South Africa

Understand

If you want to travel in southern Africa then South Africa is a good place to start. While you can fly into any country in southern Africa, most flights will route through South Africa anyway. South Africa is also a good place to get used to travelling in the region. Although some rural parts of South Africa remain among the poorest and the least developed parts of the world and poverty in certain areas of townships can be appalling and squatter camps can grow overnight, progress is being made. The process of recovering from apartheid, which lasted almost 46 years, is quite slow. In fact, South Africa's United Nations Human Development Index, which was slowly improving in the final years of apartheid, has declined dramatically since 1996, largely attributed to the AIDS pandemic, but also due to maladministration and squandering of state resources which led to an increase in the poverty rate and ever-widening income disparity between rich and poor. South Africa boasts a well-developed state and privately funded infrastructure and keeps up to date with all the modern amenities and technologies. National quality standards of construction, roads, technologies, goods manufacture, medicine and hospitals, communications and IT, aeronautics, banking, brokerage and investment, beverage and food chain quality are on a par with the best worldwide. The government is stable, although corruption has become prevalent in certain areas such as immigration officials at land border posts demanding a fee for stamping any passports or home affairs personnel dealing with visas and permits, traffic enforcement officers trying their luck and crime syndicates buying their way out of trouble. Bigger business may bribe high placed government. The government and the primary political parties generally have a high level of respect for democratic institutions and human rights while the press is free and uncensored and the judicial system and constitutional court are fully independent. Despite st

Getting there

Entry requirements Foreign nationals of the following countries/territories can enter South Africa visa-free:

For up to 90 days: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Eswatini, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania (maximum 90 days in 1 year), Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia (maximum 90 days in 1 year) and Zimbabwe For up to 30 days: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Gabon, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Jordan, Lesotho, Macau, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Peru, Poland, Seychelles, South Korea, Thailand and Turkey Other nations require a visa application to enter South Africa. The country has trialed an e-visa system for the following nationalities with 90-day entry and the obligation to enter through O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg: Albania, Algeria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Liberia, Lithuania, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, China, Philippines, Republic of Guinea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Uganda. Countries not eligible for e-visa must apply for a visa on paper at a South African embassy or consulate. If needed, you can extend your visa in South Africa. With an extension the total amount of time you are allowed to stay is 6 months. Additional information as well as Visa application forms can be found at the Department of Home Affairs, ph +27 012 810 8911. The Department of Home Affairs doe

Getting around

By plane South Africa has a well-established domestic air travel infrastructure with links between all major centres. There are multiple daily flights to all the major airports within the country. Contact any of the airlines for details. It is worth comparing low cost airlines like Mango with the SAA rates as they usually have online specials which can be cheaper than the "low cost" carriers.

By car

Driving can be a practical way of getting around in South Africa, for instance national parks are some of the country's foremost attractions but they are rarely served by public transport. Visitors hiring or buying a car is fairly common. Major roads are in general in good condition, though South Africa still has a high rate of road accidents. Traffic rules including speed limits are not always respected, and in the countryside animals (wild and domestic) next to or on the road are not an uncommon sight.

By bus There are scheduled bus services between all the big cities (with stops in between), as well as connections to neighbouring countries. The main bus companies are:

Greyhound, ☏ +27 83 915-9000. Intercape Mainliner, ☏ +27 21 380-4400. City to City. (updated Nov 2025) Intercity Xpress. (updated Nov 2025) Smaller services include City Bug and Lowveld Link. An alternative is the Baz Bus . It offers a regular hop-on-hop-off service on some of the most interesting routes for the tourist (Cape Town to Port Elizabeth via the Garden Route). Baz Bus picks you up and drops you off at many hostels along the route, so you don't have to hang around at a downtown bus stop at night. If you're really in a pinch, you can use minibus taxis. They are poorly maintained and rarely comply with safety standards. They also require patience as they make many detours and changeovers at the taxi rank (hub) where the driver will wait for passengers to fill up the bus. But they cover many routes not covered by the main bus service and are quite cheap (25 cents per kilometre

See

Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to South Africa every year to see the country's many natural and cultural attractions. From wild elephants to stunning landscapes, cave paintings, colonial heritage and bustling townships, South Africa is an enchanting land of contradictions and great beauty. Some of the best ways visitors can explore South Africa's natural scenic and cultural experiences, apart from private run enterprises, are provided by state-developed entities such as the various Provincial Park Boards and National Nature Reserves. Also available but less known by outsiders are government resorts mainly operated under the Forever Resorts brand for example. There are more than 20 of these resorts nationwide. They provide a mix of activities to be enjoyed by small or large groups of people. Activities such as thermal water spas, leisure, kids activities, hiking, camping, mountain biking and guided game viewing are all catered for. Accommodation available in these resorts is rea