Walking tours in Johannesburg

7 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

The German Foreign Office advises against visiting Johannesburg’s central business district at any time of day. For townships its advice is to go only on organised tours with a local guide; for the CBD it makes no such exception. The US State Department says violent crime is more common in city centres, especially after dark, and Canada calls the area around the main train station dangerous. None of them names Maboneng or Hillbrow. If you decide to walk the inner city, go on a guided tour. On the Hillbrow and Ponte walks below, the guides grew up in the area or live there.

Maboneng and street art

Maboneng is a former industrial district in central Johannesburg that has been turned into a precinct of galleries, studios and street art. Its anchor is Arts on Main at 264 Fox Street, a converted warehouse with studios, among them William Kentridge’s, shops and flats. South African Tourism gives its hours as Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00, with free entry, and notes that the building lies on the Rea Vaya bus line.

The One Day Africa walk starts at Home of the Bean café inside Arts on Main and takes two hours through the mural corridors of Maboneng and neighbouring Jewel City. The guide explains the techniques and stories behind the works, introduces local artists and covers the area’s industrial past. The route is on flat streets and runs in any weather. Guests praise the guides’ knowledge, and several who were unsure about the area say they felt safe; the walk often runs longer than two hours. The gallery and craft stop at the end did not convince everyone.

The graffiti tour by City Skate Tours takes three and a half hours. It meets at 70 Juta Street in Braamfontein, explains the difference between graffiti and street art, visits a graffiti supply shop when it is open (it closes from 24 December to 20 January) and moves on to Newtown and Maboneng by vehicle.

The historic centre

The historical walk by One Day Africa takes three hours. It starts at Nando’s on Gandhi Square and follows Main Street, past the Carlton Centre, the High Court and the Anglo American offices, to Ferreirasdorp, where the first diggers settled after the 1886 gold strike. South African History Online records the first camp as Ferreira’s Town. The route continues to Chancellor House, where Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo opened their law firm, then to the Workers’ Museum, Mary Fitzgerald Square and the Market Theatre in Newtown, and ends across the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Braamfontein.

The Market Theatre was converted from an old fruit and vegetable market in 1976 and staged anti-apartheid plays with black and white actors together. Museum Africa on Mary Fitzgerald Square shows photographs, paintings and objects from the city’s history. Entry to sites along the way is optional and paid on the day, so carry some cash. The Carlton Centre’s viewing deck on the 50th floor has been closed since March 2020, so the walk only passes the tower.

Hillbrow and Ponte City

Ponte City, at 1 Lily Avenue in Berea, is a cylindrical tower of 173 metres with a hollow core, completed in 1975 to plans by Mannie Feldman, Manfred Hermer and Rodney Grosskopff. Lonely Planet records that squatters took it over in the late 1980s and that it fell into decay; when it was renovated in 2009, rubbish more than ten storeys deep was cleared from the core, according to Daily Maverick. Hillbrow around it was a mixed “grey area” under apartheid and later fell into decline.

Dlala Nje, a tour company based in Ponte, runs the tours from an apartment on the 51st floor. Its guides live in the building, and the money from the tours supports the Dlala Nje community centre at the foot of the tower. The Ponte Experience takes an hour: the view over the city from the 51st floor, then down into the core. This is Hillbrow takes three hours, a 2 km walk through Berea and Hillbrow past Alec Gorschel Park, the Telkom Tower and Pretoria Street, with pap and chicken and a drink. In Your Pocket lists further Dlala Nje outings: a food walk along Rockey Street in Yeoville and a monthly Ponte City Challenge up more than 900 steps.

A second Hillbrow walk includes Ponte too, with pickup from Braamfontein, Melville, Rosebank, Sandton or OR Tambo, lunch and a welcome drink. Its guide grew up in the area. Photos are not allowed on this tour, out of respect for the people who live there.

Newtown and Braamfontein

The historical walk ends where Newtown meets Braamfontein. Gauteng Tourism calls Mary Fitzgerald Square Newtown’s core cultural precinct; around it are the Market Theatre, Museum Africa, SAB World of Beer and Sci-Bono, which it describes as southern Africa’s biggest science centre. The Nelson Mandela Bridge links the two districts. Braamfontein, home of Wits University, is where the graffiti tour starts, and the Wits Art Museum stands at the corner of Jorissen and Bertha Streets, with free entry.

By bike or with public transport

The inner-city cycling tour, from the same operator as the Hillbrow walk with pickup, covers about 10 km with few hills in two or four hours, through Braamfontein, Newtown, Marshalltown, Jewel City, Jeppestown and Maboneng to Victoria Yards, and past Ellis Park Stadium. Bike, helmet and water are included; you need a moderate level of fitness. The four-hour walk by Curiocity Backpackers combines walking with public transport and includes Maboneng, whose name the operator translates as “place of light”. For the history of the gold-rush city from a vehicle, see city tours.