Johannesburg Uber Tour: A Remarkable and Memorable Exploration

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This is the beginning

It is my last day in South Africa, my flight back to NYC is late tonight and I literally ran out of things to do here. Fortunately, I had free breakfast in my hotel voco Johannesburg, and had time to think about what to do.

The breakfast included 2 main dishes for which I picked the breakfast steak with patatas bravas, and poached eggs with sausages.

The restaurant was very well decorated and provocative.

The whole thing was delicious and I don’t think I finished it, it was so much food. I got ready to check out and leave my suitcase while I was going to explore the city.

When there’s too much… and nothing to do

I took a last look on the views from the hotel and went back to Starbucks to get a cold brew, and finally decide where to go. We explored the Sunday farmer’s and artisanal market in the top floor of the Rosebank Mall and asked some workers of the hotel where to go. One of them suggested to take a private tour, but the price was exorbitant: $250 euros por a few hours. We said no and decided to do it ourselves.

While my friend and I made a list of what to explore, we couldn’t make a decision, it was a Sunday and many things were closed. I literally suggested using a random choice generator online to pick where to go. We included The Johannesburg Zoo, The Botanical Garden, The Gold Reef City Theme Park, and Montecasino. Even though we used the app and picked a winner we were still not sure on where to go. After my friend started looking on things to do online, he saw the Carlton Center. I had been there only 2 days before, and the lookout was permanently closed. He insisted in going there but I was scared of walking around the downtown on a Sunday, knowing we were still not going to be able to see anything.

An Uber surprise

I hesitated on going there but still went, using the Uber app. Two days before I had gone to a few spots in Johannesburg using the Add Stop feature in Uber, so I told this to my friend, and we convinced the Uber driver to drive us through Braamfontein before getting to Carlton Center. He then did more than that, he started explaining like a tour guide, every single area. We were lucky to have this guy as our driver.

As expected, many stores were closed as we approached the downtown on this Sunday. But we were still having a good time exploring the city without having to walk it.

We continued going south and we passed by the Rea Vaya BRT stations. I was surprised that they had a BRT system like the ones in Colombia and Brazil.

The driver continued giving us some information about the city, and even though it was empty in this area, he said during the week, it was very liveful.

We passed by Ghandi Square, as the driver took us though a lot of detours to get to the Uber designated first stop.

We finally made it to the building, and as expected the lookout was closed. My friend also got a bit scared of the area, and decided just to stay in the car. We then asked the driver to tour us through the downtown, as I was adding stops on the Uber app.

The driver then took us to Hillbrow, one of the most dangerous neighboorhoods in South Africa, with high levels of crime, prostitution, and poverty.

There were a lot of student homes in that area, since the University of Johannesburg campus was very closeby. Before going to the next area we passed by Ponte City, an apartment tower that was hijacked for decades by the mafia. I literally had to Google the story because I could not believe it, when the driver was telling it. It is very heartbreaking.

More than 1 hour into our Uber tour, we passed by Yeoville, a zulu area north of downtown, also very impoverished and high rates of crime.

As we got further from the Johannesburg Downtown we got to the China Town. The driver told us that all these businesses hire local people as security guards, which does not happen often in other areas.

Finalizing the Uber Tour

Another stop was added, this time in a more rich neighboorhood, and you could already see how different everything looked.

It was crazy to us that we would be in a very dangerous neighborhood, and just a few meters north we would see a rich neighborhood like this one.

My flight had just been delayed, so I had more time to spend in JNB. The driver mentioned there was a viewpoint around, so I googled it in the maps and added to the Uber stops. Its name was Munro Drive Point and seems to be an unknown spot in the city. The views were beautiful. It was crazy that we had been on the very end of that view just an hour before.

The day was ending so we decided to add a tentative last stop in Sandton City, one of the wealthiest neigborhoods of JNB.

We noticed a big tower in this area, and decided to go down and ask if they had a bar on top. They DID and they were accepting walk ins. This means it was the end of our Uber tour of the city 🙁

I had never been in such a long but productive Uber ride, 2 hours 20 minutes and 46 km later we were about to finish the best idea we had. We paid almost 150 euros to the driver including a very good tip.

Alto234 Rooftop and Sunset

The Alto234 Rooftop Bar in a 57th floor was the best idea to finish the day. The entrance had an expensive cover but included a glass of MOËT champagne and not limited time in the rooftop.

We sat down, ordered some food, enjoyed the champagne and took a lot of pictures of my last sunset in Johannesburg. You can check the menu here.

Food finally arrived, and it was just some pieces of chicken wings, not too expensive, only like 5 USD.

It seems like people were only here for the sunset, everyone was excited about it, and to be fair it was a great way to finish my Round The World Trip.

Johannesburg was saying goodbye to me with an spectacular sunset, but now I had to focus on getting back to the hotel, get my suitcase and go to the airport.

We got down as soon as we could, and took an Uber to the hotel. I got to see a last view of Johannesburg as I was leaving the hotel.

The sunset lasted for a long time, like South Africa knew they wanted me to get the best last impression of them. I grabbed my suitcase and started my way to my last flight of this RTW, the one that would take me back home to New York.

Please do not hesitate and leaving your comments and questions below.