Johannesburg: Hillbrow & Berea Walking Tour with Street Food

4.99

(156 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

We hadn’t even made it past the taxi rank when Sipho, our guide, grinned and handed me a can of Sparletta. “You’ll need this,” he said. I laughed but honestly, my palms were already sweaty. Hillbrow’s got a reputation—everyone in Johannesburg has an opinion about it—but standing there with the city humming around us, it felt more like a neighborhood than a headline. A woman selling vetkoek waved at us; her bangles clinked as she counted change for someone else.

Ponte Tower loomed up ahead—tall, concrete, kind of intimidating. Sipho told us how it was once the tallest residential building in Africa (I didn’t know that), and we craned our necks to see the hollow core. The wind whistled through the entrance and carried this faint smell of fried chicken from somewhere below. We walked on—past buildings that looked tired but alive, kids playing soccer in Alec Gorschel Park, someone blasting amapiano out their window. At one point we passed what Sipho called a “hijacked” building; he explained how people just took over when landlords disappeared. It’s messy but you can feel the stubbornness here.

I tried to say something in Zulu to an old man outside Summit Club (don’t ask me what—I probably butchered it), and he just laughed and shook my hand anyway. There’s something about seeing Pretoria Street up close—the colors are brighter than I expected, but also dustier somehow? The walk is only about 2km but it feels longer because you’re stopping all the time—someone wants to tell you a story or point out where they used to buy ice lollies as kids. I still think about that view from under Telkom Tower—sunlight bouncing off satellite dishes and laundry lines.

Lunch was pap and chicken at a tiny spot on Claim Street; nothing fancy but honestly some of the best I’ve had. The sauce was spicy enough to make me sweat (again), but not so much that I couldn’t finish every bite. We sat on plastic chairs while Sipho told us how Hillbrow changes at night—he said you have to see both sides to really get it. I’m not sure if I do yet, but walking those streets with him made me want to try.