Visiting South Africa's most famous township can be tricky to do independently. But this half-day tour of Soweto lets you explore with a guide who was born and raised there. You'll hear personal insights into the culture of the township and learn about Soweto's vibrant modern personality.

Visit Soweto with a guide from there: Get an insider's perspective
See the former homes of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Hassle-free pickup and drop-off from your Johannesburg hotel
Meet the residents and get insight into life in Soweto

What's Included

Local guide
Hotel drop-off
Hotel pickup
Transport by air-conditioned minivan
Free Onboard Uncapped WiFi

Alcoholic drinks (available to purchase)
Drinks
Food and drinks
Gratuities

Meeting And Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

Please note that pick up times will vary depending on your pick up location.

What To Expect

FNB Stadium

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Baragwanath

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Motsoaledi Street

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Regina Mundi (Pass By)

Walter Sisulu Square (Pass By)

Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Vilakazi Street

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Mandela House

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Orlando Towers (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Child rate applies only when sharing with 2 paying adults
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation

Infants must sit on laps
Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Not recommended for travellers with back problems
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travellers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travellers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveller Photos

Traveller Tips

Do remember to bring some sweets for the kids, seeing how much they enjoy them is a real highlight.

I had an excellent driver/guide who made everyone feel at ease and comfortable with each other although we were strangers.

Reviews

4.5

445 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 445 reviews

A MUST do tour

Princess_J, Sept 2023

Eye opening, informative, and SAFE! My guide was Prince, he was very knowledgeable and happy to answer all of my questions throughout the tour. He made sure I felt safe the entire time as a woman traveling solo. He was even my personal photographer, he gets good shots! We had the opportunity to walk through a community in Soweto with a local who explained how daily life is we even had a chance to visit with school kids and a local family. I would recommend this to tour to anyone short on time and traveling solo. Buy the ticket you won’t regret it!

Not worth it.

Harrh_L, Sept 2023

There was more traveling in the car than at the actual destinations. Every destination tries to guilt you into giving extra tips for services already included in the description when you book this trip. The tips will easily add $40-$60 dollars on top of the booking fee. Being constantly harassed for tips really ruins the atmosphere and experience. In the end, we didn't even get to go into one of the destinations before running out of time.

I am disappointed in this...

Eric_B, Aug 2023

I am disappointed in this trip. While the content itself was wonderful we spent 2.25 hours in the car picking up and dropping off other customers. Had I known this I wouldn’t have booked it. 5 plus hours for a 3 hour tour was not fun.

Response from Host, Sept 2023

Dear Eric, I apologize for any inconvenience you experienced with our transportation schedule. Kindly note that the journey into Soweto typically takes between 45 minutes to 1 hour, and the same duration for the return trip. This accounts for approximately 2 hours, indicating an additional 35 minutes for deviations. Our door-to-door pickup service is designed for the safety and convenience of our clients. Additionally, our guide provides insights about various areas during the route to Soweto. Our usual route covers areas near the airport, then Sandton, followed by Soweto, which aligns with the direction from the airport. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. Warm regards,

great experience

KlausJuergen_S, Aug 2023

we had two umplanend nights in Johannesburg and booked this trip just 4 hours before ist startes. pick up in the hotel wirken in timeline , great experience with a nice guide, Mandela House and slum was a good

Excellent

Justin_f, Aug 2023

The host was very Awesome and helpful to us. I could recommend her to anyone considering to do this activity. Thanks again to our host for all she did.

Started off quite promising but spoilt by a potentially disastrous ending

Dennis_M, Aug 2023

To confirm, I a male travelling with a female partner. Generally, the SOWETO excursion (we elected to go on the afternoon session [13:00 – 17:00]) was quite glaring i.e., the extreme poverty aside of some quite affluent areas was a real ‘eye-opener’. We travelled for about 2 hours from the hotel pickup taking in some countryside and landmarks in Johannesburg whilst taking onboard some tour guidance and knowledge from our assigned tour driver cum guide. The driver/guide was a charming young man circa later 20s early 30s; quite engaging, friendly and extremely well-spoken English. So friendly my usual guarded self was rendered surplus to requirements. This was overshadowed to a large extend by the incident outlined below:- We had asked our assigned tour driver/guide for the SOWETO excursion to stop off at an ATM. I should at this point confirm to readers that there was another holiday maker (a male) travelling alone on this excursion and that he also required and had requested access to an ATM. And so, both parties requested the driver to take us to an ATM. We had requested this to happen circa 13:00 i.e., at the start of the excursion. Whilst we (my partner and I) had most of our funds stored on a joint Travel Card; we had decided that it would be helpful for us to have a small amount of funds in cash for tipping and other incidentals. However, as we had not heard anything further from the tour driver/guide we had effectively given up on the ATM as several hours had elapsed and the excursion was set to conclude, and we were seemingly being taken back to our hotels. The Sun had almost set - it was now dark. Suddenly and certainly unexpectedly, we became aware that we are stopping off to access an ATM machine. This caught me/us by surprise as we had thought the driver had forgotten about visiting an ATM. The tour driver/guide seemed to be ‘striding out’ taking us (me and the lone traveler) up some stairs and alongside a building to an ATM. I recall afterwards wondering why this ATM. Just as we arrived at the ATM the driver/guide was greeted by some acquaintances who by some coincidences were in near proximity to the ATM. Anyway, the lone traveler accessed the ATM first; fed his card to the machine and got his cash. We were all in attendance whilst he completed his transaction. Once he’d finished it was then my turn. I took his place at the ATM. I fed the machine my card, shielded the card as I entered my PIN; completed my transaction and pocketed both my card and my cash. We were all now walking back to the car; about to return along the path around the building when the driver spun around back in the direction of the ATM and said we were being called back to the ATM (by someone, a man or maybe two men). He then progressed to walk back towards the ATM. I slowly returned to the ATM with an initial thought of embarrassment as I had thought maybe I had not picked up all the cash (although I really didn’t believe that to be the case). I then heard one of the men say that I needed to put my card back into the ATM because I needed to close the last transaction because it was preventing him from progressing to use the ATM. It was at this time it all became rather surreal and confusing as it did appear that two men (one of whom was wearing a face mask similar to those used during Covid) and both were saying I needed to put my card back into the ATM to following the instructions so that they could then use the ATM. I couldn’t understand, where had the tour driver/guide gone as he had now appeared to have left me despite knowing these men or rather bandits were around. It appears he had chosen to take the lone traveler back to the car! Yet again I was left wondering why? It was at this time that my senses began to ‘kick in’ and take over. Clearly this was a scam. I remained calm but made it clear that my interactions with the ATM was complete and under no circumstances was I going to be putting my card back in. A back and forth ensued then the bandits gave up and seemed to slip away. I then started to make my way around the building heading toward the steps we had first climbed and then almost bumped into the driver. On reflection the driver appeared really nervous (and uncharacteristically different to how he had been in the earlier part of day). The tour driver/guide now seemed very subdued and was in a massive hurry to get off load us back to our hotels. As I begun to relive the last few minutes a feeling of having been ‘setup’ visited me. That feeling remains to this day. I think the tour driver had orchestrated this happening. Lesson learnt here are 1) don’t get too over friendly with, effectively, strangers offering services when on holiday and 2) ensure you have some chaperone, if possible, when visiting an ATM.

Something I would do again

Nazmira_K, Aug 2023

Hector pieterson museum and vilakazi street. Our guide was well acquainted, kept us informed and was kind and considerate.

Soweto village tour

Leanne_L, Aug 2023

Visit to the community & a pre school. Recommend to take some gifts for the children such as preschool supplies

Eye opening and excellent tour

LynetteG_M, Aug 2023

We had an excellent tour with Itu and learned so much about the community of Soweto and its apartheid history. The highlight was meeting people from the Soweto community, seeing their homes and living spaces. I'd highly recommend this tour to all.

Great was to spend half a day

ninacapek, Aug 2023

Brilliant to see Soweto throught he eyes of a brilliant tour guide. He was so kind and knowledgeable from start to finish and it was really clear he was proud of where he came from. Really interesting to see the many different sides to Soweto and interact with locals. Definatly recommend this trip.

A very interesting, fun, emotional tour of Soweto.

Michelle_W, Aug 2023

Khutso, our tour guide was very friendly and welcoming, he was very knowledgeable. We had a really memorable experience on this tour. It was very well planned and I loved going into the township with our local guide Muso and meeting the children at the daycare, we had lots of cuddles. I also loved the band that played for us at the Freedom Charter. The Hector Peterson museum was very emotional. We had a great day and highly recommend this tour and Khutso.

We joined a full day tour...

Helen_F, Aug 2023

We joined a full day tour for a half day. Though the connection to the tour was a little longer than expected, our tour guide Thabang was excellent and provided great insight into Soweto.

Memorable tour

Paulette_H, July 2023

Our sixteen year old granddaughter found the tour of the Daycare, the Nelson Mandela House and Hector Pieterson Museum very interesting. She read every single post in the museum. Thank you Sooloo for a great tour.

Very great way to explore Soweto

Francois_S, July 2023

We had a wonderful time with Tsholo, our guide. He did an exceptional job in showing us Soweto and the history behind it. He was very respectful, open-minded, generous, helpful and interesting. We recommend to everyone who is looking to see Soweto in a truthful way.

Great Tour

Steven_K, July 2023

Great tour with all of the history. Very moving experience. Shows the best and worst parts but always felt safe.

A MUST for all foreigners and locals

Janine_S, July 2023

Monde was an outstanding tour guide. She had a personal touch with her own experiences and stories which added to the tour. It was emotional, educational and an amazing experience. Highly recommend to all! Side note - you go to a crèche (preschool) and these little kids are so happy and joyful. Just wish I had taken more treats for them. What an experience!!

Learn about the history.

BRIAN_M, July 2023

Just like to thank nomonde are driver and guide today to Soweto.very kind,thoughtful,friendly and knowledgeable about Johannesburg and Soweto area.it was a great tour and visiting different parts and history and to see the young children in day care sing for us and how happy they were.highly recommend the tour and hope you get nomonde as your guide,thankyou.

Fantastic tour giving you amazing insights into the issues the country faces both past and present.

Debi_C, July 2023

A really interesting and thought provoking tour. Our guide, Prince, was knowledgeable, compassionate and entertaining making the trip a truly memorable experience. Would highly recommend.

Ultimate Soweto Tour

Jomarie_v, June 2023

Very Informative and an amazing experience for anyone wanting to know the history of Soweto and its relevance in the apartheid struggle. Great service from the Tour Company with skilled and friendly staff that accomdates to all group member's needs through Tour.

Excellent Soweto Tour

Daniel_F, June 2023

Our guide was passionate about his subject and gave us a clear idea of life in Soweto. It was an excellent tour.

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