Africa - 9 days CPT or 8 days CPT plus 1 day JNB?

Hi guys,

I would like your opinion. After 5 years, I am travelling to South Africa for the first time again in 3 weeks (previously always business, now leisure with my wife). Unfortunately, we only have 9 days. Given the time constraint, we had planned to stay in and around Cape Town only.

However, due to lacking award availability on LH (and only booking today), we could only get a ticket going back from JNB. So the itinerary as booked is:


Arrive CPT with LH first on Saturday (26FEB) morning 11am.
Depart JNB on LH business on Sunday (6MAR) evening 8pm.


We still need to book our CPT-JNB tickets separately (probably on SAA to take advantage of our *G status).

As far as I see it, there are three options:


Simply transfer at JNB. Means taking a flight around 3pm from CPT for €210 p.p. (don't want to risk a misconnect on separate tickets)
Fly from CPT to JNB in the morning (around 10am). Flight price €125 p.p. Have 5 hours to spend to go somewhere around Johannesburg.
Fly from CPT to JNB on Saturday (evening?) already. Flight price €75 p.p.. Spend an evening and a day in Johannesburg.


I assume that with options 1 and 2, we could check through our luggage. (Correct?)

And I assume that with option 2, we could leave our carry-on luggage in a left-luggage facility at the airport. (Correct?)

As far as I remember from my business trips, I found Cape Town a lot nicer than Johannesburg from tourist perspective so I don't want to cut short the Cape Town part of the holiday just to have JNB on the list.

On the other hand, with option 1, one also loses part of the day in Cape Town and we probably wouldn't be able to use the time much anyway. There is still the risk of a misconnect, and if the flights are on time, quite some time spent in JNB waiting.

Option 2 seems most attractive to me at the moment if there is something we could do that is doable within 5.5 hours. Last time I was in Johannesburg, I visited a gold mine in Gold Reef City which I found interesting.

Option 3 has the disadvantage of having to deal with the luggage and stay in another hotel, but would give most time in Johannesburg.

What are you opinions? Any recommendations?

Hi guys,

As far as I see it, there are three options:


Simply transfer at JNB. Means taking a flight around 3pm from CPT for €210 p.p. (don't want to risk a misconnect on separate tickets)
Fly from CPT to JNB in the morning (around 10am). Flight price €125 p.p. Have 5 hours to spend to go somewhere around Johannesburg.
Fly from CPT to JNB on Saturday (evening?) already. Flight price €75 p.p.. Spend an evening and a day in Johannesburg.




As a South African I cannot really see that there are anything worth doing in JNB - gold reef city is about the highlight in my opinion but it probably depends on what you like - looking at tripadvisor the following is possible attractions worth visiting in JNB: Lion Park, Apartheid Museum, Montecasino, SAB World of Beer.

I would not cut any holiday in Cape Town short for some time in JNB - that means you have to find some sort of transport and some accommodation. The traffic in JNB can be very temperamental and you would need at least an overnight stay to visit anything. That compared to the chances of a flight from Cape Town being delayed for hours (VERY slight chance) - I would rather go with option 1

Unless your have something specific you want to do in JNB, I agree with dracularsa .....there's not much worth doing or seeing there. Take as much time as possible in CPT.

The only consideration is given to your overnight flight back to FRA. If you want to get some rest before the flight, book a day room in the I/C in the airport. It's a 2-min walk to the terminal.

I've said this before, but I couldn't disagree more. In my experience, you can't get a sense of Apartheid-era South Africa, what's changed, and what hasn't, without visiting Pretoria, the Voortrekker Monument, the Apartheid Museum, the Hector Pietersen Museum, downtown Johannesburg, the northern suburbs, the Saxon Hotel, etc. It's like asking if you should only visit San Francisco or maybe squeeze in one day for Washington, DC & New York too.

David

It's like asking if you should only visit San Francisco or maybe squeeze in one day for Washington, DC & New York too.

David

Well, what's the answer to that then?

Mine would be: San Francisco only. One day in DC or NYC is not worth the extra hassle of another hotal, trips to / from the airport etc.

Same for JNB.

I would definitely spend a day in Johannesburg, if only to see the Apartheid Museum. I also found Soweto (Nelson Mandela's old house, Hector Pieterson Museum) interesting, if you are even mildy interested in South African history.


The Apartheid Museum was one of the best museums I have ever visited. Very touching, I spent half a day there and could easily have spent longer. You will not forget your visit.


As much as I love Cape Town, there is much more to South Africa than mountains, sea, wine and sun.

I would definitely spend a day in Johannesburg, if only to see the Apartheid Museum. I also found Soweto (Nelson Mandela's old house, Hector Pieterson Museum) interesting, if you are even mildy interested in South African history.


The Apartheid Museum was one of the best museums I have ever visited. Very touching, I spent half a day there and could easily have spent longer. You will not forget your visit.


As much as I love Cape Town, there is much more to South Africa than mountains, sea, wine and sun.


1+

you can arrange a single day tour and have an enjoyable/ eye opening day doing all of the above. Well worth the day stop over.

Just a few thoughts about logistics:


As departure date is a Sunday, traffic should not be a problem.
There is indeed a left luggage facility at JNB.
The Gautrain gets you into Sandton in less than half an hour.
If your hotel is near the station (that includes the Radisson, Holiday Inn, IC, Michaelangelo etc.) it should be well less than an hour from JNB to your hotel room.
There are 2 hotels on the JNB precinct: an IC (expensive) and a City Lodge (cheap). They could presumably arrange tours and would hold your luggage.


So logistically an overnight or day trip into Jo'burg is not onerous. Whether it is worth it... everyone has their own view. Given the prices and timings sketched by the OP I might be inclined to do the overnight in JNB and arrange a tour. The difference in fares would pay for the hotel and the tour. (And since you'll otherwise have to leave for CPT soon after 1.30pm, you won't get much done in Cape Town on Sunday anyway.)