What is johannesburg like

Anyone else planning to do the same, hopefully this post clears some things up! With that said, now that all your questions have been answered about traveling in South Africa, read my perfect itinerary for planning a trip to the Rainbow Nation!

Johannesburg is the a common first stop to fly into for many international travelers. I would highly recommend a night or even two when visiting South Africa as it showcases a totally different side than the Cape. As an airline pilot I regularly fly to cities all over the world, including Johannesburg. First of all Johannesburg is not a safe city by any stretch — you need to be a bit street savvy to stay safe. It has beautiful areas, but the CBD in particular has been decimated since the ANC government took over — it was a clean, safe attractive city in my youth, not anymore.

However, I vehemently disagree with the statement that Johannesburg is the most unfriendly city in the world — on the contrary, you will find some of the warmest, most friendly people anywhere living there, black and white. Conde Nast is talking cr p. Hey Chris, very insightful comment! Also I agree that Joburg is not a safe city as a whole but I think from a tourism perspective people are not going to be staying or walking around cbd.

Most people just fly in, stay a night or two in Sandton cbd and then continue on to their safaris. Today April 18 South Africa Johannesburg is a very dangerous place for everyone.

Following that on May 13 , the wild gangs will go out within the city and throughout the country to seek out foreign African Nationals from other black African countries to kill them for taking away South African jobs. Tourists will also be targets as well.

Therefore South African Tourism ends May 13 and will never recover again. She now lives in South London, where she can walk to the local shops and now go out without a door to door taxi….. With that said, everyone has different experiences.

Personaly, I lived there for 2 years and where I lived I experienced nothing negative at all. I just remember how friendly the people of the country were to me and how much I enjoyed my time there. They exaggerate and tell a lot of lies Johnny, the far-right types. Great post. I will check again your next post.

I got a lot of information from your post. Thanks you. I visited many countries in the world and nowhere I did not feel so unsafe like in Johannesburg. I stayed in the district mainly populated by white people but still the feel of being white is strange there. Hi Johnny, I stumbled upon your blog and love it!

I spent 6 months working on a project in Jozi a couple of years ago and still miss brunch at 44 Stanley and Market on Main on Sundays… There is so much to love about the city and I am sad that it has such a bad reputation.. Question for you — how did you go about finding a job in SA?

Really curious to hear what industry you were in and what your thoughts are on the job hunt there. Thanks again for all of this useful info! Hi Mags, thanks for the kind words! I miss it a lot too! As for the job, I worked in a bank, and my company in America actually transferred me to the South African office. SA already has a huge unemployment problem, the last thing they will want to do is hire foreigners.

Thanks for the reply! Too bad! Thanks again! I met plenty of people that got working visas after they moved to SA. I just think being a foreigner, it is a an uphill battle that may only be appealing for the absolute die hards. This is so helpful.

This bad reputation made us wary to visit Joburg. After being victims of crime in Cape Town, we seriously considered driving straight to the airport after our three safaris and flying straight to New York.

We wanted to experience the maligned city and its food scene for ourselves. Beyond our survival without having to use our travel insurance even once, we discovered a cosmopolitan metropolis with more multiculturalism than any other city we visited in the country.

Like all big cities around the world, it has sketchy areas and its fair share of crime. We ate well, we slept well and we learned a lot during our visit. We were wondering what to do in Johannesburg and were pleasantly surprised to find a wide selection of things to do in Joburg. As tourists, we could have spent our few days doing activities in Johannesburg like drinking pints of brew at local breweries and bungee jumping off of the Orlando Towers.

We rolled up our sleeves and discovered the soul of the city. Johannesburg is a hip city. Residents walk with attitude and swag. And, if you have money to spend, there are plenty of stores for you to shop for designer clothes and signature art pieces.

Not all of the shopping is expensive though, as we found while shopping at Arts on Main in Maboneng where vendors sell colorful handicrafts for affordable prices.

But Johannesburg is its own city with its own character and personality. Older residents lived through Apartheid, and many were victims of its discrimination either directly or through friends and family members.

Remnants of this period still exist in the city, serving as monuments to a darker time without defining the city today or holding back its people from moving forward. We saw this resilience in street art and shining through the people we met during our visit.

Diversity in the people is the first thing that struck us in Johannesburg. Johannesburg travel guide Willy Kalala picked us up at the airport and welcomed us with open arms and colorful stories. Even our charming host was born in Scotland.

She came to Joburg for a holiday decades ago and never went home. We met expats everywhere we went in the city, though we also met plenty of natives who were proudly born and bred in Joburg. Warm, Proud and Friendly. These are just some of the adjectives we can use to describe the people we met throughout the city.

Like Kalala, the people of Joburg were anxious to show us their City of Gold literally built on gold mines. What excites us most is to see where the younger generation takes the city. This generation did not grow up during Apartheid, and they live in a city where the races blend together more so than we experienced anywhere else in the rest of the country. Although the city much to offer sophisticated travelers, there are a lot of fun things to do with kids in Joburg.

Though not as developed as the Cape Town food scene, Joburg food has it going on at all levels. Thanks to favorable exchange rates, most tourists will find the fine dining in Johannesburg to be refreshingly affordable. All three of these Johannesburg restaurants are serving exciting food in elegant spaces.

Marble Restaurant takes its fine dining experience in a different direction with a live-fire grill and open kitchen. Despite its down-and-dirty, modern approach to grilling pictured above, Marble offers a true luxury dining experience in the Rosebank neighborhood with a chic decor and impressive, glass-enclosed wine cellar. Interestingly, many of the top Johannesburg restaurants are located in hotels.

Here, Chef Marnus Scholly takes his safari culinary experiences to new heights with creative cooking at the highest level. Every course was a winner — especially the Impala Rump Tartare served with orange puree, confit egg yolk and salsa verde and paired with glasses of Faithful Hound wine from Stellenbosch.

Johannesburg is a city of neighborhoods, and many of the best Johannesburg restaurants can be found in neighborhoods like Parkhurst where we ate pasta on a bustling restaurant row. The gentrifying neighborhoods of Braamfontein and Maboneng have a large concentration of privately owned restaurants, many of them multicultural like CHE Argentine Grill , Mama Mexicana and Soul Souvlaki. Sometimes we find our favorite food at markets where we dine while standing up and eat food on plastic plates.

Such was the case in Johannesburg at Market on Main in Maboneng. This Sunday market has all kinds of savory food like Durban bunny chow and Ethiopian injera as well as sweet treats like CocoaFair bars from the Cape Town chocolate factory. The premier food market in Joburg, Market on Main is a great spot to sample lots of local food and also to people watch. Eating at this market is like taking a condensed Johannesburg food tour.

Not surprisingly, finding a good cappuccino was our priority one when we arrived in Johannesburg. Similar to Cape Town but on a smaller scale, Joburg has a thriving coffee culture.

But it was Craft Coffee , a local South African roastery, that truly wowed us with its commitment to beans from the farm all the way to the cup. Craft Coffee has all of the bells and whistles that are typical in specialty coffee shops around the world, but it also has a true sense of place. Instead of shying away from its storied past, Joburg shines a light on it. The result is both highly educational and utterly fascinating. More importantly, this attention on history will hopefully keep the past from repeating itself.

We toured dilapidated cells where we saw remnants of the inhumane conditions that political prisoners like Nelson Mandela experienced during their incarcerations. Start with a walk in Rosebank. One stop beyond Sandton on the Gautrain from the airport, this northern suburb is a cultural middle ground of the city.

A walk down Jan Smuts Avenue in Rosebank will include coffee bars, flower shops, vintage stores, and art galleries, like the avant-garde Goodman Gallery, which is plugged into all the latest artistic talent. Be confident, not cocky. Just follow the basic rules of not flashing your goods and not looking too lost. Drive, then walk. Johannesburg is an expansive and expanding city.

During apartheid, it was extended peripherally so the black population could be banished to the outskirts, but still live close enough to come in and work for the whites.

Getting around has never been convenient, and at some point you will need vehicular transport. Or do what many visitors do and just rent a car. But you should only use the wheels to get from place to place, and then get out and walk. We are murderous drivers though, so please beware of traffic. Expect parking tips. Listen to him, and tip him back. Look out for robots. Whether walking or driving, the traffic lights—or robots, as we call them—are where the action is.

At traffic lights you will also be accosted by street entrepreneurs, who can come in handy if you really need an in-car phone charger, suit hanger, or pumice stone in a pinch. Dip into Norwood. Like many economically precarious societies, South Africa is roiling with racial and xenophobic tension.

Between flare-ups, however, there is tacit coexistence. The communities dissolve into each other and you barely know when you are moving from one quarter to another.

The most popular restaurant here is The Schwarma Company, which despite its name is most famous for its massive Mediterranean-spiced steaks and ribs. You should go there. Also, one of the twins is really friendly while the other one is a total grump. Have fun trying to figure out which is which. On that note…. Eat your way through this city to know it.

Walk a few blocks up to Little Mogadishu and have tea and samosas at Kisimayo. Get piri-piri prawns the size of your toddler at the unpretentious Portuguese Troyeville Hotel , which also happens to have some of the best views of the city.