Pretoria Walking Tour

Hello,

Me and my boyfriend will be visiting South Africa next month. There are two things I need to ask you guys about Pretoria.
1) Is it safe for a white couple to take a walking tour around the city? Or is it better to see it from the car windows?

2) Is it worth to go to Pretoria from Johannesburg, if one has only a half day to spare?

Thanks in advance for any answers :)

Magda

Hi Magda,

1) Are you referring to a walking tour that you do through a company with a guide or on your own? Johannesburg and Pretoria are both large and spread-out and not really suited for walking around in like European cities. You can of course walk around in some areas, but it would be much more convenient to drive around by car. The Gautrain bus also goes to some interesting sights. In Pretoria you can visit the Union Buildings and gardens where you have a nice view of the city while the Jacaranda trees are still blooming, this is a beautiful sight! You can see Jacarandas in Joburg too, look out for them in Tyrwhitt Avenue at Rosebank Mall. You can also visit Church Square, but I would recommend rather doing this on an organized tour, it's not really nice and always safe to drive or walk around in the CBD. Other places to see are the Voortrekker Monument and the Botanical Gardens.

2) Pretoria has a bit of a different atmosphere than Joburg, and also interesting to see, but half a day might be a bit short to make it worthwhile. In Johannesburg you can visit the Apartheid Museum and do a Soweto tour which you might find more interesting than just driving around in Pretoria.

Have a great trip! :-)

We are used to European cities, so we wanted to take a walk by ourselves, with the guide in hand. But considering your post we decided to skip Pretoria in total and focus on Joburg.
We've read a lot about safety, and as I understand the Hop on-Hop off bus is the best solution. I think well go with that. Thanks for your advice on the interesting places to see.

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.