Johannesburg
South Africa
The country’s engine room, and the place its recent history is told best
Photo by Clodagh Da Paixao on Unsplash
Photos by Lilishia Gounder, Simon Hurry, tebogo losaba and Tania Melnyczuk on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of South Africa
April to May, and September to October, between the summer storms and the cold winter nights
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 125mm in Jan
Where it is
26.20°S, 28.04°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Give the Apartheid Museum half a day, not an hour — it is built to be walked slowly
- See Soweto with a local guide, who brings the history the street signs do not
- Visit Constitution Hill, where the prison and the court that replaced it share one site
- Drive out to the Sterkfontein caves at the Cradle of Humankind
- Go to Maboneng or 4th Avenue on a weekend afternoon, when the city is out
- Take the Gautrain to Pretoria for the Union Buildings and the jacarandas in the spring
Johannesburg travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget South Africa
Good valueCards are taken almost everywhere; carry small notes for car guards, petrol attendants and tips. Skip the airport bureaux and draw rand from a bank machine instead.
ATMs & cards
Use machines inside a mall or a bank branch — Rosebank, Sandton City and the like — never a street-facing one, and never at night. Card swapping and “helpful” strangers at ATMs are the commonest scam against visitors here. Decline any offer of help and cover the keypad.
Avoid these
- street-facing machines
- any ATM at night
- any ATM where a stranger offers to help
Use these instead
- FNB
- Standard Bank
- Absa
- Nedbank — inside a mall or a branch
Card swapping and distraction at the machine is the specific risk. Use one inside a building, cover the keypad, and decline all assistance.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of South Africa
Take real careCrime is the thing to plan around, and the plan is simple: rideshare after dark however short the distance, keep the doors locked and the phone out of sight at traffic lights, where smash-and-grab happens, and do not stop on a highway shoulder. Thieves occasionally follow arriving passengers home from O.R. Tambo; the Gautrain or a car straight to a gated address avoids it. Walk by day, in the places people walk. Load-shedding, the rolling power cuts that defined the early 2020s, has not been needed since 2025, though local outages still happen.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (10 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Rosebank
- Sandton — and its malls
- Parkhurst — 4th Avenue’s restaurants
- Maboneng — by day, on its few busy blocks
- Apartheid Museum
Worth more attention
- Johannesburg CBD — on foot beyond a guided walk, and anywhere in it after dark — take a car
- traffic lights at night — smash-and-grab through a closed window; phone and bag in the boot, not on the seat
- the drive home from O.R. Tambo — follow-home robberies are a known pattern; go straight to a gated address and watch the mirror
- Melville Koppies — and the city’s other ridges alone; join the organised walks
- Stopping on a highway shoulder or for anyone flagging a car down
Johannesburg has a high crime rate and most visitors never meet it, because they follow the local rule: walk by day where people walk, and take a car after dark.
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa South Africa visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Other passports
No visa neededup to 30 days
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Two completely blank passport pages are required on arrival, and this is enforced — people are refused entry over it.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of South Africa
Good and affordableRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Malaria prophylaxis only if you are going to Kruger or the north-east — Cape Town has no malaria
Getting treated
Private hospitals (Netcare, Mediclinic) are genuinely world-class and cost far less than Europe or the US, which is why medical tourism exists here. The public system is overloaded. Insurance is worth it, and private ambulances (ER24, Netcare 911) respond faster than the state service.
Tap water is safe in Cape Town. No malaria in the Western Cape.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodThe city eats out more than it cooks: Parkhurst’s 4th Avenue and Rosebank for restaurants, Soweto for a shisa nyama, where you choose the meat at the butcher’s counter and it is grilled for you. Try pap and chakalaka with it, and bunny chow if you are not going to Durban. Wine prices are a fraction of Europe’s.
Travel tipsNightlife
A real music city — amapiano, deep house and jazz — with the evening spread across neighbourhoods that are a car ride apart rather than one strip.
- Braamfontein — student bars and rooftops by the university
- Maboneng — Sunday afternoons into evening
- 7th Street, Melville — the long-running bar strip
- 4th Avenue, Parkhurst — restaurants and wine bars, quieter
- Sandton — the clubs and the expensive end
Closing: Bars around midnight to 02:00; clubs later.
Rideshare door to door between venues, every time; the local habit, not caution for visitors.
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
- Against a taxi
- There is no metered taxi trade to speak of. The apps are how a visitor moves, and the minibus taxis are a different thing entirely.
Wait indoors for the car rather than on the street at night, which is what locals do.
Time zone and your working day
Africa/Johannesburg — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for South Africa, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
South African English — local usage
- HelloHowzit
- ThanksThanks / DankieDUNK-ee
- BarbecueBraaibry
- Traffic lightRobot
4 more phrases
- Yes, definitelyYebo
- No problemSharp sharp
- The bill, pleaseThe bill, please
- GoodbyeCheers / Totsiens
Religion
Christian majority
Around 80% Christian, alongside African traditional belief, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish communities. The constitution protects all of them explicitly.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with howzit and take time over it; abruptness is rude
- Tip 10-15% at restaurants, and a few rand to car guards
- Accept a braai invitation — it is the central social ritual
- Ask locally which areas to avoid; the answer changes by street and by hour
Don't
- Do not walk alone at night, or use a phone visibly in the street
- Do not accept help at ATMs from anyone, ever
- Do not discuss race and politics casually; the history is recent and raw
- Do not leave anything in a parked car, or resist if you are robbed
Where to stay in Johannesburg
No Holistay rentals in Johannesburg yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Johannesburg on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into O.R. Tambo, Johannesburg JNB
35 minfrom the airport· 22 km as the crow flies
35 min by Uber to Rosebank, or the Gautrain to Sandton.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
