Johannesburg, Apartheid Museum & Soweto Experience

At a glance

Johannesburg, Apartheid Museum & Soweto Experience is a 1h – 7h private experience in Johannesburg, South Africa, operated by Lets Go Travel and Leisure. Travellers rate it 5.0 out of 5 across 25 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor. Prices start from $135.71 per person, and free cancellation is available. Included: Air-conditioned vehicle, Lunch Can be Added.

Quick facts

Duration

1h – 7h

Group

Private tour — only your group

Languages

English

Pickup

Hotel pickup included

Confirmation

Instant confirmation

Ticket

Mobile or paper ticket accepted

Travellers

1–30 per booking

Ages

Infant 0–1 · Child 5–12 · Youth 13–21 · Adult 22–60 · Senior 61–105

Cancellation

Free cancellation (see policy)

Overview

Itinerary

1. Stop 1

   In the 1980s when Standard Bank was preparing the foundations for its new headquarters in the Johannesburg city centre, builders uncovered the entrance to a long-forgotten mine stope that dates back to the city's very earliest gold-mining days.
   
   During the completion of the building the mine stope was preserved and it is now open daily to visitors.
   
   The stope is named for Ignatius Phillip Ferreira, a farmer, soldier and prospector who left his hometown of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape to join the Gauteng gold rush in 1886. He founded one of the area's very first mining camps in July 1886, and just three months later struck gold.

2. Stop 2 · 1h 30m

   Constitution Hill represents South Africa’s dark past and its bright post-apartheid future. Johannesburg’s most notorious historic prisons (all of them now museums) sit side by side with the home of the Constitutional Court, a symbol of South Africa’s triumphant democracy. The site is located on the ridge between two city neighbourhoods, Hillbrow and Braamfontein, overlooking central Johannesburg....
   
   Historical background
   
   Before Constitutional Hill opened its doors as a museum in 2004, the precinct housed a collection of notorious prisons which included the Old Fort, a high-security prison built in the 1890s to house prisoners of war during the Anglo-Boer Wars (1899-1902), the Number Four prison block, a so-called “Native Prison”, and the Women’s Gaol.
   
   During the apartheid era the prison complex became a detention centre for political dissidents, striking mineworkers, those deemed “anti-establishment” and those who simply violated the inhuman pass laws of the time.
   
   Many ordinary and famous people were incarcerated here during its years as a prison including former president Nelson Mandela and passive resistance leader Mahatma Gandhi, who were both imprisoned for their pro-democracy activism.

3. Stop 3 · 1h

   Entrepreneur Jonathan Liebmann bought up dozens of rundown industrial warehouses and factories on the eastern edge of the inner­ city and set about transforming them. He was inspired by his travels to other cities where he had enjoyed the vibrancy of 24/7 urban life
   The name Maboneng is a Sotho word meaning “place of light”, and the growing precinct aims to transform an area that was once blighted by urban decay and crime into a safe, happening and inspiring place to live, work and play.
   
   Frequently compared with trendy, rejuvenated neighbourhoods such as London’s Shoreditch or New York’s Brooklyn, this pioneering precinct draws the inner-city public, as well as the chic, outgoing and party­loving crowds of the city’s northern suburbs.
   Best Place to be...(Sunday)

4. Stop 4

   Today, Newtown remains resolutely color-blind with artists of all races gathering here.
   Strategic regeneration projects in downtown Johannesburg have facilitated the development of Newtown as a tourist attraction, residential zone and cultural area.The bridge, which spans the railway tracks which separate the Newtown and Braamfontein neighbourhoods in the Johannesburg city centre took 18 months to build and was completed in 2003. It is the largest cable-stayed bridge in southern Africa
   Designed by leading architectural firm Dissing and Weitling, the bridge was specially designed to be lightweight –The construction of the bridge was part of a larger city project to rejuvenate and modernise the inner city and inspire both local and foreign visitors to the city, while also providing an easy, convenient and safe way for residents to travel between the two districts on foot or by car. Some of the trendiest places to visit in Johannesburg can be found in Newtown and Braamfontein.

5. Stop 5 · 2h

   Apartheid museum the first of its kind, illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid...

6. Stop 6 · 20m

   A stamp battery, or stamp mill, was a piece of equipment used to crush gold-bearing rock brought from underground.

7. Stop 7 · 15m

   Diepkloof Extension Upper Class
   Diepkloof is also characterized by Hostels, which were Built to House large numbers of single male migrant workers.

8. Stop 8

   The largest hospital in Africa and the third-largest hospital in the world.

9. Stop 9 · 15m

   Cooling towers make for one of the world’s most epic bungee jumps.

10. Stop 10 · 15m

    Vilakazi Street may be the only street in the world that can claim to have had two Nobel Laureates as residents - the late Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. The true electricity of this street comes from those who now call it home, each with their own beautiful stories.

11. Stop 11 · 30m

    8115 Vilakazi Street, Soweto, is a small, face-brick house where the Mandela family lived from 1946 to the 1990s. Today the house is a museum celebrating his life through artwork

12. Stop 12 · 30m

    Commemorates 12-year-old Hector’s ultimate sacrifice on June 16, the first child to die by a police bullet. He is buried in Avalon Cemetery, where many of apartheid’s victims are buried.

13. Stop 13

    Pass Demonstrations at Mzimhlophe station, Soweto. During the time of the Treason Trial, there were many protests to highlight the injustices of the South African Government.
    Home to unique Elephant Houses

14. Stop 14

    Coloured township. It is colloquially called "Bulte"(meaning Hills) by its residents and neighbors, as depicted by the Mine Dumps surrounding the Township. The name "Bulte" was coined as a form of endearment by the residen…

Meeting point

Traveller ratings

Good to know

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Specialized infant seats are available
• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
• All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Cancellation policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Frequently asked questions