Car hire in Johannesburg without a credit card

Why hire a car in Johannesburg?

Johannesburg's own sights lie in different districts, and the places people drive out to are in three provinces: the Cradle of Humankind and Pretoria in Gauteng, the Pilanesberg in North West, and the Panorama Route and southern Kruger in Mpumalanga. With a car you can combine them in one trip and set your own pace.

Collect your car at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, at Lanseria International Airport north-west of the city, or at a branch in Sandton, Randburg or the city. For more destinations, see car hire in South Africa.

Exploring Johannesburg and beyond by car

In the city

The Apartheid Museum is on the corner of Northern Parkway and Gold Reef Road in Ormonde. Constitution Hill, between Braamfontein and Hillbrow, combines the Constitutional Court, opened in 2004, with the Old Fort prison where Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were held. In Soweto, the house at 8115 Vilakazi Street in Orlando West, where Mandela lived, is now the Nelson Mandela National Museum.

Day trips from Johannesburg

The Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site since 1999, is about 85 kilometres from O.R. Tambo. Its visitor centre is at Maropeng; check before you go whether the Sterkfontein Caves are open. Pretoria and the gardens of the Union Buildings are about 55 kilometres from the airport; the building itself is not open to visitors.

For wildlife within a day, Dinokeng Game Reserve, about 40 minutes' drive from central Pretoria and 105 kilometres from the airport, is a Big Five reserve you can drive yourself, with more than 140 kilometres of tracks that are mostly fine for an ordinary car. The Pilanesberg National Park, set in the eroded remains of an extinct volcano next to Sun City, is about 175 kilometres from Sandton.

Longer routes: the Panorama Route and Kruger

East of Johannesburg, the Panorama Route in Mpumalanga links God's Window, Bourke's Luck Potholes, the Three Rondavels and the Blyde River Canyon. Pilgrim's Rest, the old gold rush town, is about 355 kilometres from O.R. Tambo and Graskop about 380. The Malelane gate of Kruger National Park is about 390 kilometres away and the Paul Kruger gate about 430. Arrive before the gate closes: Kruger turns latecomers away. You can also collect a car at Kruger Mpumalanga Airport near Nelspruit.

Driving in Johannesburg

The e-tolls on Gauteng's motorways ended in April 2024, so the gantries over the city's motorways no longer charge. The roads out of the province still have toll plazas: the N1 north, the N4 east and west, and the N3 to Durban. On the N3 you can pay in cash; for contactless payment the operator lists cards issued by South African banks. Carry some rand for the tolls.

South Africa drives on the left. A driving licence from your own country is valid if it is in English and has your photo and signature; if not, bring an International Driving Permit.

Best time to hire a car in Johannesburg

Johannesburg lies at about 1,750 metres. Almost all the rain falls between October and April: from November to January there is rain on about 15 days a month, usually as an afternoon thunderstorm. From May to August it hardly rains at all, with one to three wet days a month. Winter days are sunny and around 16 to 19°C, but nights drop to about 4°C in June and July, and frost is possible; the lowest temperature recorded between 1961 and 1990 was minus 8°C. From July to September the sun shines for more than nine hours a day.

If you are heading for Kruger in December or January, book ahead: in the festive season SANParks can set daily quotas for day visitors, which do not apply to guests staying overnight in the park.

South African school holidays shape the traffic out of Johannesburg. The longest South African school holiday runs from mid-December to mid-January, with shorter breaks around Easter, from late June to mid-July and in late September. On the N3 to Durban, traffic is busy around the start and end of the school holidays and at Easter.