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A photograph of South Africa

Country guide

Museums in South Africa

Nine provinces and 2,798 kilometres of coast, running from the South Atlantic round to the Indian Ocean, wrap 1,221,037 square kilometres and more than 63 milli...

Photograph · Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0

7,026 Places
2Cities

Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor

Nine provinces and 2,798 kilometres of coast, running from the South Atlantic round to the Indian Ocean, wrap 1,221,037 square kilometres and more than 63 million people. It has three capitals rather than one, which is fair warning about how spread out everything else is. Cape Town sits under a mountain in the southwestern corner and is the reason most first visits happen; Johannesburg inland is the economic centre and the airport nearly everyone arrives through; Durban on the Indian Ocean coast is the warm-water city. The game reserves are a separate journey again, hours from any of the three.

Checked 2026-08-25

Cities

Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.

Practical information

Language spoken
12 official languages; English is widely used in visitor services
National practical orientation; regional and minority languages may also be used
Dialling code
+27
International calling code; local area and mobile prefixes still apply
Currency
South African rand (ZAR)
Use the official local currency; card acceptance varies by place
Emergency number
112 from mobile · 10111 police · 10177 ambulance
Use only for an emergency; tourist assistance may use a separate number
Plug type
Type M and N · 230 V
Check that chargers support the recorded voltage before using an adapter
Tap water
Not recorded
Water conditions and restrictions vary by municipality

Top things to see

Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.

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30 places match

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Category

Historic sites 15 Museums 30 Places of worship 2 Nature sites 24 Viewpoints 6 Food and drink 0 Markets and shopping 10 Entertainment 0 Nightlife 0 Family attractions 2 Art and culture 9 Activities 9

Typical visit duration

1 to 2 hours 30

Interests

History 3 Art 0 Museums 3 Nature 0 Sea and beach 0 Viewpoints 0
  1. Robben Island Museum Robben Island Museum
    01 1 hr 30 min

    Robben Island Museum

    Robben Island Museum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Table Bay, approximately seven kilometres off the coast of Cape Town.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  2. Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre
    02 2 hours

    Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre

    The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre is a museum and educational facility located in the Rosebank area of Johannesburg. It examines the Holocaust alongside other genocides globally, with particular attention to South African human-rights history.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  3. Nelson Mandela Foundation Nelson Mandela Foundation
    03 2 hours

    Nelson Mandela Foundation

    The Nelson Mandela Foundation is an archive, exhibition, and research centre in Houghton, Johannesburg. It preserves and interprets Nelson Mandela’s papers, photographs, personal effects, and public legacy.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  4. Groot Constantia Groot Constantia
    04 1 hr 30 min

    Groot Constantia

    Groot Constantia Manor House

    Groot Constantia is a historic wine estate in Cape Town’s Constantia Valley. With origins in the seventeenth century, it combines a working vineyard with Cape Dutch heritage, wine experiences, and grounds suited to a slower half-day visit.

    • Must see
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  5. Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa
    05 1 hr 30 min

    Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa

    Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA)

    Zeitz MOCAA is a museum of contemporary African art housed in a converted historic grain silo at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  6. Iziko South African Museum Iziko South African Museum
    06 1 hr 30 min

    Iziko South African Museum

    Iziko South African Museum is South Africa's national natural-history museum, situated in Cape Town's historic Company's Garden. Established in the nineteenth century, it holds the status of a flagship heritage institution under the Iziko Museums of South Africa network.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  7. Satyagraha House Satyagraha House
    07 1 hr 30 min

    Satyagraha House

    Satyagraha House is a historic residence in Johannesburg where Mohandas Gandhi lived during his early political activism in South Africa. The house is associated with the development of Satyagraha, his philosophy of nonviolent resistance.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  8. Slave Lodge Slave Lodge
    08 1 hr 30 min

    Slave Lodge

    Iziko Slave Lodge

    Iziko Slave Lodge is a heritage museum in central Cape Town, housed in one of South Africa’s oldest surviving buildings.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  9. Apartheid Museum Apartheid Museum
    09 1 hr 30 min

    Apartheid Museum

    The Apartheid Museum is a Johannesburg museum dedicated to South Africa’s apartheid era and the country’s transition to democracy.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  10. Koopmans-de Wet House Koopmans-de Wet House
    10 1 hr 30 min

    Koopmans-de Wet House

    Koopmans-de Wet House is a historic house museum on Strand Street in central Cape Town. It preserves the domestic world associated with Marie Koopmans-de Wet and her sister, prominent figures in nineteenth-century Cape society.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  11. Johannesburg Art Gallery Johannesburg Art Gallery
    11 1 hr 30 min

    Johannesburg Art Gallery

    Johannesburg Art Gallery is a public art museum in Joubert Park, in Johannesburg’s inner city.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  12. Mandela House Mandela House
    12 1 hr 30 min

    Mandela House

    Mandela House is Nelson Mandela’s former home on Vilakazi Street in Orlando West, Soweto. Mandela lived in the house before his imprisonment and returned there briefly after his release in 1990.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  13. District Six Museum District Six Museum
    13 1 hr 30 min

    District Six Museum

    The District Six Museum is a community museum in Cape Town that preserves the memory of District Six, a vibrant multiracial neighbourhood demolished under apartheid-era forced removals.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  14. Liliesleaf Farm Liliesleaf Farm
    14 1 hr 30 min

    Liliesleaf Farm

    Liliesleaf Farm is a liberation-history museum in Rivonia, northern Johannesburg. The property served as an underground headquarters for the African National Congress during the early 1960s.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  15. Hector Pieterson Museum Hector Pieterson Museum
    15 1 hr 30 min

    Hector Pieterson Museum

    The Hector Pieterson Museum is a memorial museum in Soweto dedicated to the 1976 Soweto uprising.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  16. MuseuMAfricA MuseuMAfricA
    16 1 hr 30 min

    MuseuMAfricA

    Museum Africa

    Museum Africa is a museum in Newtown devoted to the social, cultural, and urban history of Johannesburg and Africa. It places the city within wider African stories of movement, work, community, political change, and cultural expression.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  17. Chavonnes Battery Chavonnes Battery
    17 1 hr 30 min

    Chavonnes Battery

    Chavonnes Battery Museum

    The Chavonnes Battery Museum preserves exposed eighteenth-century fortifications of the Dutch East India Company at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront. The site reveals original defensive walls and archaeological remains of a coastal battery built to protect Table Bay.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  18. Wits Art Museum Wits Art Museum
    18 1 hr 30 min

    Wits Art Museum

    Wits Art Museum is the public art museum of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The museum collects, preserves, and exhibits African and South African art within a university setting.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  19. James Hall Transport Museum James Hall Transport Museum
    19 1 hr 30 min

    James Hall Transport Museum

    James Hall Museum of Transport

    The James Hall Museum of Transport is a Johannesburg museum devoted to the history of transport in South Africa.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  20. Simon's Town Museum Simon's Town Museum
    20 1 hr 30 min

    Simon's Town Museum

    Simonstown Museum

    Simon's Town Museum is a local heritage museum in Simon's Town on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula, about forty kilometres south of Cape Town's central business district.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  21. South African Jewish Museum South African Jewish Museum
    21 1 hr 30 min

    South African Jewish Museum

    The South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town presents the history and influence of Jewish communities in South Africa. Beside the historic Gardens Synagogue, it connects community memory, migration and religious life with the wider story of the country.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  22. South African Naval Museum South African Naval Museum
    22 1 hr 30 min

    South African Naval Museum

    The South African Naval Museum is a military heritage institution located in Simon's Town, the historic home of South Africa's naval base. It occupies buildings within the naval dockyard complex, reflecting the area's longstanding maritime military significance.

    • High
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  23. Bo-Kaap museum Bo-Kaap museum
    23 1 hr 30 min

    Bo-Kaap museum

    Bo-Kaap Museum

    The Bo-Kaap Museum is a historic house museum located in the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood of Cape Town. It occupies one of the area's characteristic nineteenth-century houses, preserving the domestic heritage of a community historically associated with the Cape Malay culture.

    • Notable
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
  24. Origins Centre Origins Centre
    24 1 hr 30 min

    Origins Centre

    Origins Centre Museum is a museum at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The museum explores human origins, archaeology, rock art, indigenous knowledge, and southern African heritage.

    • Notable
    • Museum
    • Johannesburg
  25. Cape Town Diamond Museum Cape Town Diamond Museum
    25 1 hr 30 min

    Cape Town Diamond Museum

    The Cape Town Diamond Museum is a specialist museum located at the V&A Waterfront. It presents South Africa's diamond heritage through exhibits on historical mining operations and the development of diamond cutting craftsmanship.

    • Notable
    • Museum
    • Cape Town
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Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·

Common questions

How long should a first trip to South Africa be?

Ten to sixteen days is suitable for one South African region or a two-hub trip. Cape Town, Johannesburg, safari areas and the Garden Route are far enough apart that flights or long road days must be part of the plan.

What entry documents are needed for South Africa?

South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs publishes visa-exempt country information. Confirm the passport-specific rule, allowed stay and any transit requirement there before travel.

What is the best way to travel around South Africa?

Johannesburg and Cape Town are the largest air hubs, with domestic flights connecting major regions. Parks and rural routes often require driving or arranged transfers, and urban public transport differs substantially by city.

When is a practical time to visit South Africa?

March to May and September to November are broad shoulder periods, but Cape weather and inland safari seasons do not follow one calendar. Wildlife goals, road conditions and the chosen coast should determine dates.

What money and payment basics apply in South Africa?

South African rand (ZAR) is the recorded currency. National figures for visitor card acceptance and transaction fees are Not recorded; confirm payment and deposit terms with lodges, rental firms and remote operators.

What practical safety details should I save for South Africa?

From a mobile phone, 112 is the general emergency route; police use 10111 and ambulance services 10177. South Africa uses Type M and N plugs at 230 V, and tap-water guidance is Not recorded nationally here.