Walking Tours
Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust (tel: 011 482 3349; website: www.parktownheritage.co.za) offers fairly easy guided walking tours that are around three hours on Saturday afternoons. Alternatively, for self-guided tours, pamphlets are available from ‘Northwards', 21 Rockridge Road, Parktown, (daily 0900-1300). The ‘Mansions & Minor Masterpieces' walk explores the stately Sir Herbert Baker-designed ‘mining-magnate' homes of Parktown and the artworks that decorate them. ‘From Cliff to Forest' starts at Westcliff (another historic suburb) and ends in Forest Town, where the zoo and Military History Museum are located. ‘Northcliff and Melville: Pre-History to Present' covers the ancient Stone Age sites on Melville Koppies, the heights of Northcliff, the Louw Geldenhuys farmhouse, Emmarentia Dam and the Botanical Gardens. Departure points vary depending on the tour chosen.

Walktours (tel: 011 444 1639; website: www.walktours.co.za) organises longer guided walks, which take four to eight hours. Routes include exploring Sandton, Africa's richest shopping, business and residential areas, a walk along the Braamfontein Spruit (stream), the Central Business District, Melville Koppies, Constitution Hill, Alexander Township, Zoo Lake to Emmarentia Dam and back, and for groups of 10 or more, dinner and a nocturnal tour of Johannesburg Zoo. Departure points vary depending on the tour chosen.

Bus Tours
If you don't have your own transport, there are dozens of tour operators in Johannesburg that offer a range of full- and half-day tours. Most use minibuses, have registered guides and pick up from all hotels. Tours on offer include Soweto, Gold Reef City, the Lion Park, city centre tours that include Newtown and the viewing platform at the top of the Carlton Centre for a bird's-eye view of the city, Lesedi Cultural Village and Pretoria city tours.

Main tour operators include:

Jimmy's Face to Face Tours (tel: 011 331 6109; website: www.face2face.co.za)
Moratiwa Tours (tel: 011 869 6629; website: www.moratiwatours.co.za)
Vhupi Cruiseliner Tours (tel: 011 936 0411; website: www.vhupo-tours.com)
JMT Tours (tel: 011 980 6038; website: www.jmttours.co.za)
Karabo Tours (tel: 011 325 7125; website: www.backpackers-ritz.co.za/karabo)
Lords Travel & Tours (tel: 011 454 6080; website: www.lordstravel.co.za)
Select Tours (tel: 011 496 1400)
TK Tours (tel: 011 869 6390; website: www.tktours.co.za)

Other Tours
GALA's Queer Johannesburg Tour (tel: 011 717 1963; website: www.wits.ac.za/gala/culture_tour.htm). This tour takes in sites of past and present significance to the struggle for gay rights in South Africa.

Historical Flights (tel: 0800 980 321; website: www.historicflight.co.za) runs slow and low champagne flights over Johannesburg, in older historic aircraft - such as the SAA Junkers JU52.

Bill Harrop's Original Balloon Safaris (tel: 011 705 3201; website: www.balloon.co.za) offers sunrise tours over the majestic Magaliesberg Mountains in a huge colourful hot-air balloon. The flight lasts for about an hour and is followed by a superb freshly prepared hot breakfast with champagne, upon landing. Balloon excursions depart from the Balloon Safaris Country Base in the Magalies River Valley, near Hartebeespoort Dam, 65km (40 miles) north of the city.