What to say

Johannesburg? Joburg? Jozi? Egoli? Johannesburg has many names, and how you refer to it marks you out.

“Johannesburg” is long and formal. You’re boring. “Jozi” was the name that emerged in the mid-’90s with a flourishing black urban youth culture, especially expressed through music like kwaito and hip hop. If you use it now, it says you are desperate to belong. “Egoli” means “place of gold” and was first used by mineworkers and migrant labourers from rural areas. It still is, so it marks you out as a country bumpkin. Just stick with “Joburg”: short and sweet.

What to know

Joburgers work and party harder than the rest of the country, and the city remains irrepressible. Yet despite the end of apartheid almost 30 years ago, South Africa’s urban areas remain largely segregated by class and race. Most tourist- and business-friendly spaces are safe and usually patrolled by private security companies.

What do do in your free time

Soweto is home to several important events and people in South Africa’s troubled history. A visit could include the Mandela House, the home that Nelson Mandela shared with his wife Winnie before he went to prison. The Hector Pieterson Museum, commemorating the 1976 Soweto Uprising, is also close by. There are guided tours of these sites which include traditional meals, food and cultural performances.

Got a whole day to spare? Head down to the old Johannesburg downtown, preferably with a local guide. Visit the venerable Rand Club for lunch or a drink at the counter, where mining magnates have hung out for over a century. The Ethiopian Quarter is a few blocks away from the Rand Club, and the food there is delicious. Johannesburg’s Art Deco buildings defy critics who describe the city as ugly, while a ride to the top of the nearby Carlton Centre, the tallest cement-cast building in Africa, ensures breathtaking views of the city.

The Johannesburg Art Gallery has an excellent collection from South Africa and further abroad, and its curator, Khwezi Gule, is always provocative. Then head up to the country’s Constitutional Court in nearby Braamfontein. It was built from the bricks of the Old Fort prison, which used to house political prisoners on the same site – a metaphor for a country reborn.