Soweto
Soweto is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa and one of the suburbs of Johannesburg, bordering the city's mining belt in the south.

Soweto is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa and one of the suburbs of Johannesburg, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships. Formerly a separate municipality, it was incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in 2002.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Soweto
9 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Orlando Stadium
Orlando Stadium, officially known as Orlando Amstel Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, a township in Johannesburg, in Gauteng province in South Africa. It is the home venue for Orlando Pirates Football Club, a professional soccer team that plays in the Premiership, and is owned by the City of Johannesburg.
7.6 km · stadium in Soweto, South Africa (1st incarnation) · Wikipedia - 02Mandela House
The Nelson Mandela National Museum, commonly referred to as Mandela House, is the house on Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 to 1962. It is located at number 8115, around the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane Streets and a short distance up the road from Tutu House, the home of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
6 km · The Nelson Mandela National Museum, commonly referred to as Mandela House, is a house in South Africa. · Wikipedia - 03Avalon Cemetery
Avalon Cemetery is one of the largest graveyards in South Africa. It was opened in 1972, during the height of apartheid, as a graveyard exclusively for black people.
3.2 km · cemetery in South Africa · Wikipedia - 04Hector Pieterson Museum
The Hector Pieterson Museum is a museum located in Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa. Located two blocks away from where student protester Hector Pieterson was shot and killed on 16 June 1976, the museum is named in his honour and covers the events of the anti-Apartheid Soweto Uprising and Massacre, where more than 170 protesting school children were killed.
6.1 km · history museum · Wikipedia - 05Dobsonville Stadium
The Dobsonville Stadium, formerly Volkswagen Dobsonville Stadium and also referred to as Dobsie Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. The venue is managed by Stadium Management SA.
4.6 km · building in Africa · Wikipedia - 06Regina Mundi
Regina Mundi, designed by architect Anthony Noel Errol Slaven, is the largest Roman Catholic church in South Africa. It is located in Rockville, Soweto, a populous black urban residential area within the city of Johannesburg.
2.5 km · building in South Africa · Wikipedia - 07Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication
Walter Sisulu Square, formally known as the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication, is located in the heart of Kliptown in Soweto, South Africa. This location was the site where, on 26 June 1955, the Congress of the People, met to draw up the Freedom Charter, an alternative vision to the repressive policies of the apartheid state.
3.2 km · monumental square in Kliptown, Soweto · Wikipedia - 08Orlando East Public Library
Orlando East Public Library is the oldest library in Soweto in South Africa.
7.4 km · Public library in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa · Wikipedia - 09Soweto Cricket Oval
Soweto Cricket Oval is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, Gauteng. The ground is mainly used for organizing matches of cricket, although it has also been used occasionally for football and local events.
900 m · multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
- 01Nelson Mandela National Museum
- 02Hector Pietersen Museum
8288 Maseko Street, Orlando West,.
- 03Credo Mutwa Cultural Village
Open air museum with restored Zulu and Sotho villages Free.
- 04Regina Mundi Catholic Church
Largest Roman Catholic church in South Africa.
- 05Petrus Molefe Eco Park
Ecological park with a monument to Petrus Molefe who the first member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of ANC, to be killed.
From Wikivoyage: Soweto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
- 01Soweto Theatre
From Wikivoyage: Soweto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
B's Place, 5541 Shuenane Street, Orlando East,. Sakhumzi Restaurant, 6980 Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, +27 83 337-6925, fax: +27 11 939-4427, dine@sakhumzi.co.za. Wandies, 618 Makhalamele Street, Dube, info@wandies.co.za. Offers some of the best indigenous South African menus, including Mogodu (tripe) and pap. Put you business card on the wall with those of many visitors before.
From Wikivoyage: Soweto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Soweto
- Airports
- Lanseria (HLA), 37 km · O.R. Tambo (JNB), 41 km · Sir Seretse Khama (GBE), 272 km
- Johannesburg → Soweto20 km · quickest by road, 43 min · R20–27
- Polokwane → Soweto309 km · quickest by road, 4h 48m · R310–410
- Mbombela → Soweto323 km · quickest by road, 5h 16m · R330–440
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Soweto
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Soweto. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get aroundSeveral tour operators are available: Imbizo Tours.
- Get aroundProfessional tour guides using luxury minivans.
- Get aroundSoweto-based tour operator offering fully guided day and night tours of this chaotic but otherwise energetic and vibrant place.
- Get aroundTours use private cars and minibuses and include visits to many cultural, heritage and historical places including buffet lunch/ dinner/ supper.
From Wikivoyage: Johannesburg/Soweto, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 011,265 km
- 021,521 km
- 031,545 km
- 041,829 km
- 052,536 km
If you know how people move in Soweto – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Soweto
Soweto is 12 km from Roodepoort, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Lenasiatown in Gauteng, South Africa6.3 km
- Diepmeadowtownship in Soweto, South Africa9 km
- Meadowlandssuburb of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa6.6 km
- Phiri, Sowetohuman settlement in South Africa400 m
- Zolasection of Soweto township, South Africa3.7 km