Johannesburg

Johannesburg sits on the Highveld at around 1,750 metres, which gives it clear light, warm days and cold winter nights. It was founded in 1886 after gold was found on the Witwatersrand and grew faster than almost any city in the world.

It is a city of districts rather than a centre: the old CBD and the regenerating Maboneng and Braamfontein areas; the northern suburbs of Rosebank, Melville and Sandton where most business and visitor life happens; and Soweto to the south-west, a township of well over a million people with its own history and identity.

The Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage site holding some of the richest hominin fossil deposits on earth, lies just outside the city.

Johannesburg holds the two museums that explain modern South Africa better than anywhere else: the Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill. Neither is comfortable and both are essential.

It is also the country's creative and culinary centre, and the practical base for the Cradle of Humankind and for onward travel to Kruger and the rest of the region.

• The Apartheid Museum. A chronological account of the system and its dismantling, beginning by assigning visitors a racial classification at the entrance. Allow three hours.
• Constitution Hill. The old fort and prison complex where Gandhi and Mandela were both held, now the site of the Constitutional Court.
• Soweto. Vilakazi Street, the Hector Pieterson Museum and the Mandela house, usually visited with a guide or on a bicycle tour.
• Maboneng and Braamfontein. Regenerated inner-city districts with galleries, markets and rooftop bars; the Neighbourgoods Market in Braamfontein runs on Saturdays.
• The Cradle of Humankind. Sterkfontein Caves and the Maropeng visitor centre, about an hour north-west.
• Wits Art Museum and the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Strong African collections, the latter in a Lutyens building in a park that needs care around it.
• Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden. A gorge and waterfall west of the city with a resident pair of Verreaux's eagles.

March to May and September to November are the most comfortable: warm, dry and clear.

October to March is the rainy season, with dramatic but short afternoon thunderstorms; mornings are usually bright.

June to August is dry and sunny by day but genuinely cold at night, occasionally below freezing, and many buildings are not heated. It is the best time for combining a visit with Kruger, where dry-season wildlife viewing is easiest.

Rosebank is the most practical base: walkable, safe by local standards, with malls, restaurants, the Sunday market and a Gautrain station.

Melville and Parkhurst are older suburbs with independent restaurants and a village feel.

Sandton is the business district, with international hotels and the largest shopping centres; secure but sterile.

Maboneng puts you in the regenerated inner city, which is lively but requires more awareness, particularly at night.

CBD: the historic centre, with Gandhi Square, the Carlton Centre and a mix of decay and regeneration.

Braamfontein: student and creative district near Wits University, with markets and bars.

Maboneng: a redeveloped warehouse quarter east of the centre, with galleries and restaurants.

Rosebank: walkable, with malls, the African craft market and a Gautrain station.

Melville and Parkhurst: leafy older suburbs with strips of independent restaurants.

Sandton: the financial centre and the wealthiest square mile on the continent.

Soweto: the large south-western township, with its own museums, restaurants and tours.

Johannesburg is built for cars and distances are long. Ride-hailing apps are the standard way for visitors to move around and are inexpensive.

The Gautrain is a modern rail line linking OR Tambo airport, Sandton, Rosebank and Pretoria, and is the one genuinely useful public rail service.

The Rea Vaya bus rapid transit and the Gautrain buses fill in parts of the network. Minibus taxis are the majority local transport but are difficult for visitors to use.

Walking between districts is not advisable; walking within Rosebank, Melville, Parkhurst and Maboneng by day is normal.

Braai — barbecue — is the national social form rather than a dish, and boerewors is the sausage that goes on it.

Bunny chow, a hollowed loaf filled with curry, came from Durban's Indian community and is widely eaten. Pap with tomato and onion relish, and chakalaka, are the everyday accompaniments.

Kota, a quarter loaf stuffed with chips, polony and sauces, is the township street sandwich. Biltong and droëwors are the dried meats found everywhere.

The city's weekend markets — Neighbourgoods in Braamfontein, the Rosebank Sunday market — are the easiest way to eat across all of it at once.

The Cradle of Humankind, about an hour away, combines the Sterkfontein Caves with the Maropeng exhibition on human origins.

Pretoria, roughly an hour by Gautrain, has the Union Buildings, the Voortrekker Monument and jacaranda streets that bloom purple in October.

The Magaliesberg, north-west, offers hiking, hot-air ballooning and a change of landscape.

Pilanesberg National Park, around two and a half hours away in an extinct volcanic crater, is malaria-free and can be done as a long day, though an overnight is better. Kruger is a flight or a long drive and needs several days.

South Africa is good value for most international visitors. Restaurant meals, wine and ride-hailing are all inexpensive relative to Europe or North America.

Accommodation spans backpacker to luxury with strong mid-range options. Museum entries are modest. The larger costs are guided township tours, car hire and any onward safari, and the Gautrain, while convenient, is priced above other local transport.

Use ride-hailing apps. They are cheap, and walking between districts is not a normal way to move around this city.

Do not display phones, jewellery or bags in the CBD or at intersections, and keep car doors locked and windows up in traffic.

Visit Soweto with a guide. It adds the context that makes the day worthwhile, and local operators and bicycle tours are widely available.

Allow three hours for the Apartheid Museum and do not schedule anything demanding afterwards.

Winter nights are cold at altitude and heating is uncommon; bring layers even in a warm month.