Taking a stroll through the streets of Johannesburg. Photo / The New York Times
For too long, Johannesburg was a victim of its own reputation for violent crime, with citizens retreating behind high walls and socialising in shopping malls.
A culture shift — partly spurred by the city’s strict pandemic lockdowns — has many Joburgers rediscovering the outdoors and the city’s Goldilocks weather (not too hot, not too cold) to dine and dance under the open sky.
Over a weekend in this modern, contradictory city, wander through changing neighbourhoods that are embracing galleries and sidewalk cafes, pull up a plastic chair at a market for unfussy barbecue, or sing along at a theatre with a rich history of protest performance.
And no longer the no-go area for tourists, as it was during the apartheid era, Soweto is a testament to black South Africa’s contemporary creativity and unbridled joy. Take a turn, or as South Africans say, a “short left,” and be rewarded in Joburg.
4pm | Change your perspective
Stroll Rosebank, an arts district, to take in Johannesburg’s emerging and irreverent artists, who may challenge what you think you know about South Africa. Make your way up the Keyes Art Mile, a precinct of contemporary galleries and design showrooms.
Drop into BKhz gallery, founded by Banele Khoza, a young Eswatini-born artist and gallerist who opened the Rosebank space in 2021 to show works by rising South African talent such as WonderBuhle, a visual artist from Durban whose colourful portraits pop with his signature floral motifs, and Zandile Tshabalala, a Soweto-born artist whose recent exhibition turned the gallery’s floor into a secret garden for lovers.
6pm | Take in the sunset
Even over the modern skyline, the African sunset remains a majestic dance of yellows, oranges and purples. After gallery-hopping, watch the spectacle with a cocktail at Marble, also in the Keyes precinct.
The restaurant and bar, accented with cement and copper, has floor-to-ceiling windows and vertical iron beams that branch toward the ceiling, resembling an acacia tree. The bar doesn’t take reservations, so just walk in to grab a table on its terrace, where you can have cocktails such as the sublime Golden Hour, which will make you believe that pumpkin spice should be enjoyed year-round (cocktails from 140 rand, or $7.50).
Or order the MCC — methode cap classique, South Africa’s fruity bubbly — starting at 95 rand a glass or 495 rand a bottle.
8pm | Dine amid butterflies
Riding the wave of Rosebank’s ongoing revival is the Shortmarket Club, which was opened by chef Luke Dale Roberts in 2021. The decor nods to the city’s Art Deco architecture with touches of brass, while a kitschy but quaint cloud of butterflies hangs from the ceiling.
The menu, mostly European with an Asian influence, nods to South African favourites in dishes such as the Durban lamb curry, with the meat grilled on a tableside hibachi (300 rand), or Japanese milk buns shaped like mosbolletjies, a traditional South African bun.
The Namibian oysters, served on a bed of a spekboom (an edible local succulent), are a treat (300 rand for six). Reservations are recommended.
9am | Walk through history
Johannesburg is a relatively young city — only 137 years old — yet it has a deeply complicated past of colonialism, apartheid and resistance. A half-day walking tour with Joburg Places (550 rand), led by gifted orator Charlie Moyo, may start at Gandhi Square, named after the Indian leader, who spent 21 years in South Africa, and end at the old law offices of Nelson Mandela, the country’s first black president, who led its emancipation from white minority rule.
Over four hours, Moyo will shed light on paths forged by the migrants who shaped Johannesburg, from Zulu mineworkers to Lithuanian Jews, and reveal the city’s Art Deco buildings, built when Joburg was intent on being recognized as an international centre of Southern Africa.
1pm | Seek a food adventure
In South Africa, street food usually means meat, and a lot of it. At downtown’s Kwa Mai Mai market, which is dogged by a fearsome yet mostly outdated reputation for crime, food vendors specialise in chisa nyama (which means “to burn meat” in the isiZulu language), a quintessential South African barbecue.
Pick your meat from the simple menu (chops and sausage are your main choices); pap (a maize porridge) and relish come standard (about 75 rand a plate, cash only). The plates are plastic, and there are no utensils (bowls of water are provided, so you can wash your hands before and after eating).
It’s busy and vibrant but can be overwhelming, and petty crime is still a risk: If it will make you more comfortable, you can arrange in advance for your Joburg Places guide, or another tour guide, to accompany you.
2pm | Shop and sip
In sprawling Johannesburg, it’s a relief when everything is in one strollable place. The canopied courtyard at 44 Stanley collects galleries and boutiques selling African fashion tailored with clean lines and without the kitsch, as well as homespun linen and handcrafted ceramics by local artisans.
Get a unique keepsake, such as a cover of Drum, the pioneering apartheid-era magazine, from the Drum Archive Shop. Watch chocolatiers at work at Chocoloza, and sip brews made from ethically sourced African coffee at the recently revamped roastery Bean There.
Most stores here close at around 4pm, but you can still lounge in the afternoon sun amid the pastel prettiness of Peachy, a restaurant and bar where DJs set up before sunset, playing South African classics while you sip a peach mojito (90 rand).
7pm | Visit a theatre
The Market Theatre, in the central Newtown precinct, is housed in an early-20th-century Indian fruit market, its humble beginnings still visible in the building’s arches and concrete floors.
In the 1970s, it staged plays that waged an artistic fight against the country’s racial segregation, including many anti-apartheid productions by the South African playwright Athol Fugard. More recently, the theatre staged a run of Ruined, the Pulitzer Prize-winning work by American playwright Lynn Nottage.
Today, the theatre also hosts comedy festivals and live music across genres — keep an eye on what’s playing when you’re in town. And if the Market Theatre is sold out, the Joburg Theatre, just a short distance away, also offers a great night out.
10am | Head to Soweto
A walk down Vilakazi St in the township of Soweto is practically mandatory for any visit to Johannesburg. After all, it’s where two Nobel Peace Prize winners and major figures of the anti-apartheid movement once lived: Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
On the narrow street of closely packed houses, tourists buzz around Mandela House, the President’s former home, which is now a museum (tickets 20 to 60 rand). The tiny bedroom and the bullet holes still in the walls show how the Mandela family tried to eke out a sense of normality under oppression.
This was also the home Mandela returned to when he was released from prison in 1990. Just around the corner is the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, which commemorates the 1976 Soweto student uprising (tickets 50 rand for international visitors).
Noon | Lunch in colours
“Seven colours” is the township’s style of plating a Sunday lunch, a rainbow piled on to your dish in the form of beetroot, corn, carrot salad, creamed spinach, golden-brown chicken and more. That’s what many Sowetans have for Sunday lunch, and you can join in at Sakhumzi Restaurant on Vilakazi St, which has a daily buffet for 250 rand.
For more refined dining, opt for 1947, also on Vilakazi St, headed by the exciting young chef Junior Kotane, who pairs dishes such as slow-cooked lamb mogodu (tripe) with South African wines and gins. A short drive from there is Thesis Lifestyle, a local streetwear brand’s shop that has become a gathering place for creative Sowetans.
The brand’s hoodies and “spotties” (bucket hats) tell the story of a neighbourhood redefining itself, and how the township’s young people are creating an optimistic future from a painful past.
2.30pm | Feel the beat
Johannesburgers love their cars and, on Sunday afternoons, many get them buffed and polished. In Soweto, the Sunday afternoon car wash regularly turns into a party to close out the weekend. Konka further elevates this car-centric weekend celebration.
The club is built around an open parking lot where people, dressed in edgy street fashion, arrive to be seen. Inside is a thumping dance floor that has attracted big-name DJs including Grammy Award winner Black Coffee and pioneers of amapiano, a synth-heavy house genre that has gone from townships to the world.
There is, of course, plenty of barbecued meat, which you can wash down with anything from South Africa’s favorite cider, Savanna, to Moët. Entrance fees vary from 200 to 500 rand, and the party goes all day and into the night.
44 Stanley is a collection of interesting boutiques, galleries and cafes, all centred around a canopied courtyard. The Drum Archive Shop, with its apartheid-era magazine covers, and Chocoloza, a creative chocolatier, are two worthy stops.
Konka, a day-to-night club in Soweto, celebrates car culture, barbecue and music.
1947 on Vilakazi St is a Soweto restaurant offering refined South African cooking and local wines.
The Shortmarket Club is a brasserie serving European and Asian dishes, with some South African touches.
Marble is a stylish restaurant with a no-reservations bar area that offers a fabulous view at sunset.
Peachy, a restaurant and bar awash in pastels, is perfect for soaking up the afternoon sun.
Bean There, a cafe and roastery, sells ethically sourced African coffee.
Sakhumzi Restaurant has a daily buffet in Soweto where you can try a traditional “seven colours” lunch.
54 on Bath is a luxury hotel in Rosebank offering a tranquil atmosphere amid the bustle of a growing business district. Double rooms start at around 3655 rand, or about $197, a night.
Nearby is Voco Johannesburg Rosebank, an upscale hotel that opened in 2022 with an all-day restaurant and bar and a remote-working hub. A standard double room with breakfast starts at around 2700 rand.
If you decide to spend the night in Soweto, Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers offers simple, safe accommodation. Four- and six-bed shared dorm rooms start at 220 rand per night, and private double rooms with an en suite bathroom start at 545 rand.
For short-term rentals, look at Rosebank as well as the Parkhurst and Parkview neighbourhoods, which are close to the city centre and offer an array of sidewalk cafes.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
GETTING THERE: Fly with Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong, Emirates via Dubai, or Qantas via Sydney.
DETAILS: southafrica.net/gl/en
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