Culture, History & City Tours

South Africa's history is visible in its cities: in its museums, its townships and the places where the country's struggle for freedom played out. A local guide brings these stories to life.

Johannesburg and Soweto

Apartheid Museum

The best place to understand apartheid and how it ended. Allow at least two hours. See Apartheid Museum.

Constitution Hill

A former prison where Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were both held. It is now home to the Constitutional Court. See Constitution Hill.

Soweto

Vilakazi Street, where Mandela's former house is now a museum and Archbishop Desmond Tutu also lived; the Hector Pieterson Memorial to the 1976 student uprising; and Regina Mundi Church. See Soweto.

Cradle of Humankind

A UNESCO site about an hour from Johannesburg, with the Sterkfontein Caves, where important early human fossils were found.

Pretoria

The Union Buildings and the Nelson Mandela statue, the Voortrekker Monument, Freedom Park and Church Square.

Durban and KwaZulu-Natal

Durban

A city with strong Indian heritage. Visit the Victoria Street Market, try a bunny chow and see Gandhi's Phoenix Settlement in Inanda. See Durban.

Nelson Mandela Capture Site

Near Howick, where Mandela was arrested in 1962, marked by a steel sculpture that forms his face when seen from the right spot.

Zulu battlefields

Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, where battles of the Anglo-Zulu War were fought on 22 and 23 January 1879.

Drakensberg rock art

Ancient San paintings at Kamberg and Giant's Castle, in a UNESCO-listed mountain park.

Cultural villages

PheZulu and DumaZulu near Durban and Lesedi near Johannesburg show traditional homes, dance and crafts.

Cape Town

Robben Island

The island prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years. See Robben Island tours.

Bo-Kaap and District Six

The Cape Malay quarter, and the museum to the families removed from District Six under apartheid.

Langa

Cape Town's oldest township, founded in 1927, with the Guga S'thebe arts centre and local restaurants. See Langa.

Visiting townships respectfully

• Go with a local guide who lives in or knows the community well.
• Ask before taking photographs of people.
• Buy from local artists and eat at local restaurants, so your money stays in the community.

Ways to book

Choose a half-day city tour, a full day in Soweto with the Apartheid Museum, or a private guide for a day planned around your interests. See private tours or small-group tours.