Where to Stay in Soweto, Gauteng

What is Soweto known for?

Soweto is known as the township whose name abbreviates South Western Townships, set on the southern edge of Johannesburg in Gauteng. The Hector Pieterson Museum and the neighbouring Hector Pieterson Memorial anchor its memory of the 1976 school protests. Regina Mundi, the large Catholic church, drew crowds through the same years.

Travellers also reach the Nelson Mandela National Museum here. Cricket has its ground too, the Soweto Cricket Oval.

What are the main landmarks in Soweto?

Soweto's landmarks trace its role in South Africa's protest history. The Hector Pieterson Museum records the 1976 student uprising, and the Hector Pieterson Memorial stands close by on the same ground. Regina Mundi, the Catholic church, sheltered demonstrators through those years.

Cricket fills the Soweto Cricket Oval. Together they draw visitors across the township south-west of Johannesburg, in Gauteng.

What is the history of Soweto?

Soweto took shape as a cluster of townships south-west of Johannesburg, its name an English abbreviation of South Western Townships. The founding year of 1963 formalised the grouping along the city's mining belt in Gauteng. It grew as a separate municipality.

For decades it stood apart from Johannesburg's core, a distinct administrative body on the southern flank of the metropolis. The township's name is inseparable from the events of 1976. The Hector Pieterson Museum and the Hector Pieterson Memorial commemorate the student protests of that year, and Regina Mundi, the Catholic church, became a gathering place through the same turbulent decades.

Soweto was later folded back into the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in 2002, ending its run as an independent municipality. It now ranks among the suburbs of Johannesburg. The landmarks remain, and the Soweto Cricket Oval carries the township's sporting life forward on the same ground.

Where is Soweto?

Soweto lies south-west of central Johannesburg, in Gauteng, spread along the city's old mining belt on the southern edge of the metropolis where the gold reef once drew the settlement into being. It rests on South Africa's high interior plateau. The subtropical band of the southern hemisphere sets its seasons, though the plateau elevation keeps the air cooler than its place on the map would otherwise imply.

The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality contains it. Landmarks scatter across it. Regina Mundi and the Hector Pieterson Museum mark points on that spread.

What is the climate of Soweto?

Soweto sits in the subtropical band of the southern hemisphere, high on the interior plateau south-west of Johannesburg. Summers bring warm afternoons and thunderstorms rolling across Gauteng, while winters run dry and cool on the high ground. The seasons flip from the northern calendar.

Rain concentrates in the warmer months. The plateau elevation tempers the subtropical heat that its position alone might suggest.

How do you get to Soweto?

Soweto connects to the rest of Gauteng through Johannesburg, whose road and rail network reaches the township on the metropolis's south-western flank. Most visitors arrive via Johannesburg, then continue to the Hector Pieterson Museum and Regina Mundi in the heritage quarter. Roads thread the mining belt into the township.

Tour routes run daily. The Soweto Cricket Oval sits within the same road grid that links the suburbs of Johannesburg.