Everything you need to know to Plan a Trip to South Africa
Let’s Head to Capetown and Johannesburg, South Africa
I flew from NYC to Johannesburg for my 10-day trip to South Africa which included stops in both Capetown and Johannesburg. This was the trip of a lifetime that I started planning about 3 months out so that I could make sure I thought of everything and included as many amazing restaurants and sites to fill up my time there.
The Flights
I started by finding the ideal flights for my trip by using Google Flights. I wanted to have as few stops as possible and ended up choosing a Delta Airlines Multi-City Flight where I flew from NYC to ATL to Johannesburg and for my return, I flew, Capetwon to ATL to NYC. I booked my flights in October but in December the price went down and I re-booked for a lower price. I used my flight credit for a trip to Cancun!
Tip: Even after you book your flight, make sure to keep tracking them on Google Flights, just in case they drop and you can rebook for flight credit or a return of miles.
I did book economy seats for this flight and did not regret it on the way there. I chose to upgrade one of the seats to the seat that does not have a seat in front of you and I took the middle. There was no one next to us, so I was able to stretch out the entire flight.
I did something similar for the return, but at the last minute, someone decided to change their seat to the seat next to me.
I would highly recommend, if possible, upgrading your seats for this flight, it is long!
Where to Stay in South Africa: Hotel + Airbnb
In Johannesburg, we stayed in both an Airbnb and Hotel. We had a hotel for one night because we changed our flight to add a day in Johannesburg. We ended up staying at the Reserve Suites Illovio. For most of our stay, we were in an Airbnb that was located in Randburg.
Safety in Johannesburg
I know there are often questions about safety in Johannesburg, but overall I felt safe and just made sure to be vigilant when out at night. Even in the Airbnb we stayed in there was a security gate and an alarm code. One night the alarm went off and our host called immediately and had someone stop by to make sure everything was fine.
In Cape Town, I stayed in both an Airbnb and Hotel. Here is my Airbnb for Cape Town, and if you want to see a video, check it out here. The views from this Airbnb were breathtaking and I enjoyed waking up to see Table Top Mountain each morning!
For the hotel, we stayed at The Capetonian. We booked this last minute as we had checked out of our Airbnb and had planned to explore more before heading to the airport. We used this hotel to hold our belongings and shower after a day of exploring!
Tip: You can earn Delta points for booking your Airbnb by heading to the Delta + Airbnb website.
Should you Exchange Money?
Yes! I would highly recommend exchanging money with South African Rand. While people did accept our US Dollars and credit cards except American Express, they charged us more. We ended up going to an ATM to get cash at one point during our trip.
You will want to have small bills, to buy jewelry and other trinkets during your stay. I ended up purchasing an amazing painting and many rings to add to my collection.
Can I use my credit Cards in South Africa?
Yes and no. Every restaurant we went to allowed us to use our credit cards. However, you could not utilize an American Express Card. In addition, I would highly recommend bringing cards from both Visa and Mastercard. When we went to Table Top Mountain none of my visa cards worked and luckily I had one card that was issued by Master Card.
Do I need any shots, visa, or malaria pills?
If visiting South Africa from the US as a citizen for less than 90 days for either business or tourism you do not need a visa. If those terms do not apply to you, check out this website.
In terms of shots and malaria pills, I utilized the passport health website to determine if I needed them. You can find that information here. While it was only recommended, I did decide to get both malaria pills and a yellow fever vaccine at a travel clinic in NYC. It was not covered by insurance. I paid $65 as the office fee and then $240 for the yellow fever shot. There was a discount for paying with cash, but I wanted the credit card points. My malaria pills were $4.13. If you are in New York, here is the place I went to. My insurance did cover the office visit but they sent the check to the office.
Keep in mind, that there are countries that you will need the yellow fever vaccine for, so getting it now prevents you from having to get it later in life.
What Phone Service Can I use?
You can use your phone service, but I went with an ESIM because Verizon costs $10 a day for international service. You can utilize Airalo to secure a more cost-effective plan.
How to get from Johannesburg to Capetown?
We flew FlySaAir and it was a comfortable and short flight. Make sure if you pay for early boarding, you head to the front. We did and waited to be called and that did not happen.
How do you get around both Capetown and Johannesburg?
When I arrived at the airport, after going through customs, we called an Uber. There are taxi drivers in the airport parking lot that you can use but we went with Uber because it was less expensive.
Getting around both Capetown and Johannesburg was very easy with Uber and we hired a driver for a day while in Capetown via Uber which made visiting many destinations easy.
Conclusion
Planning a trip to South Africa can be very overwhelming when you are just getting started. Hopefully, this post answered many of your questions so you can begin to plan your excursion. While in South Africa, I did a Wine Tram, Walked with Lions, and more. I cannot wait to go back!
If you want to know more about my time at Ukutula Lodge and Game Reserve where I walked with lions, learned about how they are using invitro fertilization to increase the number of lions, and got to interact with the cubs. check my, Walk with a Lion, Pet a Cheetah.
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Very useful tips 🙂 Thanks
We just got back from South Africa. Your post was a reminder of some of the things that went into planning our trip a year in advance. We too had some problems with our credit cards and were glad we had more than one with us (and some cash as a backup). Airalo worked great for us in South Africa but was pretty useless in both Zimbabwe and Zambia. Good tips for planning.
That is good to know about airalo!
Good advice on medical concerns and transportation… it looks likes a beautiful place…
Very useful tips. Good to know to bring more than one creditcard.
This is such a helpful guide! I’ve never visited South Africa and I wouldn’t even know where to start with planning a trip! I’d love to go one day so I’ll keep your post handy!