Getting Around South Africa
Cape Town and Johannesburg (the main Kruger gateway) are linked by a reliable, cheap domestic flight (about 2h15, $60–150) — nearly everyone flies rather than drives that stretch. Self-driving is genuinely popular and recommended for the Garden Route or a self-drive safari, on the left side of the road. In cities, Uber and Bolt are the safe, standard choice — skip minibus taxis as a tourist.
Getting to South Africa
O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg (JNB) is the main hub, though Cape Town International (CPT) also has direct flights from Europe if a Cape-first itinerary suits you better. Figure 11 hours nonstop from London, and 14–17 hours from the US or Australia, usually with one stop — round-trip fares typically run $900–1,600.
Getting around: the real options
South Africa is really two trips stitched together by one short flight: a cosmopolitan coastal city, and world-class wildlife country a couple of hours away by air.
- Trains — the Gautrain is a fast, modern, genuinely reliable train linking Johannesburg, Pretoria, and O.R. Tambo Airport ($5–12 a ride) — a real standout in the region. Shosholoza Meyl runs slower long-distance routes but isn't really set up for tourists; Rovos Rail and the Blue Train are the opposite end of the spectrum — luxury, multi-day bucket-list train journeys running well into the thousands of dollars.
- Buses — Intercape, Greyhound, and Translux connect the major cities on comfortable long-haul coaches at a fraction of a flight's cost, if you have the time to spare.
- Domestic flights — the standard way to bridge Cape Town and Johannesburg (about 2h15, $60–150 with FlySafair, Kulula, or Airlink). Frequent daily departures make this an easy, low-stress leg to add to any itinerary.
- Car rental / driving — very popular and often recommended, especially for the Garden Route or a self-drive safari near Kruger. Drive on the LEFT — the most common visitor slip-up. Road quality is generally good on major routes; avoid driving after dark in and around Johannesburg specifically, where safety concerns are more real than in most of the rest of the country.
Getting around inside cities
Both Uber and Bolt operate in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban, and are strongly recommended over both metered street taxis and minibus taxis — the informal shared vans used by many locals, which aren't set up for visitors and carry real safety and navigation challenges for anyone unfamiliar with the routes. Cape Town also has the MyCiTi bus network, a legitimate budget option along its main corridors including the airport route.
| Route/option | Typical cost | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Cape Town airport to city center (Uber or MyCiTi bus) | $3 (MyCiTi) – $15–20 (Uber) | 20–30 min |
| Cape Town to Johannesburg (domestic flight) | $60–150 | 2h15 |
| Gautrain single ride | $5–8 | — |
If you're self-driving the Garden Route or a Kruger-adjacent safari, rent with a data-enabled GPS or bring your own offline maps — cell coverage genuinely drops out on some rural stretches, and it's the one place a paper map still earns its keep as backup.
Common transport mistakes
Using minibus taxis as a tourist is the classic overreach — they're a real, cheap way locals get around, but the lack of fixed routes/schedules and general unfamiliarity make them a poor fit for visitors; use Uber or Bolt instead. The other frequent slip is simply forgetting South Africa drives on the left — easy to do on autopilot at a rental counter, worth a conscious reminder before you pull out of the lot.