Pretoria is home to South Africa's parliament for half the year, and is situated in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Pretoria is contained in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (named in memory of King Tshwane, ruler of the BaTswana people), which stretches for 60km east to west and 70km north to south. Church Street in Pretoria is the longest urban street in South Africa.
Pretoria is situated 50km north of Johannesburg in South Africa's north-eastern interior. The town is known for its streets filled with 70,000 jacaranda trees that burst into flower each spring (the jacarandas were imported from South America over 100 years ago & it is now forbidden to plant new jacarandas).
Summers are warm and wet, with rainfall from October to March. Winters are dry, cool (below zero at times) and sunny. In summer, the days warm and the nights pleasingly cool. Pretoria is generally a couple of degrees warmer than Johannesburg.
Click here to see Pretoria's historical temperature and precipitation averages per month.
Johannesburg International Airport is South Africa's major hub, with frequent flights from overseas and within South Africa to all major cities.
Translux, Greyhoundand the Intercape connect Johannesburg to the major South African cities.
Pretoria lies on the N1 highway, running from Cape Town. Pretoria is also a short distance from the N3, connecting to Durban.
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The 18th Avenue Bakery & Cafe (232 18th Avenue, Deerness, Pretoria, 0127512212)
Union Buildings (where South Africa's parliaments is located 6 months of the years). |
Cradle of mankind |
Erasmus castle |
Voortrekker Monument |
Wonderboom (Wonder tree) |
Water skiing at the Vaal Dam |
Pretoria Zoo (The first Koala bear ever born in Africa was born at the Pretoria Zoo in January 2006). The zoo is huge and has a cable car. |
Home to more than 150 embassies, from Albania to Zimbabwe. |
Mapungubwe Museum |
Tswaing meteorite crater (formed 220,000 years ago when a meteorite the size of half a rugby field crashed into the earth's crust), about 40km from the city centre and known to be one of the best preserved meteorites impact sites in the world. The crater is 1.4km wide and 200m deep. |