Pretoria Sightseeing Day Trip from Johannesburg
Johannesburg, South Africa
Rating: 
Trip Type: Day Trips
Duration: 5 hours 30 minutes
Discover Pretoria’s top sights on this 5.5-hour sightseeing tour from Johannesburg. With an expert guide, admire the highlights of South Africa’s elegant administrative capital, nicknamed the ‘Jacaranda City,’ for its annual purple jacaranda blooms, and learn about its tangled history. Stop outside the imposing Palace of Justice, where Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in 1964, and see the Union Buildings where he was made president 30 years later. Plus, visit Kruger House, once home to Boer leader Paul Kruger, and the mighty Voortrekker Monument before your return to Johannesburg.
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Discover Pretoria’s top sights on this 5.5-hour sightseeing tour from Johannesburg. With an expert guide, admire the highlights of South Africa’s elegant administrative capital, nicknamed the ‘Jacaranda City,’ for its annual purple jacaranda blooms, and learn about its tangled history. Stop outside the imposing Palace of Justice, where Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in 1964, and see the Union Buildings where he was made president 30 years later. Plus, visit Kruger House, once home to Boer leader Paul Kruger, and the mighty Voortrekker Monument before your return to Johannesburg.
Start your experience with a pickup from your hotel in the Sandton or Rosebank area of Johannesburg. Board your air-conditioned minivan or coach and hear interesting facts about Pretoria as you drive to South Africa's administrative capital.
After roughly 45 minutes, arrive in Pretoria and tour its historical highlights. Stroll the wide avenues and hear how the purple jacaranda that blooms here annually gave the city its nickname of ‘Jacaranda City’. Learn how Pretoria started life as a Boer farming community before becoming capital of the South African Republic or Transvaal in 1860.
Walk to Church Square and admire its stately public buildings. See the Palace of Justice, where Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, and view the statue of Paul Kruger, or ‘Old Lion,’ the Boer leader and first president of the Republic.
Admire the City Hall and then stop outside the Union Buildings as your guide recounts how these sandstone-built government offices were the site of Mandela's inauguration as South Africa's president in 1994.
Visit Kruger House, the 19th-century home of Kruger. Explore its rooms, many restored to their former glory, and discover how the forceful Kruger led the Republic against the British during the Boer Wars.
Drive out of the city and see the vast Voortrekker Monument that honors the Afrikaner Voortrekkers (pioneers) who trekked into South Africa’s interior to settle in the 19th century. See the wagon-carved encircling wall and interior stone frieze that depicts scenes from the Voortrekkers' arduous journey.
Afterward, return to Johannesburg where your tour ends with a drop-off at your hotel.
Please note: the order of activities as described above may be subject to change on the day of your tour.
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