with horse rides, quad and mountain bike trails, mini adventure golf, a playground, jumping castle, heated paddling pool and a trampoline.

For parents, the hotel has a golf course and three different bars and offers crackling wood fires and Glühwein in winter and hearty South African fare in the elegant dining room year-round. Babysitting services are available.