Understanding Johannesburg
This is our most famous 4-hour walking tour and the one we recommend as a first introduction to the city, since it provides the best insight to the history of the city and what makes the contemporary city. This tour makes up one half of many of our full-day city immersion and apartheid struggle experiences too.
Starting off with a storytelling on the opening history of the city, we walk and explore the ‘Wiser West’ (Marshalltown), the oldest district of Joburg inner-city. Marvel at the architecture and stories of Joburg during the gold rush, the plush Edwardian era (early 1900s) and all the way to the diverse and energetic current-day Joburg with coffee shops and eateries along Main Street. Admire the Shadow Boxer sculpture where Mandela & Tambo once had offices. Be astonished by the square where Gandhi once worked as a lawyer in the court.
This tour tells the full story of Joburg – from pre-gold rush days to its ‘glory days’, spectacular urban decline and current-day city regeneration. You will leave astonished! It covers the history of Johannesburg in its 7-Phases of Development, including:
– the Victorian City of the Gold Rush (1880s and 90s).
– The Edwardian Empire City or London of Africa, post the Anglo-Boer War (1900s onwards).
– The Art Deco New York of Africa (1930s onwards)
– The Modernist Brutalist Apartheid City (1960s onwards)
– Sanctions, urban decline and the dawn of democracy (1980s and 90s)
– A new city in the north, post-sanctions/democratic era (1990s/2000s).
– Urban renewal in the old city (2000s and 2010s).
– New urban challenges and the future of Johannesburg.
Duration:
This tour lasts 4 hours and can be booked for 9am or 2pm starts.
Rates:
This is the only Johannesburg tour that is available as a public tour, booked on a per person basis. All other tours are available on a private booking basis.
Daily morning walking tours in Johannesburg & Cape Town! LocalPlaces offers its most popular Understanding Cape Town and Understanding Johannesburg walking tours as public tours and at an attractive discounted rate. Subject to availability as we often receive private group bookings for the same time slots. Booking with prepayment essential.
Perfect for a group of friends, a family, work colleagues, or solo travels to engage in a meaningful and most enjoyable activity. Join our thought-provoking and inspiring learning adventures and get to know more about the astonishing stories, people, spaces and places of our cities.
Book at a per person rate for any date available (we do have private full-day tour bookings here and there, so please check availability for the date you have in mind).
Special local rate (for anyone residing in South Africa): R600 per person.
Children (12-18): R250 per person.
Children under 12: Free
Special international rate: R850 per person.
Children (12-18): R425 per person.
Children under 12: Free
Tours run from 9am-1pm. Meet us at the dedicated starting points. These special prices only apply to the morning Understanding Cape Town and Understanding Johannesburg walking tours. All other tours available at full rates on a private booking basis.
Understanding Cape Town walking tours start at Ginja Restaurant at the Victoria & Alfred Hotel in the V&A Waterfront and end at the Company’s Garden. Tours are guided by Gerald Garner
Understanding Johannesburg walking tours start and end at JSE Newtown (the old stock exchange corner of Diagonal & Pritchard Streets). Underground paid parking available. Tours are guided by Charlie Moyo.
Available as a private tour at any time, at a minimum rate of R3100 for up to 4 guests
(or R775 per person if more than 4 guests).
Any food, drinks, or shopping along the way for guests’ own account.
BOOK NOW:
To book your tour, send an email to gerald@localplaces.co.za or a WhatsApp to + 27 82 894 5216.
Please do not phone as we are mostly busy hosting guests.
Send a message and we will contact you as soon as is possible.
We will respond to your booking request and provide an online payment link for you to pay by bank card to secure the booking.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
Guests participate in all LocalPlaces tours at their own risk. Neither LocalPlaces, nor its guides, accept any responsibility whatsoever for any injury, accident or death that may occur while participating in a LocalPlaces tour, whether in a public or a private space.
A tour booking is only secured upon payment.
Provisional bookings will automatically be cancelled if not paid within 48 hours from making a booking.
Bookings cannot be cancelled once paid for any reason whatsoever and no refunds will be offered for cancelled bookings.
Bookings can be postponed to another date if postponed more than 30 days in advance of the booked date. However, bookings cannot be postponed for any reason whatsoever within 30 days of the tour date, as we would lose the opportunity to take another booking for that slot.
STARTING POINT
We will stipulate the starting point for your tour in your booking confirmation letter. Most (but not all) tours start at the at JSE Newtown, 17 Diagonal Street (cnr Pritchard). We provide detailed directions of the safe route to drive if you come with your own car and need to park. However, we recommend that you Uber there.
SAFETY
We care for all our customers’ safety as our reputation depends on our guests feeling safe and enjoying their experiences. We have been doing tours safely in downtown Johannesburg for 13 years. Regardless of what your hotel receptionist, concierge or even other residents in the suburbs of Johannesburg, may tell you, it is safe to come on a walking tour in town. We would not recommend that you set out and go and explore on your own before having done a walking tour. As a tour will orientate you and give you the local streetwise knowledge of how to navigate the city and what to avoid. Gerald lived in the inner-city of Johannesburg for 10 years and loved walking around. Charlie lives in Maboneng on the eastern edge of the inner-city and loves it too!
Our starting point is carefully chosen so that we can meet safely in the foyer of a building and with our directions in the confirmation letter, you will know how to get there easily and simply. JSE Newtown is in Diagonal Street on the edge of the Southwestern Improvement District, opposite Bank City, the offices of First National Bank. It is the most beautiful, easily walkable and safest part of the city, with many security guards working for the many bank offices and for the improvement district in the area.
For private tour bookings, it is possible to arrange pick up and drop off from your hotel or accommodation, possibly for an additional fee, depending on location.
