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Pietermaritzburg
Capital city of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Pietermaritzburg

Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban.

Plan a trip to Pietermaritzburg→From Durban

It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality.

Get in

Getting to Pietermaritzburg

Access to Pietermaritzburg by road is easy, lying as it does on the major N3 freeway from Durban to Johannesburg. The R56 connects Pietermaritzburg with Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London to the south-west. Note: The Seat61 website reports that this service was suspended as a result of the COVID pandemic and as a result of looting and cable theft has yet to resume service [Upated February 2023].

  1. 01
    Pietermaritzburg
  2. 02
    Pietermaritzburg Airport

    PZB IATA Regular daily bus services connect Pietermaritzburg to major cities in South Africa.

See

Worth seeing

The City Hall, which is in the CBD, is the largest red brick building in the Southern Hemisphere. It contains a large organ, and occasionally hosts concerts. The Natal Society Library is behind the City Hall, and has a large children's wing. Further afield, Queen Elizabeth Park up on the hills above the city contains zebra, buck and the like.

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    Pietermaritzburg City Hall

    Built in 1902, this was for a long time the largest brick building in the Southern Hemisphere.

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    KwaZulu-Natal National Botanical Garden

    2 Zwartkop Rd.

  3. 03
    Voortrekker / Msunduzi Museum

    Depicts the heritage of different cultural groups of KwaZulu-Natal, including the Great Trek by the Afrikaner people into the interior of South Africa.

  4. 04
    Tatham Art Gallery

    Fine artwork, including an impressive and ornate clock on the second floor.

Do

Things to do

The nightlife in Pietermaritzburg is pretty limited. Two or three clubs dominate the scene. Crowded House (in the CBD, fairly near to the City Hall) is one of the most popular, playing pop and dance music. Exclusive Lounge nearby plays kwaito and house music. Franki Bananaz is a cocktail bar in Armitage Road that is popular with the twenties set.

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    Bisley Valley Nature Reserve
How locals move

Getting around Pietermaritzburg the local way

  • Get aroundOtherise, minibus-taxis are cheap but uncomfortable and occasionally unsafe.
  • Get aroundPrivate taxis (cabs) can also be hired, but they are substantially more expensive than the minibus-taxis.
  • Get aroundThe central minibus-taxi rank is in Market Square, which is in the Central Business District near the Natal Society Library and the City Hall.
  • Get aroundTo get to the Central Business District from any of the suburbs by minibus-taxi, look for a taxi that is travelling to "eTuwen" or simply "Town".
  • Get aroundMinibus-taxis have set routes, so there are a lot of places you can't get to using them.

From Wikivoyage: Pietermaritzburg, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-07.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.