9 Best Sights in Johannesburg, South Africa

The Apartheid Museum, in Ormonde, takes you on a journey through South African apartheid history—from the entrance, where you pass through a turnstile according to your assigned skin color (Black or white), to the myriad historical, brutally honest, and sometimes shocking photographs, video displays, films, documents, and other exhibits. It's an emotional, multilayered journey. As you walk chronologically through the apartheid years and eventually reach the country's first steps to freedom, with democratic elections in 1994, you experience a taste of the pain and suffering with which so many South Africans had to live. A room with 121 ropes with hangman's knots hanging from the ceiling—one rope for each political prisoner executed in the apartheid era—is especially chilling.

Overlooking Jo'burg's inner city, Constitution Hill houses the Constitutional Court, which sits on the most important human rights cases, much like the Supreme Court of the United States. The slanting columns represent the trees under which African villagers met to discuss important matters and each of the 11 chairs of the justices are covered in Nguni cowhide, representing their individuality. If not in session, you can view it and its artworks.

This is also where you will find the austere Old Fort Prison Complex (also called Number Four), where thousands of political prisoners were incarcerated, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela, and iconic Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. There is no fee to explore the prison ramparts (built in the 1890s) but there is an hour-long highlights tour (R120) of the Old Fort Prison Complex every hour on the hour from 9 am to 4 pm, while the two-hour, full-site tour (R180) takes place at 10 am and 1 pm. Both tours visit the Women's Jail. Food I Love You, in the refurbished prison kitchen, serves breakfast, lunch, and grab-and-go bites with local flavor.

It will take you six minutes to get to the top of the longest mono-cableway in Africa to savor panoramic views of the Magaliesberg Mountains and Hartbeespoort Dam from an altitude of 1,985 meters (6,512 feet), and 345 meters (1,132 feet) above the base station. At the top, a short circular pathway (less than a mile in length) takes in indigenous flora, while signposts point out geological features of interest. There’s a restaurant at the bottom station, as well as three restaurants at the top that sell pizzas, pastas, sandwiches, and burgers. Treat yourself to a late-afternoon cocktail on the wooden deck at the mountaintop bar, while keeping an eye out for the resident black Cape vultures. After buying mementoes and branded items at the curio shop, you can also paraglide from the top with a qualified tandem flight instructor.

An award-winning national heritage site, this unassuming farm in the leafy Rivonia neighborhood is where ANC leaders plotted to overthrow the government, only to be thwarted by a police raid in 1963 that resulted in their incarceration. Nelson Mandela lived here, disguised as a domestic worker; though he wasn't here when the raid took place, he was implicated in the ensuing Rivonia Trial. The exhibits are extremely well done, with original video, images, audio, and text.

Maropeng is the official visitor center of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site and offers much more than information about the region: it's a modern, interactive museum dedicated to the history of humanity that kids will love. It provides information about the various fossil sites in the area. About a 90-minute drive from either Johannesburg or Pretoria, it's one of the area's top attractions. It's best visited in parallel with the nearby fossil site of Sterkfontein Caves, but to visit both you'll need to set aside at least half a day.

The city's zoo, covering nearly 200 acres, is considered one of the world's best, with about 9,000 animals from almost every continent (including rare Komodo dragons, the world's largest lizards). The animal enclosures here are much larger than those of most zoos. Like any modern zoo worth its name, this is just the public facade for a much larger organization that specializes in the research and breeding of endangered species. It includes an aquarium (with Africa's largest collection of freshwater fish) and reptile park, where the king crocodiles and the impressive collection of snakes don't fail to intimidate. A cable car transports you high above the zoo to a hilltop lookout, and it's a fun, worthwhile ride. It's also a good idea to rent a golf cart, so you can move more quickly between enclosures for the staggered feeding times each morning and afternoon.

If there's a symbol of Johannesburg, it's Ponte City, a massive, hollow 54-story cylinder of apartments that you might recall from watching District 9. Built in 1975, and standing at a height of 568 feet with a flashing advertisement at the top, it was, until recently, the tallest residential building in Africa. Once the apex of grand living, it became a slum in the 1990s as the middle class fled to the suburbs. It has since been revitalized, with young professionals, students, and immigrants moving in.

The Dlala Nje Foundation, on the ground floor of the building, is a safe space and community center for the neighborhood’s youth. It is funded by the four fascinating tours offered by the Dlala Nje Experiences Business, which takes visitors on walking tours of the inner city’s misunderstood suburbs. Leave all your prejudices behind as you explore Hillbrow, Yeoville, and Berea on a culinary, shopping, or queer tour, where you can interact with locals, many of whom are small-business owners, to gain a refreshed perspective on this vastly diverse city.

Originally a coal-fired power station, the brightly painted cooling towers are now a well-known Johannesburg landmark that's been transformed into an adrenaline junkie's paradise, where you can do bungee jumping and a SCAD Freefall from the top of the 33-story structure, as well as rock climbing and paintball. The viewing deck offers 360-degree views of Soweto below. Afterward, you can relax at Chaf-Pozi, the popular restaurant located on the premises that serves authentic South African cuisine.

Victoria Yards is an urban renewal project on the fringe of the inner city that has reimagined abandoned warehouses into a mixed-use lifestyle complex. It supports the surrounding community through its three on-site nonprofits and urban farming project, while locals and tourists explore the 50-odd artists’ workshops, decor showrooms, galleries, and fashion outlets housed in its brick-face buildings. The driving force behind Victoria Yards is sustainability, with tenants making designer bags from vibrant shweshwe fabric (a printed cotton fabric) and plastic waste, homeware made from recycled industrial parts, upcycled pre-loved clothing, and a sorbet stand that buys overripe, unsold fruit from community street-side sellers to make frozen desserts.

If your appetite gets the better of you on a visit, there’s an old-school "tuck shop," coffee roastery, and bakery that stands shoulder-to-shoulder to a small-batch gin distillery, as well as a bar, and a traditional walk-in fish-and-chips shop with wooden benches arranged in the courtyard. Although it’s open 7 days a week, the First Sunday Market (first Sunday of the month, 10 am–4 pm) hosts a collection of additional vendors who sell everything from collectibles, antiques, and handmade African curios to food and drink. There is free, undercover parking available, as well as overflow on-street parking with parking guards, making it safe to visit on your own.