Port Elizabeth, also known as Nelson Mandela Bay is seven hundred and seventy kilometers east of Cape Town. The city, often shortened to PE and nicknamed "The Friendly City" or "The Windy City", stretches for a distance of sixteen kilometers along Algoa Bay, and is one of the major seaports in South Africa.

The first Europeans to have visited the area were Portuguese explores Bartolomeu Dias, who landed on St Croix Island in Algoa Bay in 1488, and Vasco da Gama who noted the nearby Bird Island in 1497. For hundreds of years the area was simply marked on navigation charts as "a landing place with fresh water". Port Elizabeth was founded as a town in 1820 to house British settlers as a way of strengthening the border region between the Cape Colony and the warlike Xhosa tribe. The town was named Port Elizabeth after the wife of the former Cape Governor Sir Rufane Donkin, and there was a stone pyramid erected in her honour in the Donkin Reserve memorial park in the centre of Port Elizabeth.

Port Elizabeth has also become an important centre for the automobile industry with both Ford and VW (Uitenhage) production plants in the area. The region also serves as a major transport hub with its well equipped airport, harbour and port linking Southern Africa with other national and international destinations. The seaport is the third biggest, since Port Elizabeth has become an important container container terminal.

The city now forms part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality which has a population of over 1 million, making it the fifth largest city in South Africa in terms of population. With its mild winters and limited rainfall throughout the year, Port Elizabeth is rated as having the fourth best weather of any coastal city in the world, and is also a water sports mecca. The Bay offers visitors an impressive variety of activity throughout the year, and includes exceptional windsurfing and fishing. Algoa Bay is renowned as one of the best sailing venues in the world. Scuba diving in the area is also of world class quality, with visitors being given the choice of diving beautiful reefs and shipwrecks. Port Elizabeth is well known for its beautiful beaches , which include the St Georges Beach and Humewood beach, both boasting the sought after blue flag status. Port Elizabeth's combination of eco-attractions and adventure make it one of South Africa's top tourism destinations. Port Elizabeth is sure to provide hours upon hours of endless entertainment, offering visitors to the area a multitude of attractions which include a race track, a massive bouquet of museums to choose from, nature reserves, hiking trails, an aquarium, lion park, a casino and a variety of historical and cultural attractions.