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A photograph of South Africa

Country guide

1 to 2 hours 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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43 places match

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Category

Historic sites 1 Museums 30 Places of worship 0 Nature sites 0 Viewpoints 0 Food and drink 0 Markets and shopping 0 Entertainment 0 Nightlife 0 Family attractions 2 Art and culture 1 Activities 9

Typical visit duration

Up to 1 hour 64 1 to 2 hours 43

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. Soweto Soweto
    02 2 hours

    Soweto

    Soweto is a township southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, established as a segregated residential area during apartheid. It became central to the anti-apartheid struggle, notably the 1976 Soweto Uprising.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Johannesburg
  3. Maboneng Precinct Maboneng Precinct
    03 2 hours

    Maboneng Precinct

    Maboneng

    Maboneng Precinct is a regenerated inner-city district in eastern Johannesburg, South Africa. The name means place of light in Sesotho.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Johannesburg
  4. Chapman's Peak Drive Chapman's Peak Drive
    04 2 hours

    Chapman's Peak Drive

    Chapman's Peak Drive is a spectacular coastal road that winds along the Atlantic-facing cliffs between Hout Bay and Noordhoek on the Cape Peninsula. The route is carved into the steep mountainside, offering dramatic ocean views from elevated vantage points.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Cape Town
  5. Camps Bay Camps Bay
    05 2 hours

    Camps Bay

    Camps Bay is an Atlantic seaboard suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, distinguished by its wide crescent beach and dramatic mountain scenery.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Cape Town
  6. Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre
    06 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
  7. Nelson Mandela Foundation Nelson Mandela Foundation
    07 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
  8. Hout Bay Harbour Hout Bay Harbour
    08 2 hours

    Hout Bay Harbour

    Hout Bay Harbour is a working fishing harbour situated in the coastal suburb of Hout Bay, approximately 20 kilometres south of Cape Town's city centre.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Cape Town
  9. Ponte City Apartments Ponte City Apartments
    09 2 hours

    Ponte City Apartments

    Ponte City

    Ponte City Apartments is a cylindrical residential skyscraper in the Hillbrow neighbourhood of Johannesburg, South Africa. Completed in 1975, the 54-storey building was designed by architects Manfred Hermer and Rodney Grosskopff.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Johannesburg
  10. Kalk Bay Kalk Bay
    10 2 hours

    Kalk Bay

    Kalk Bay is a historic fishing village on the False Bay coastline of Cape Town. It retains a working harbour where small-scale fishers still operate, alongside a main road lined with independent businesses.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Cape Town
  11. Main Street Mining District Main Street Mining District
    11 2 hours

    Main Street Mining District

    Main Street

    Main Street Mining District is a historic corridor in central Johannesburg where the city’s gold-rush origins remain visible in streets, buildings, monuments, and public art.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Johannesburg
  12. Chancellor House Chancellor House
    12 2 hours

    Chancellor House

    Chancellor House is a modest three-storey building in Johannesburg that served as the law offices of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo from 1952 to 1960.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Johannesburg
  13. Simon's Town Historic Mile Simon's Town Historic Mile
    13 2 hours

    Simon's Town Historic Mile

    Simon's Town Historic Mile is a heritage walking route through the central area of Simon's Town, a naval town on the False Bay coast of the Cape Peninsula.

    • Must see
    • Activity
    • Cape Town
  14. Groot Constantia Groot Constantia
    14 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
  15. Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa
    15 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
  16. Iziko South African Museum Iziko South African Museum
    16 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
  17. Satyagraha House Satyagraha House
    17 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
  18. Slave Lodge Slave Lodge
    18 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
  19. Apartheid Museum Apartheid Museum
    19 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
  20. Koopmans-de Wet House Koopmans-de Wet House
    20 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
  21. Johannesburg Art Gallery Johannesburg Art Gallery
    21 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
  22. Mandela House Mandela House
    22 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
  23. District Six Museum District Six Museum
    23 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
  24. Liliesleaf Farm Liliesleaf Farm
    24 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
  25. Hector Pieterson Museum Hector Pieterson Museum
    25 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
Show 18 more places

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.