Johannesburg Days 1 & 2: Hotel, Soweto & Proud Mary

Flew FlySafair from Cape Town to Joburg, checked into the Voco Johannesburg Rosebank, and took a day trip to Soweto and the Apartheid Museum

Talia Cadet

Mar 24, 2024

eGoli! The City of Gold! The actual one that once supplied 40% of the world’s gold at one point in time.

Watch the Soweto day trip companion vlog on TikTok and Instagram.

Read the Cape Town Day 6 blog here.

Flying from CPT to JNB

Skip the train and car. Just fly from Cape Town to Johannesburg.

There are many budget domestic flight options. We flew FlySafair from Cape Town International Airport to O.R. Tambo International Airport.

We flew business class, which includes two free checked bags, express security entry, empty middle seats and an 85 ZAR food and beverage stipend during the flight.

I did book a private airport transfer from JNB to our Johannesburg hotel, but that was a huge fail. How do arrive 30 minutes late in a Toyota Camry for three tall adults with six pieces of luggage? I DO NOT recommend booking Citi Shuttles via Viator. And I didn’t get off Viator’s neck for the next two weeks until they issued me a refund.

We ended up getting a sprinter van via Uber to Rosebank for $35ish.

Cost of business class flight: $158.12

When I booked: 1 month, 1 week prior

Hotel

I read and heard so much about safety in Jozi. It was overwhelming to be honest. More on that another time. Staying in Rosebank, a suburb northwest of Joburg, was a great choice.

The Voco Johannesburg Rosebank is an IHG property and sandwiched between The Zone and Rosebank Mall. Lots of food, shopping and foot traffic.

I was a fan of everything—my room, the dark and moody aesthetic, staff, customer service, security, location and restaurant.

Cost of two-night stay (I booked the other two nights with Chase points) for one: $307.45

When I booked: 4 months, 3 weeks prior

Breakfast at Proud Mary

One of the best parts of staying at the Voco was Proud Mary, the hotel’s restaurant and bar.

If anything, it spoiled me and made me lazy about fully exploring Johannesburg’s food scene. I had half of my meals in Johannesburg there. If I lived in the area, I’d be there often for cocktails, dinner and remote working.

The bacon, egg and cheese bagel and red juice were lovely.

Cost of breakfast: $7.61

Soweto + The Apartheid Museum

To really understand the country’s history and journey to democracy, you’ve got to go to Soweto. We did a day trip to the township 35 minutes southwest of Johannesburg with MoAfrika Tours.

We got picked up from our hotel a little after 9:30 am. There were about six other travelers staying at nearby Rosebank and Sandton hotels on the tour too.

After getting some photos at FNB Stadium, the Welcome to Soweto road sign and Soweto Towers, we drove past the largest hospital in the Southern Hemisphere and through the township’s “Beverly Hills.” We also took a walking tour through an informal settlement (think: shanty towns) where residents usually wait years (sometimes decades) for nearby social (government) housing.

Then, we headed to the busy Vilakazi Street in the township’s Orlando West neighborhood. The street is home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners—Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We visited the former’s home-turned-museum. Admission to Mandela House is optional and at your own expense ($3.15 for non-South African residents).

It was a short drive to the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum afterward. The museum is named for the youngest victim of the Soweto Youth Uprising, which started as a peaceful protest against the Apartheid government’s mandate forcing schools to teach in Afrikaans. Hundreds of Black South African schoolchildren were killed on June 16, 1976. You can’t take film or video inside the museum.

We headed back to Vilakazi Street for a buffet lunch at Sakhumzi Restaurant. It was OK. Very busy.

Heading back to Johannesburg, we made our final stop of the day. The Apartheid Museum doesn’t waste anytime transporting you back to 1948. You’re randomly given a White or Non-White admission ticket and must enter the museum through your designated entrance. Photos and videos aren’t allowed inside this museum too. Like Robben Island, you leave feeling all the things.

We got back to Rosebank a little after 5 p.m.

Cost of tour (Soweto, buffet lunch and admission to The Apartheid Museum): $91.82