Attractions IN Pietermaritzburg

Entertainment / Landmarks / Miscellaneous

Alexandra Park

Alexandra Park is one of the green belts which contributes to Pietermaritzburg's reputation as “The Garden City”. The park was established in 1863 and named after Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII. The 85 hectare park is bounded by the Msunduzi River, ...

Nature Reserves

Bisley Valley Nature Reserve

One of the lesser-known reserves around Pietermaritzburg, even to the locals, Bisley Valley Nature Reserve is a beautiful spot to which to retreat from the world for a picnic, or a morning of bird-spotting. The reserve is 350 hectares of thornveld and ...

Memorials / National Monuments

Burger Street Jail

The Burger Street Jail was closed in 1989 and sections of the jail are open today for tours. The building is now run by Project Gateway, a Christian self-help project, and features a craft shop and coffee shop. The original jail was built in 1862, ...

Landmarks

Church Street

Church Street in Pietermaritzburg has been converted into an attractive pedestrian shopping mall. The African Arts and Craft Centre in Fraser Lane specialises in traditional and contemporary work, including sculpture, hand-woven rugs and tapestries, ...

Memorials / Miscellaneous

Gandhi Statue

Opposite the old colonial buildings on Church Street in Pietermaritzburg stands the statue of Gandhi, whose notorious ejection from a train shaped his unique version of nonviolent resistance, known as ‘Satyagraha' or passive ...

Entertainment

Golden Horse Casino

Scottsville is now home, not only to its well known race course, but to the largest horse statue in the world - a 14 metre Pegasus. The Pegasus proudly greets visitors to the Golden Horse casino, which is a four-star luxury hotel in Pietermaritzburg. The ...

Landmarks / Religious

Habibia Soofie Masjied

Up on the northern end of Langalibalele Street, in Pietermartizburg, are three Hindu temples and a Soofie mosque. Habibia Soofie Masjied, the mosque, was built by the Sufi saint Soofie Saheb on a piece of land that, when ...

Golf Courses

Maritzburg Golf Club

The Maritzburg Golf Club in Pietermaritzburg is one of the oldest golf clubs in South Africa, dating back to 1886. It has lush, smooth cynodon greens; pine trees line many of the fairways and water hazards feature on seven holes; numerous bunkers; very ...

Museums

Natal Museum

Situated just south of Pietermaritzburg's City Hall in Jabu Ndlovu Street, the Natal Museum is one of South Africa's five national museums, set in a particularly pretty building that dates back to 1905. The name, Natal Museum, which is in the process of ...

Landmarks / Memorials

Old Colonial Building

Part of Pietermaritzburg's colonial history lies in the proud Old Colonial Building, which has stood on Church Street since 1899. The colonnaded front facade was completed in 1901 and was home to various government offices over the years. The design of ...

Landmarks / Miscellaneous

One O'Clock Gun

The One O'Clock Gun is a naval cannon that stands outside the City Hall of Pietermaritzburg. Its name hails back to the time when it was fired every day, bar Sundays, at one o'clock to announce the arrival of the post from Durban. The 5.5kg naval gun is ...

Airports / Landmarks

Pietermaritzburg Airport

Visitors that have a fun trip to the Natal Midlands planned can fly in from Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport to the Pietermaritzburg Airport. Also known as Oribi Airport, this is a small, but efficient airport that serves the whole area ...

Botanical Gardens

Pietermaritzburg Botanical Gardens

One of ten national botanical gardens, Pietermaritzburg's Botanical Gardens occupy an ancient floodplain and hillside on the edge of a mist belt that creates an atmosphere, on days when the mists roll in, something like that of a Dickens novel. The city ...

Landmarks / Museums / National Monuments

Pietermaritzburg City Hall

Pietermaritzburg's City Hall, which claims to be the largest brick building in the southern hemisphere, lies in the middle of the Pietermaritzburg city centre. The building is a national monument and is a beautiful piece of Victorian architecture, with ...

Landmarks / Museums

Pietermaritzburg Railway Station

The attractive red brick Railway Station building in Railway Street in Pietermaritzburg dates from the Victorian era, and is notable for its contrasting stone facings and cast-iron lace work. Mahatma Ghandi was evicted from a train here in 1893, a famous ...

Landmarks / Entertainment

Scottsville Racecourse

Scottsville Racecourse is popular for a number of good reasons, not least of all its excellent facilities and its being the setting for the movie Racing Stripes, a 2005 children's movie about a racing zebra. It is situated in Pietermaritzburg, which is ...

Golf Courses

Victoria Country Club

Less than five minutes from the CBD of Pietermaritzburg, the Victoria Country Club is superbly located in the scenic parklands adjoining the Queen Elizabeth Nature Reserve, and above all, boasts one of South Africa's most picturesque golfing venues. The ...

Landmarks

World's View

A local heritage site, World's View, lies at the edge of the world along a road also called World's View. From up here there are excellent views over Pietermaritzburg, Table Mountain (not the one in Cape Town), ...

Attractions AROUND Pietermaritzburg

Popular Tourist Routes

Albert Falls Amble

The Amble, also sometimes referred to as the Albert Falls Amble, is a complementary route to the Midlands Meander and Boston Beat. The route markets itself as 'the road less travelled'. But where the Midlands Meander is an arts and crafts route that ...

Nature Reserves

Albert Falls Dam Nature Reserve

The source of the uMngeni River lies in the uMngeni Vlei area, an ancient wetland bounded by hills. From here it meanders eastward through undulating pastoral countryside until just before Midmar Dam, where it is joined by the Lions River. Below Midmar ...

Nature Reserves

Doreen Clark Nature Reserve

For those that love South African nature and the outdoors, the Doreen Clark Nature Reserve offers all of this and more. Situated just outside Pietermaritzburg, this nature reserve spans seven hectares and boasts a magnificent forest that is bordered by ...

Popular Tourist Routes

Midlands Meander

The enchantment of the Midlands has long inspired many a visitor and resident to creativity and as a result, local artists, potters and weavers combined to create an arts and crafts route in 1985, which was to become the highly successful and popular ...

Birdlife or Wildlife Sanctuaries

Natal Zoological Gardens

The Natal Zoological Gardens are a collection of both local and unusual animals - 44 different animal species to be precise. Aside from the fossas, there are leopards, various primates, a series of birds that include the black swan, crowned crane, ...

Nature Reserves

Queen Elizabeth Nature Reserve

The Queen Elizabeth Nature Reserve serves as the headquarters of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, KwaZulu-Natal's nature conservation service. Situated in Hilton, the nature reserve is home to many beautiful species, including impala, blesbok, zebra, bushbuck, ...

Entertainment / Miscellaneous / Popular Tourist Routes

The Saunter

The Saunter is more than a stretch of road between the East Coast of KwaZulu-Natal and Hilton. It is an experience, an adventure of many different faces, and one of the best ways to experience this part of South Africa ...

Nature Reserves

Umvoti Flower Reserve

The relatively unknown Umvoti Flower Reserve, also known as Lake Merthley Wildflower Reserve, lies on the shores of Lake Merthley just outside of Greytown in the Midlands. Except that the fences of the reserve have been stolen. Which means that although ...

... and a little further afield

Popular Tourist Routes

Battlefields Route

The KwaZulu Natal hinterland has witnessed some of the most brutal and significant battles to be fought in South Africa. These historical sites form part of the Battlefields Route, a trip through 14 historical towns whose surrounding areas boast the ...

Golf Courses

Bosch Hoek Golf Club

Bosch Hoek Golf Course in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands must qualify as one of the most picturesque layouts in the country. The estate is conveniently positioned at Balgowan near Howick, just a four hour drive from Johannesburg or a leisurely one and a half ...

Nature Reserves

Craigie Burn Nature Reserve

Just on the other side of Route 622, which links Mooi River with Greytown, from the Karkloof Nature Reserve you will find Craigie Burn Nature Reserve and Dam. The dam is touted as a beautiful fishing spot in the midst of dairy and stock farming country ...

Nature Reserves

Dargle Conservancy

The Dargle Conservancy is about protecting and conserving the wonderful array of plants and animals that can be found in the region, showcasing them to local and international visitors, and promoting their care to and for the younger generations. As ...

Golf Courses

Gowrie Farm Golf Course

Gowrie Farm Golf Course, one of KwaZulu Natal's finest golf courses, was built in the traditional way with push up greens and rugged bunkers. The fairways and tees are Kikuyu with bent grass greens and surrounds. Only people over the age of 65 or those ...

Mountain Passes

Hela Hela Pass

Hela Hela Pass, sometimes written Helehele or Hella Hella, is a gravel road that links Richmond with Creighton in KwaZulu-Natal. Its name is thought to come from the Zulu iHela iHela, which translates as 'single file only' referring to the path local ...

Game Reserves / Nature Reserves

Highover Wildlife Sanctuary

Surrounded by steep rocky hills, Highover is set on 3 000 hectares of some of the most incredibly scenic land, in the area known as Hella Hella. The sanctuary includes a number of habitats – savannah, mist-belt forests, mist-belt grasslands and valley ...

Lakes / Dams / Landmarks / Natural Wonders

Howick Falls

Howick Falls' other name is KwaNogqaza, the 'place of the tall one', for obvious reasons – the waterfall is a 95 metre cascade into a broiling, restless pool, regarded by the local Zulus with grave superstition, and said to be the place of the spirits of ...

Landmarks / Miscellaneous

Howick Falls Gorge Walk

The Gorge Walk at Howick Falls is probably one of the best ways to see some pretty spectacular views of the falls and the gorge, through which the uMngeni River flows, some 20 kilometres north of Pietermaritzburg, to the east of the N3. It is easy to ...

Nature Reserves

Impendle Nature Reserve

The Impendle Nature Reserve lies just south of the little town of Impendle, roughly 62 km west of Himeville, in the foothills of the Drakensberg. The nature reserve is made up of former farmland used mostly to graze cattle, but also to grow mielies and ...

Pietermaritzburg as a destination

Also in the neighbourhood

Balgowan, Boston, Bulwer, Currys Post, Dargle, Estcourt, Eston, Fort Nottingham, Greytown, Hidcote, Hilton, Hlutankungu, Howick, Ixopo, Karkloof, Lidgetton, Lions River, Merrivale, Mid Illovo, Mooi River, Nottingham Road, Richmond, Rosetta

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