Things to do in Johannesburg

Popular things to do in Johannesburg

Hello! I’m Tracy, one of South Africa Adventures tour guides and welcome to my blog on all the fun things to do in Johannesburg. I hope you got some awesome insight and advice. Being a local from Johannesburg, I have discovered some amazing, heart pumping and adventure packed activities.

It would be selfish of me to keep it all to myself, now wouldn’t it? So join me as I take you through some unusual things to do around Johannesburg.

Any comments would be highly appreciated which can be completed at the bottom of this article.

Johannesburg is fast becoming one of the best loved cities in South Africa by international travellers and locals alike. The city of Gold or ‘Jozi’ as the locals lie to call it is an international city bursting with entertaining and enchanting attractions. With so many things to do in Johannesburg and attractions to discover year round, there is an incredible amount of ways to experience the vibrancy of this young and upcoming city!

A lot of the Johannesburg guide books and websites tend to share the same tips on what to do and where to go. Apartheid museum, Soweto, lion park and the Cradle of Humankind are all great things to do when visiting Johannesburg but if you stick to the guidelines and recommendations you are going to miss out on a whole lot of really cool and ‘of the beaten track’ activities. We decided to go a bit deeper and find out from our South Africa Adventure clients as well as Facebook and Twitter followers what they think was the best things to do in Johannesburg.

‘We wanted to uncover what lies beyond the normal tourist sites. Hopefully this with our comprehensive list of things to do in Johannesburg we will encourage travellers from the world to explore the other side of the city. Discover Johannesburg’s unique culture, people and history through wildlife and safari activities, museums and archeologically rich sites’

When it comes to things to do in Johannesburg, we are going to have to be honest in our approach to what we think are the best things to do. Although there are many cultural and city type tours to do in and around Johannesburg, we are primarily an adventure company and have to say that tracking elephants in the Pilanesberg or experiencing the thrill of skydiving, walking with lions or rock climbing is more our scene.  What can I say? I’m an adventure bunny through and through and LOVE IT!!!

Top Things to Do in Johanesburg

• Experience a true African safari in the Pilanesberg, home of the big 5 and South Africa’s 4^th largest game park. Only 2 hours’ drive from Johannesburg. Never a dull moment on these tours. Plenty of wildlife and small custom tours so that we can give our clients a more authentic and real experience
• Go walking with wild elephants- an exhilarating experience where your guide is an African elephant. Yes you heard right!! A 4 ton female elephant and her 2 daughters. Spend an hour walking and interacting with the elephants in their natural environment.
• Go vertical and try your hand at rock climbing in the some of the incredible crags around Johannesburg. No experience needed. Our passionate guides will be making sure your experience is safe and enjoyable. No hanging upside down holding on with one finger I promise!
• Jump out of a perfectly good airplane and test your wits with a tandem sky diving session.
• Fly over the Magaliesberg Mountains in a hot-air balloon, and experience the thrill of floating like Phileas Fogg, hopefully without the fog.  Call it the ‘Around the Magaliesberg in 3hours’ adventure. A long awaited Jules Verne sequel.
• Gliding over the Magaliesberg mountains is an exhilarating flying experience that involves soaring on the thermals in an hour long flight in a fixed wing glider. Not only are the views incredible but the rush of taking the controls and flying is out of this world.
• Experience the ancient treasures of the Sterkfontein caves where the oldest known human fossil was found. And no it was not my mother in law. Nestled in the Cradle of humankind only 45 minutes from Johannesburg.
• Take a walk with lions in the African bush. This incredible experience will introduce you to the nature of these amazing animals as well as an in depth view into the lion research facility where the battle to save lions from Tuberculosis is the driving force behind the experience.
• Experience Johannesburg’s culture and ominous history in the form of a tour around Soweto and the Apartheid museum.
• Visit the vibrant cultural village of Lesedi where you will not only be introduced to the various South African tribes but will be blown away with a magical drumming session as well.
• Bungee jumping in to an old cooling tower. What was that? Jumping into a cooling tower? Yes you heard correctly. Sometimes it has to be done. Fight the fear and do something that scares you and leaves you with a bit more perspective on life.