Johannesburg and Pretoria - The South Africa Most Visitors Fly Straight Past

For many international travellers arriving in South Africa, Johannesburg is little more than an airport.

They land at OR Tambo International Airport, spend perhaps one night at a nearby hotel and the following morning fly to Kruger, Victoria Falls, Botswana or somewhere else. Johannesburg and Pretoria often doesn't even make the itinerary. I think that's a pity.

I understand why it happens. When people dream about travelling to South Africa, they imagine Cape Town, Table Mountain, vineyards, wildlife and perhaps the Garden Route. Johannesburg and Pretoria don't have the same international tourism profile.

But if you want to understand South Africa beyond its famous attractions, Gauteng is one of the most interesting places to spend a few days. These are not safari destinations.

They offer something completely different, history, architecture, food, art, coffee, markets, neighbourhoods and perhaps most importantly, an opportunity to experience modern urban South Africa.

Johannesburg is not the city many people imagine

Mention Johannesburg to someone who has never been there and you'll often discover they already have an opinion about it. Unfortunately, much of that opinion comes from news reports.

Johannesburg certainly has its problems and visitors need to be sensible about where they go and how they get around. I would never pretend otherwise. But reducing an enormous city to its crime statistics tells you very little about what Johannesburg is actually like.

Johannesburg is energetic. It is constantly changing. And it is probably one of the best places in the country to understand the complicated story of modern South Africa. This is a city built on gold.

The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 transformed what had been open grassland into one of Africa's great cities. People arrived from across southern Africa and much further afield, creating the extraordinarily diverse city that exists today.

That history is still everywhere.

You can explore Johannesburg's mining origins, visit Constitution Hill, discover the story of apartheid at the Apartheid Museum, or spend time in Soweto, whose history is inseparable from South Africa's journey to democracy.

But Johannesburg isn't simply about looking backwards.

It is also one of the places where you can see modern Africa evolving in front of you.

 

A Question of Perspective

Perhaps the easiest way to understand Gauteng is to compare it with a city many international travellers already know.

Gauteng covers more than 18,000 square kilometres. It contains Johannesburg and Pretoria, but also dozens of suburbs, towns, business districts, residential communities and large areas of countryside, each with a very different character.

Yet overseas, particularly in conversations about crime, all of this is frequently reduced to a single word: Johannesburg.

We don't normally think this way about cities elsewhere in the world.

Melbourne in Australia, for example, has faced its own very real problems with youth gangs, carjackings, home invasions and knife crime. There have been highly publicised incidents involving machetes and knives and Victoria Police have devoted considerable resources to violent youth gangs.

Does that mean I would tell someone not to visit Melbourne? Of course not.

I would tell them that Melbourne is a large metropolitan area. Some places require greater awareness than others. I would tell them where to stay, where to eat, what to see and perhaps which places I would not recommend wandering around late at night.

And that is precisely how we should talk about Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Crime exists here. Pretending otherwise does nobody any favours. There are parts of Johannesburg I would not recommend to a first-time visitor, particularly without someone who knows the city.

But there are also leafy neighbourhoods, thriving restaurant and café precincts, galleries, markets, historical sites, remarkable architecture and some of the most culturally interesting communities in South Africa.

Drive north and Pretoria presents another side again jacaranda-lined streets, grand historic buildings, excellent restaurants, beautiful residential neighbourhoods and a very different pace and personality from Johannesburg.

Travel a little further and the urban landscape quickly gives way to an entirely different Gauteng. Hartbeespoort Dam, the Magaliesberg mountains, the Cradle of Humankind, Dinokeng Game Reserve and the countryside and small towns that surround the province, all within relatively easy reach of Johannesburg and Pretoria.

That's the part of Gauteng the headlines rarely show you.

The question shouldn't be, “Is Johannesburg safe?”

A much more useful question is, where in this enormous and diverse region should I go, what should I experience and how should I travel while I'm there?

Venture just a little further afield and the possibilities expand again. Sun City and the neighbouring Pilanesberg National Park are an easy extension from Gauteng, while the surrounding North West Province offers mountain landscapes, bushveld, game reserves and small country towns. These aren't places requiring another flight or complicated logistics, they're destinations that can be incorporated into a road trip from Johannesburg or Pretoria, turning what many travellers regard simply as their arrival point into the beginning of a much broader South African experience.

 

A city of neighbourhoods

One mistake visitors sometimes make is imagining Johannesburg as one enormous city centre. It isn't.

Johannesburg is better understood as a collection of neighbourhoods, each with a very different personality.

Rosebank has restaurants, hotels, galleries, cafés and shopping. Parkhurst has a village-like atmosphere centred around 4th Avenue, where restaurants and pavement cafés spill onto the street. Melville has long had a slightly bohemian personality, while areas such as Parkview, Greenside and Linden offer another glimpse into everyday Johannesburg life.

Then there is Sandton, modern, commercial and almost the complete opposite of the image many first-time visitors have of Africa. Glass towers, international hotels, restaurants, offices and shopping centres dominate the landscape.

That's part of the point.

Africa isn't frozen in some romantic image of wilderness. Johannesburg is Africa too.

The food tells another story

One of my favourite ways to understand a place is through its food.

Gauteng is particularly interesting because people from across South Africa, the African continent and the wider world have settled here. The result is an increasingly diverse food scene.

You can eat traditional South African dishes one day, Ethiopian food the next, followed by Indian, Portuguese, Italian, West African or contemporary African cuisine.

And then there is coffee.

Café culture has grown enormously across Johannesburg and Pretoria. Independent coffee shops, bakeries, small restaurants and neighbourhood cafés have become part of everyday life.

For a traveller, sitting at a café for an hour might not sound like an important tourism experience.

I think it can be.

You're watching people going to work, meeting friends, walking their dogs, having breakfast and simply getting on with life.

Sometimes that tells you more about a country than another organised tourist attraction.

And then there is Pretoria

Drive north from Johannesburg and the personality changes again.

Pretoria is greener, quieter and more relaxed.

It is famous for its jacaranda trees, which transform parts of the city into avenues of purple when they flower in spring. But there is much more to Pretoria than jacarandas.

The city contains some of South Africa's most significant architecture and historical landmarks.

The Union Buildings, designed by Sir Herbert Baker, dominate their hillside overlooking the city and remain one of South Africa's most recognisable government landmarks.

Then there is Church Square, with its collection of historic buildings and the Voortrekker Monument, which tells another important and sometimes contested  chapter of South African history.

Whatever your own perspective, these places matter because South Africa's history is complicated.

Understanding the country means being willing to explore all sides of that history.

Pretoria has another side too

Historic Pretoria is only part of the city.

Modern Pretoria stretches far beyond its old centre.

Neighbourhoods such as Hazelwood, Menlo Park, Brooklyn and Waterkloof have developed thriving restaurant and café scenes. In places, you'll find tree-lined streets, outdoor dining and busy neighbourhood restaurants that feel far removed from the stereotypical image many international travellers have of South African cities.

And then there are the markets.

Visit a farmers' market on a weekend morning and you encounter another side of South African life entirely.

Fresh produce, baked goods, coffee, local food, families and farmers all sharing the same space.

It isn't staged for tourists.

That's exactly why I enjoy it.

Two cities, two very different stories

Johannesburg and Pretoria sit relatively close together, yet they feel surprisingly different.

Johannesburg has an energy that comes from constantly reinventing itself.

Pretoria feels more measured.

Johannesburg tells the story of gold, migration, commerce, apartheid, resistance and the enormous economic forces that shaped modern South Africa.

Pretoria tells another story, government, politics, Afrikaner history, diplomacy, architecture and the administrative development of the country.

Together, they provide an extraordinary introduction to South Africa.

And they help put everything else you experience here into context.

How long should you stay?

I'm not suggesting someone visiting South Africa for the first time should spend a week sightseeing around Gauteng instead of going to Kruger or Cape Town.

But I do think two or three days can completely change your impression of the country.

Visit the Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill.

Spend some time in Soweto with someone who genuinely knows its history.

Explore a neighbourhood rather than simply driving through it.

Have lunch somewhere local.

Visit the Union Buildings.

Explore some of Pretoria's architecture.

Go to a market.

Find a good coffee shop and do absolutely nothing for an hour. You don't need to fill every minute.

Don't rush from the airport

South Africa is one of those countries that becomes more interesting the deeper you look.

The wildlife is extraordinary. Cape Town deserves its reputation. The Winelands are beautiful.

The country's coastline, mountains and small towns could fill several holidays on their own.

But South Africa isn't only found in the places featured on tourism posters.

So the next time your itinerary says: Arrive Johannesburg. Overnight. Fly to safari lodge. Perhaps don't be quite so quick to leave. Give Johannesburg and Pretoria a couple of days.

You might discover that the place you originally regarded as a transit stop becomes one of the most unexpected parts of your South African journey.

If this article has inspired you to experience Africa for yourself, Lux & Track Africa can help you create a journey designed around the landscapes, wildlife, culture and experiences that interest you most. Whether you prefer a privately tailored itinerary, travelling independently with our support, or joining one of our personally hosted small-group tours, get in touch with us and let us help you plan your African journey.

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