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Township in Metropolitan Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

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
Soweto · Wikimedia Commons (see file page)
The place

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.

What is there

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.

  1. 01
    Orlando 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
  2. 02
    Mandela 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
  3. 03
    Avalon 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
  4. 04
    Hector 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
  5. 05
    Dobsonville 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
  6. 06
    Regina 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
  7. 07
    Walter 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
  8. 08
    Orlando 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
  9. 09
    Soweto 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.

See

What Wikivoyage says to see

  1. 01
    Nelson Mandela National Museum
  2. 02
    Hector Pietersen Museum

    8288 Maseko Street, Orlando West,.

  3. 03
    Credo Mutwa Cultural Village

    Open air museum with restored Zulu and Sotho villages Free.

  4. 04
    Regina Mundi Catholic Church

    Largest Roman Catholic church in South Africa.

  5. 05
    Petrus 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.

Do

Things to do

  1. 01
    Soweto Theatre

From Wikivoyage: Soweto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Eat

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.

Go there

Getting to Soweto

Airports
Lanseria (HLA), 37 km · O.R. Tambo (JNB), 41 km · Sir Seretse Khama (GBE), 272 km
  • Johannesburg → Soweto
    20 km · quickest by road, 43 min · R20–27
  • Polokwane → Soweto
    309 km · quickest by road, 4h 48m · R310–410
  • Mbombela → Soweto
    323 km · quickest by road, 5h 16m · R330–440
  • From anywhere
    The planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
    Plan a trip

Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

Not yet researched

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.

What Wikivoyage says about moving around
  • 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.

The nearest places where the work is done
  1. 01
    SossusvleiNA

    8 ways of moving, 26 sources

    1,265 km
  2. 02
    South Luangwa National Park and MfuweZM

    12 ways of moving, 36 sources

    1,521 km
  3. 03
    Cape Maclear (Chembe)MW

    8 ways of moving, 32 sources

    1,545 km
  4. 04
    Ilha de MoçambiqueMZ

    11 ways of moving, 47 sources

    1,829 km
  5. 05
    ZanzibarTZ

    8 ways of moving, 30 sources

    2,536 km

If you know how people move in Soweto – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.

Around it

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