Things to do in Johannesburg
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Johannesburg
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best single window: art and jazz festivals in September, then jacarandas turn Rosebank and Westcliff purple in late October.
Autumn sweet spot: rain falls away, golden light, thin crowds and prime Pilanesberg and Cradle weather.
Dry blue winter with the best safari viewing, friendly hotel prices and cold nights, so pack a real jacket.
Warm green summer with afternoon thunderstorms. Mid December to early January many restaurants close as Joburgers leave for the coast.
What's on
- Ultra South Africa usually March
The Johannesburg leg of the electronic music festival at the Expo Centre, a big weekend for groups.
- Rand Show Easter weekend
South Africa's big consumer fair at Nasrec, a local family institution rather than a tourist must.
- FNB Art Joburg Early September
Africa's leading art fair at the Sandton Convention Centre, the heart of spring gallery season.
- Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Late September each year
Joburg's flagship music weekend at the Sandton Convention Centre, 50 plus acts across four stages.
- Jacaranda season late October to early November
Around 50,000 jacarandas bloom across Rosebank, Melville, Westcliff and Parktown, the most photogenic fortnight of the year.
Best things to do in Johannesburg
Apartheid Museum
The essential first stop: a powerful, disorientating museum on the rise and fall of apartheid.
Soweto Tour with a Sowetan Guide
A resident led tour of Vilakazi Street, Mandela House and the Hector Pieterson Memorial.
Constitution Hill
A former prison turned Constitutional Court, pairing naturally with the Apartheid Museum.
Wits Art Museum
One of the finest public collections of African art in the country, and admission is free.
Origins Centre
Rock art and human origins exhibits on the Wits campus, a short walk from the art museum.
Keyes Art Mile
Rosebank's gallery mile with Goodman, Circa and Everard Read, best on a gallery opening night.
44 Stanley
Converted industrial courtyards of indie shops and cafes, best late morning into a long lunch.
Victoria Yards
Working artists studios and gardens in a revitalised industrial complex, liveliest on First Sundays.
Where to stay in Johannesburg
Rosebank
first trip, all-round base
Affluent and precinct walkable by day, on the Gautrain, dense with galleries, restaurants and the Sunday Market.
Melrose Arch
families and an enclosed walkable precinct
A privately managed pedestrianised precinct of hotels, piazza restaurants and shops inside a security patrolled bubble.
Melrose
couples and food lovers
A leafy suburb a short Uber from Rosebank and Melrose Arch, home to the boutique base locals recommend.
Sandton
business, luxury malls and Gautrain convenience
South Africa's richest square mile around Nelson Mandela Square and Sandton City, polished but car scaled beyond it.
Melville, Parkhurst and Greenside
character, cafes and a local life feel
Leafy villagey suburbs of cafe strips and guesthouses, Uber door to door after dark rather than walk home.
Westcliff, Houghton and Sandhurst
splurge and quiet
Joburg's grandest suburbs under the jacarandas, glorious hotels with almost nothing walkable, so every outing is a car.
Think twice about
- Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville
High crime inner city districts named first by every local source. Only ever on a specialist guided tour, never as a base.
- Johannesburg CBD and downtown
Streets empty after business hours around Park Station and Gandhi Square. Visit specific sights guided and by day, do not sleep there.
- Maboneng and Jeppestown as a base
A great daytime visit in a rougher inner city area with night safety and parking flags. Sleep in Rosebank instead.
- Alexandra
A large poor township against wealthy Sandton, not a Sandton neighbourhood and not a visitor area outside a reputable community led tour.
Best restaurants in Johannesburg
Marble
David Higgs's live fire rooftop on Keyes Art Mile, the one restaurant to book before you fly.
Les Créatifs
Wandile Mabaso's intimate tasting menu room, French technique on South African ingredients.
Qunu
The Saxon's polished, quiet flagship, the anniversary and special occasion dinner.
The Pot Luck Club Johannesburg
Luke Dale Roberts's share plate concept at The Peech, the best group dinner in the north.
Proud Mary
A stylish all day eatery and wine bar on Cradock Avenue, the local's take visitors here spot.
The Grillhouse
Old school, clubby and reliable, the classic Joburg steakhouse locals send visitors to.
Level Four
Polished hotel fine dining at 54 on Bath, plus a noted Saturday afternoon tea.
Surasang
Korean BBQ on Parkhurst's 4th Avenue strip, where Joburg eats on a weeknight.
Outdoor things to do in Johannesburg
Pilanesberg National Park
A malaria free Big Five reserve in a volcanic crater, best as a sunrise day tour or overnight.
Maropeng Visitor Centre
The interactive, family friendly introduction to human evolution at the Cradle of Humankind.
Sterkfontein Caves
The underground cave tour where Mrs Ples and Little Foot were found, when flooding allows.
NIROX Sculpture Park
Large scale sculpture in landscaped parkland, a favourite weekend escape, weekends only.
Hartbeespoort Aerial Cableway
The cableway up the Magaliesberg for dam views and summit walks, Joburg's classic day trip.
Bill Harrop's Original Balloon Safaris
A sunrise hot air balloon flight over the Magalies Valley, the splurge start to a Harties day.
Royal Johannesburg
Two parkland courses, the championship East and friendlier West, in top local condition.
Glendower Golf Club
A wooded, bird rich former SA Open course proclaimed a nature reserve, a stern test.
Best hotels in Johannesburg
The Peech Hotel
A calm 32 room boutique in two acres of gardens, the couples and food lover's pick.
54 on Bath
A small luxury hotel on Bath Avenue with a Gautrain station walk, the first timer's splurge.
Four Seasons Hotel The Westcliff Johannesburg
A village like resort on the Westcliff ridge with pools, spa and jacaranda views below.
Saxon Hotel, Villas & Spa
Joburg's most private luxury hotel in walled gardens, where Mandela edited his autobiography.
Johannesburg Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch
A full service hotel inside the Melrose Arch precinct, stepping straight out to the piazza.
African Pride Melrose Arch, Autograph Collection
The other full service precinct hotel, easy with kids and groups inside security patrolled streets.
Radisson RED Hotel Rosebank
The livelier Rosebank option with a rooftop bar, a few minutes from the Gautrain.
Southern Sun Rosebank
The larger, dependable business leisure workhorse on Oxford Road in the right precinct.
Is Johannesburg expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ZAR 1,100 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ZAR 2,000 a person |
| Splurge | ZAR 5,500 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Soweto Tour with a Sowetan Guide: a few days ahead
- Private Soweto and Apartheid Museum Tour: a few days ahead
- Johannesburg Helicopter Scenic Flight: a few days ahead
- Pilanesberg National Park: a few days ahead
- NIROX Sculpture Park: a few days ahead
- Royal Johannesburg: a few days ahead
- Glendower Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Houghton Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Marble and Les Créatifs: book as soon as dates are fixed, especially Thursday to Saturday, on Dineplan where listed.
- Soweto plus Apartheid Museum tours and Pilanesberg sunrise safaris fill 2 to 7 days ahead in peak season.
- The Apartheid Museum is closed Mondays, Sterkfontein Caves can close for flooding, and NIROX is weekends only, so check all three that week.
- Festival weekends in March and September spike Sandton and Rosebank hotel prices, so book rooms early if your dates collide.
Is Johannesburg safe?
- Base in the northern suburbs and do the inner city, Braamfontein, Maboneng and Soweto guided, in a group, by day, door to door.
- Never walk at night outside a precinct, not even a short walk in Sandton or Melville. Inside Melrose Arch, Rosebank and Mandela Square precincts, evening strolling is normal.
- Phone discipline is the top local habit: never walk with it in your hand, never leave it on an outdoor cafe table, and keep car windows up.
- From OR Tambo use the Gautrain, a pre-booked hotel transfer or the official Uber pickup, following warnings about criminals following travellers from the airport.
- At traffic lights keep doors locked, windows closed and valuables in the boot. Do not stop for apparent breakdowns or people flagging you down in quiet areas.
- If robbed, hand everything over and do not resist. Police 10111, ambulance and fire 10177. Tap water is safe, altitude is about 1,750m, and confirm backup power for load shedding.
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
Johannesburg travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Staying downtown or in Hillbrow, Berea or Yeoville for authenticity or price is the unsafe choice, not an edgy one.
- Gold Reef City is a decent theme park beside a great museum. Never trade Soweto or Constitution Hill time for it.
- Nelson Mandela Square and Sandton City are a photo and a mall, twenty minutes inside a Sandton stay, not an itinerary item.
- DIY Soweto, DIY inner city walking and DIY Johannesburg Art Gallery range from flat to unsafe. The guided version is the product.
- Skip lion cub petting and walk with lions upsells near Broederstroom, widely criticised locally on welfare grounds.
- Montecasino as an evening out is a Tuscan themed casino mall. Rosebank and Melrose Arch do the same evening better.
Getting around Johannesburg: public transport and more
- Uber and Bolt are the default: plentiful in the northern suburbs, cheap and door to door. Wait inside until the car arrives and check the plate.
- The Gautrain links OR Tambo with Sandton, Rosebank, Park Station and Pretoria. It serves a corridor, so Uber from the station for everything else.
- Self driving works for Cradle, Pilanesberg and Magaliesberg days: doors locked, windows up, nothing visible in the car, route planned before you move.
- Do not use minibus taxis or street hailed taxis, and do not walk between neighbourhoods. Guided tours and the red bus are the safe sightseeing layer.
Who Johannesburg suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Johannesburg your trip
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