Travelling to South Africa

Travelling to South Africa

By Andre Van Kets

Co-founder, Discover Africa

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• Almost all visitors from abroad fly to South Africa. The main hub for international flights is OR Tambo International Airport on the outskirts of Johannesburg, but some carriers also operate international flights to Cape Town and/or Durban.
• The national carrier, SAA, operates an extensive flight network between Johannesburg and many major cities in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and elsewhere in Africa.
• Most major international carriers operate direct flights between their home country and South Africa, among them Air China, Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, EgyptAir, EL AL, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad, Iberia, Kenya Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Qantas, Qatar, RwandAir, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, Turkish Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Particularly coming from a major European city such as London or Paris, there might be dozens of indirect options, and you can save a lot of money by shopping around.
  Cape Town International Airport was ranked the best airport in Africa | Credit: Cape Town Etc
• It’s also possible to enter South Africa overland from the neighboring countries of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. Still, you’d only be likely to do so as part of an extended overland trip through Africa.
• There are overland borders with the Kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland, the former surrounded entirely and the latter on three sides by South Africa. It’s doubtful anybody would enter South Africa directly via either of these small countries. Still, some itineraries pass through them (Swaziland in particular), in which case any visitor who requires a visa should apply for multiple entry.