Probably no other city in the world has so many nicknames. Fondly called Jo'burg, Joeys, Jozi, JHB, iGoli or Joni by South Africans, Johannesburg is located in the wealthiest Gauteng province of South Africa. Indeed it is the ‘city of gold'. Johannesburg has seen a tumultuous past but today it is free of discriminatory laws. It is now the financial hub of South Africa, even though desperate poverty also exists side by side. Though Johannesburg has traditionally not been known as a tourist destination, the city has immense potential as a tourist destination.

The city is also the transit point to reach Cape Town, Durban, and the Kruger National Park.

Our Johannesburg Destination Guide below will give you all the highlights of this amazing city and its surrounding areas. You now have all you need to plan your holiday to Johannesburg. To book an exciting tour or activity got to our Johannesburg Tours page. For more great stuff to do throughout the country, check out our South Africa Destination Guide.

Johannesburg has a relatively dry climate, and about six million trees, including the largest man-made forest in the world - with trees planted in the nineteenth century to provide wood for the mining industry. Although many tourists are obviously wary about the crime and safety conditions in the city, you only need to use your common sense and heed local advice to have a great time.

Things to See & Do in Johannesburg

Museums
Casinos
Cinemas
Sport
Cradle of Humankind
Alexandra
Botanic Gardens
Monte Casino Bird Gardens
Touring Soweto
Brixton Cemetery: Host to History
Kippies: Legendary Jazz Venue
Museum of Apartheid
Other Highlights

Museums

Worker's Library Museum
52 Jeppe St.
Johannesburg, South Africa
Phone: 011/834-1609
You will find this museum housed in a national monument, where you can view the living conditions of migrant workers. This can be enjoyed every day from 8:30am-4.30pm. Admission is free.

Gertrude Posel Gallery
Witwatersrand University
Senate House, Jorissen St.
Braamfontein , South Africa
Phone: 011/717-1365
You will find this gallery in Braamfontein, which is on the outskirts of the center of the city of Johannesburg. Visitors can spend a few hours browsing a lovely collection of tribal art and clothing. Another feature includes an entertaining display on South African soccer.

SAB World of Beer
15 President St., Newtown
Johannesburg, South Africa
Phone: 011/836-4900
Here you can enjoy a 90-min tour for $1.25 where you will discover the heritage of the beer of the area. This attraction is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am-6pm.

Apartheid Museum
6km (4 miles) South of Johannesburg
Johannesburg, South Africa
Phone: 011/309-4700
You will find this museum located opposite to the Gold Reef City casino. It usually takes about an hour to really take in the delightful displays at this interesting and enlightening museum. Children under 10 years of age are discouraged from attending due to the graphic nature.

The Johannesburg Art Gallery
Joubert Park
Johannesburg, South Africa
Phone: 011/725-3130
The history behind this gallery is that is it the first to be financed with the sale of a diamond. This is the site where you will encounter the Brenthurst Collection of African Art, as well as a few collections of traditional southern African pieces of artwork. It is free to enjoy this attraction.

Hector Pieterson Memorial
Hector Pieterson Square
Soweto, South Africa
Phone: 011/536-0611
Inside this site, you will be able to view video footage regarding the Soweto youth uprising. Even though the police reported 59 dead, it has been thought that almost 500 individuals had lost their lives. Many of the photos at this museum depict the anger, fear, brutality and grief of this tragic event in South African history.

Casinos

Montecasino draws more visitors than any other attraction in Johannesburg
Experience the unique passion, carefree atmosphere and joyous freedom of Italy and take a trip to old Tuscany without leaving the country.
Spend an evening with the high-rollers in the casino, take in the regal beauty of our feathered friends in the Montecasino Bird Gardens, spend the day in play with fun for the whole family, catch a movie or a show, shop up a storm, have a great night out or simply enjoy a quiet meal in one our many restaurants and coffee shops. It's the place to be!
www.montecasino.co.za

Emperors Palace
Emperors Palace is a sensational resort that combines timeless classical elegance and sheer excitement. Located next to the Johannesburg International Airport, the resort offers a unique experience with luxurious accommodation, leisure facilities, a magnificent casino with unparalleled gaming enjoyment, the finest in dining and entertainment and a children's paradise with an indoor themed entertainment centre.
http://www.emperorspalace.co.za/

Gold Reef City
14 Shaft, Northern Parkway Drive, Ormonde
Tel: 011 248 5000
Slot machines: 1600
Gaming tables: 50
Open 24 hours

Located in the city's south-west. Table games include blackjack, roulette and six different kinds of poker. An exclusive section for high rollers is called the Club Egoli Salon Privé. The casino also features three smoking casinos, Saratoga, Barney's and Market Gardens. On the premises, one of the city's top theatres, catering especially for tourists.
www.goldreefcity.co.za

Cinemas

Experience the movie scene like never before. With hundreds of cinemas to choose from entertainment is always close at hand. Ster Kinekor movie theaters can be found in Fourways, Westgate, Eastgate, Sandton and Rosebank malls. (0860 300 222) or www.sterkinekor.com. Imax Theaters can be found at Hyde Park Mall, Jan Smuts Ave, Hyde Park.

Sport

South Africans are loyal sport supporters. Famous places to watch sport in Johannesburg include:

Cricket
Wanderers Cricket Ground - Corlett Dr, Illovo

Football
FNB Stadium - Baragwanath Road, near Soweto
Ellis Park
Rand Stadium

Rugby
Ellis Park

Horse Racing
Turffontein Race Course

Cradle of Humankind

A visit here is sure to take you back in time. The Cradle of Humankind Site at Gauteng consists of a series of dolomite limestone caves which contain the fossils of animals, plants and hominid ancestors. Scientific evidence suggests that these dolomite caves started out as coral reefs growing under the sea about 2.3 billion years ago. As the reefs died out they were converted into limestone and finally into dolomite.

Caves were carved out in the dolomite when acidic water percolated and stalactites and stalagmites were formed. It is believed that animals and hominids which were trapped in the caves died and were eventually fossilised. Together these caves have yielded 850 hominid remains. In 1947 an almost complete skull of an adult female Australopithecus africanus was found in the Sterkfontein Caves and nicknamed 'Mrs.Ples'. ‘Little Foot', the oldest hominid skeleton discovered to date, was also found in the same caves. Indeed, this site is a treat for archaeologists and for those interested in prehistory.

Alexandra

Close to the heart of Johannesburg is the township of Alexandra, which is one of the earliest urban black settlements. Though apartheid was repealed in 1991, blacks still live in these settlements or ‘townships'. In 2001, the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP), an urban renewal project, was announced by President Thabo Mbeki, which hopes to change the physical, economic and social milieu of Alexandra.

Botanic Gardens

This garden, known locally as Emmarentia, was established only 30 years back and has a huge plant selection. Several conservation and research programmes are also underway in these gardens. Visitors to the place feel like they are in the more luxuriant part of the Sahara or the Namib Desert, which has more than 85 varieties of succulents.

Monte Casino Bird Gardens

Monte Casino opened in the year 2000 and is a relatively new attraction in Johannesburg. The architecture is Tuscan and is a visitor's delight, with the spectacular casino, restaurants, a fifteen screen cinema complex, children's entertainment centre, skate-park, and the Monte Casino Bird Gardens. The Bird Garden has the largest cycad collection, besides animals which are housed in their natural surroundings. The aviary surely is a must see.

Touring Soweto

Close to Johannesburg, Soweto - an acronym for South Western Townships - is the most populous black urban residential area and also the most metropolitan. Its genesis lies in the segregationist planning of South Africa. Later it was also the hotbed of many political campaigns and anti-apartheid movements. The streets of Soweto have also given South Africa its political personalities, including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Both these Nobel peace prize laureates once lived in the famed Vilakazi Street in Orlando West.

Brixton Cemetery: Host to History

The Brixton Cemetery has been witness to some bloody history. Here lie political leaders, journalists and unionists who have been part of South African history since 1912, the year the cemetery was laid out. It also has a Hindu wood burning crematorium arranged by Mahatma Gandhi. Close to the main entrance is a war monument which remembers the South Africans who died in the First World War.

Kippies: Legendary Jazz Venue

A Victorian loo becomes a Newtown jazz club, host to some of South Africa's great musicians.

Museum of Apartheid

This museum is a leading tourist attraction. Here the visitor can actually feel and perceive the angst of the antiapartheid movement while looking at the displays.

Other Highlights

Gandhi's Johannesburg: This tour takes you through Mahatma Gandhi's stay in Johannesburg and his non-violent struggle (satyagraha philosophy).

Old Fort and Constitutional Hill: This was the infamous site where people - including Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi - who raised their voices against apartheid were incarcerated.

Avalon's Thousand Graveside Cots: This graveyard is also a legacy of apartheid, where only blacks were buried. Already 30,000 people are buried here. Thousand of cots demarcate the graves. This is rooted in an old custom: due to rocky soil graves could not be dug too deep, and to reinforce the graves metal cots are positioned over them.

Mai-Mai: This is the city's oldest market and is famous for its traditional healers who use herbs to treat the physically and spiritually ill. You can also buy traditional African attire, jewellery and artefacts.

Ghost-buster Tour: This tour takes you through sites where some chilling murders have taken place.

Mine Shaft Trip: This trip takes you to an old gold mine and the place where Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived.

Johannesburg Destination Guide