Johannesburg Historical Sites Full-Day Tour

An incredible full-day tour covering the most important historical sites in Johannesburg! An absolute must for anyone interested in the history and foundations of South Africa.

What to expect:

Duration: 8 hours

Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial

8287 Khumalo St, , Soweto

The Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, situated in Orlando West, Soweto, commemorates the role of the country’s students in the struggle against apartheid and in particular the role played by the school children who took part in the Soweto protests of 1976, many of whom were shot by the apartheid police while protesting against the sub-standard of education in black schools in South Africa.

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Mandela House

8115 Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto, 1804

The Mandela House strives to be a world-class visitor attraction, and a leading centre for the preservation, presentation, and research of the history, heritage and legacy of the Mandela Family.

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Vilakazi Street

Vilakazi Street, Soweto, 1804

Vilakazi Street is the Soweto street of the greats, named after Dr Benedict Wallet Vilakazi, a distinguished writer and educator who wrote the first poetry book published in Zulu. The homes of two Nobel Peace Prize laureates – South Africa’s first democratically elected president, the late Nelson Mandela, and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu – are found on Vilakazi Street. This is the only street in the world that can boast having had two Nobel Laureates as residents.

20 minutes

Orlando Towers

, , Soweto

The Orlando Power Station, when it was active, was considered one of the most advanced in the Southern hemisphere. The colourful Orlando Towers are now not only one of the most distinctive landmarks in Soweto, but they’re also the site of the world’s first bungee jump between two cooling towers. Look out over South Africa’s most famous township as you embark on an unparalleled experience that will get your adrenaline pumping and provide you with memories that will last a lifetime

10 minutes

Apartheid Museum

Northern Park Way and Gold Reef Rd, Johannesburg, 2001

The Apartheid Museum, the first of its kind, illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid. An architectural consortium, comprising several leading architectural firms, conceptualised the design of the building on a seven-hectare stand. The museum is a superb example of design, space and landscape offering the international community a unique South African experience. The exhibits have been assembled and organised by a multi-disciplinary team of curators, film-makers, historians and designers. They include provocative film footage, photographs, text panels and artefacts illustrating the events and human stories that are part of the epic saga, known as apartheid. A series of 22 individual exhibition areas takes the visitor through a dramatic emotional journey that tells a story of a state-sanctioned system based on racial discrimination and the struggle of the majority to overthrow this tyranny. For anyone wanting to understand and experience what apartheid South Africa was really like, a visit to the Apartheid Museum is fundamental. The museum is a beacon of hope showing the world how South Africa is coming to terms with its oppressive past and working towards a future that all South Africans can call their own.

1 hour, 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Top of Africa

Main Street near Krus Street, top of the 50-story Carlton Centre, Johannesburg

If you want a bird’s-eye view of Johannesburg, the 50-storey Carlton Centre is the place to go. Visitors to the centre can enjoy a panoramic view of the City of Gold from the Top of Africa, as the topmost floor of the building is known: 360 degrees of dense cityscape and outwards towards the countryside and beyond. The tallest building in Africa and once the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, the Carlton Centre stands 223m high – about 40m shy of featuring on the world’s top 100 skyscrapers list. However, this feat of architecture makes the centre one of the must-see Johannesburg attractions. Construction was a lengthy process, beginning in 1967 and ending in 1974, although the centre officially opened in 1973.

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Constitution Hill Human Rights Precinct

11 Kotze Street, Johannesburg, 2001

Constitution Hill is a living museum that tells the story of South Africa’s journey to democracy. The site is a former prison and military fort that bears testament to South Africa’s turbulent past and, today, is home to the country’s Constitutional Court, which endorses the rights of all citizens. There is perhaps no other site of incarceration in South Africa that imprisoned the sheer number of world-renowned men and women as those held within the walls of Constitution Hill’s Old Fort, Women's Jail and Number Four. Nelson Mandela. Mahatma Gandhi. Joe Slovo. Albertina Sisulu. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Fatima Meer. They all served time here. But the precinct also confined tens of thousands of ordinary people during its 100-year history: men and women of all races, creeds, ages and political agendas; children too; the everyman and the elite. In this way, the history of every South African lives here.

1 hour, 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included