Johannesburg, ZA

David Higgs' Rosebank meat temple — open-fire cooking on the top of the Trumpet building with floor-to-ceiling skyline views. The special-occasion address in Joburg.

David Higgs and Gary Kyriacou's Sandton Neapolitan-style pizza-and-pasta restaurant with floor-to-ceiling JSE views, an imported wood oven, a serious wine cellar and a serious bill.

Candice Philip's tasting-menu restaurant at The Houghton Hotel, one of Joburg's most decorated fine-dining rooms. Eight courses leaning modern South African with European technique.

African Restaurant of the Year inside The Saxon hotel in Sandhurst — heritage-South-African tasting menus working with indigenous grains, game, marula, mopane. Less ostentatious than Marble, more interesting.

Luke Dale Roberts' Asian-leaning small-plates restaurant inside the Peech Hotel in Melrose/Birdhaven, north of central. Lighter and more playful than Marble; the right dinner when you don't want a slab of beef.

Modern bistro in the design-led Hyde Hotel, Rosebank — caper-butter sole, Wagyu burgers with truffle, a long brunch menu. Reliable any time of day, less performative than the Sandton heavyweights.

Sandton hotel restaurant on the top floor with panoramic skyline views — perfectly seared venison, curry lamb shank, an old-school formal service style that suits the room.

Maboneng Argentinian asado grill — heavy on parrilla cuts including the local-favourite spider steak — and a wine list that leans Argentinian and Cape reds. The substantial dinner in the precinct.

Rooftop urban garden in Maboneng, hammocks and herbs scattered around lighter-than-most-Joburg tapas and smoothies. Reliable lunch in the precinct and the best skyline view in the area.

Modern Japanese in Parkhurst's restaurant strip — counter sushi, well-cut sashimi, robata grill at the back. The reliable Japanese restaurant in a city that does sushi less consistently than it should.

Parkhurst farm-to-fork bistro on a 4th Avenue corner — pasta, fish, smaller mains and a leafy outdoor courtyard. Daytime lunch is the move; the night version is fine but the courtyard is the point.

Rosebank steakhouse that's a Joburg institution — clubby leather-and-wood room, aged South African beef, the kind of service where regulars are addressed by name. Less performative than Marble, deeper in the city's affection.

Trendy egg-focused brunch room in Greenside doing a tight playful menu of eggs on every conceivable carrier. Sharp room, sharp coffee, the city's most photographed breakfast.

Family-run Japanese in Norwood doing a long maki menu plus a serious sashimi counter. Cheap, fast, no-fuss; the city's working sushi default when Coalition feels too pricey.

Rosebank specialty-coffee bar with a small bakery counter and one of the best espresso programs in the city. Coffee-nerd compulsory; the croissants are a bonus.

Illovo cafe-restaurant doing all-day brunch and a serious lunch menu — sandwiches, salads, big plates — in a leafy garden setting. The Joburg-suburban benchmark for a long unhurried lunch.

Long-running Sandton Italian doing wood-fired pizzas, fresh pasta and an after-dinner bar that goes late. Family-friendly daytime, club-feel after midnight — a Joburg double-life classic.

Vilakazi Street buffet of traditional South African dishes — pap, stews, samp, atchar — eaten outdoors under umbrellas with live music most weekends. The lunch stop on every Soweto tour and rightly so.

Six hundred hectares of wild Highveld grassland on the city's southern edge — zebra, wildebeest, dassies, raptors overhead. Multiple trail loops from 3km to 12km, almost no other people.

Three quartzite ridge-hills in the middle of the suburbs with Iron Age stone furnaces and a small section of Witwatersrand fynbos. Volunteer-led walks Sundays; self-guided most days.

Restored 1930s hilltop garden in Houghton with indigenous plantings, public sculpture by James Delaney and panoramic ridge views. A 90-minute meander; the public-safety story has flipped from caution to embraced.

Easy 3km loop inside Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden taking in the permanent waterfall, the eagles' nesting cliff and a stretch of bushveld. Family-friendly, mostly graded path, no climb of note.

Surprising 10-hectare patch of indigenous bushveld preserved beside the Modderfontein Reserve, with a 2km loop trail through highveld grass and a small wetland. The closest piece of bush to Sandton.

Two-kilometre loop around the dam through the rose garden, herb garden and lake-edge meadow. Family default; arguably the easiest pretty walk in the city.

Saturday-morning food and makers market in a glass-and-concrete shed on Juta Street, the centrepiece of the Braamfontein scene. Coffee, oysters, vinyl, the city's most diverse crowd.

Half-day guided bicycle tours through Soweto's main streets and townships, ending at Vilakazi Street for the historic sites and lunch. Easier than walking, more intimate than a bus.

Newtown's three-stage theatre, a fortress of South African political theatre under apartheid and still the city's serious stage — drama, jazz, dance. The Black Box programmes the most adventurous work.

Small independent cinema in Maboneng showing arthouse films, festivals and director Q&As. The opposite of the mall-multiplex experience and the right Friday-night plan.

Africa's largest mall, anchor of the Sandton precinct — international brands, two cinema complexes, Nelson Mandela Square outside. The rainy-day fallback and the city's most concentrated shopping.

Long-established contemporary African and global art gallery in Parkwood, the dealer that represents William Kentridge among others. Free, museum-quality, four to six shows a year.

Big Braamfontein theatre complex hosting opera, ballet, musicals and the South African State Theatre touring programme. The all-purpose programmed venue in the city centre.

Rooftop Sunday market at Rosebank Mall — African crafts, food stalls, music, art. More tourist-leaning than Neighbourgoods but a real working makers market and worth a Sunday morning.

South Africa's defining post-1994 museum, telling the rise and fall of apartheid through film, photographs and an unflinching sequence of installations. Three hours minimum and heavy throughout — start your trip here.

A former prison complex on Hospital Hill — including the Number Four and Women's gaols where Gandhi and Mandela were both held — now home to the Constitutional Court. Guided tours combine the prison history with the post-1994 court building.

The Vilakazi Street home Nelson and Winnie Mandela lived in from 1946; the only street in the world to have housed two Nobel Peace laureates (Tutu lived down the road). Small, simply curated, essential.

Memorial and museum at the site where 13-year-old Hector Pieterson was shot dead by police on 16 June 1976, marking the start of the Soweto Uprising. Spare, well-curated, devastating.

Reclaimed warehouse district east of the CBD turned arts-and-restaurants quarter — galleries, the Sunday Market on Main, rooftop bars and a few good restaurants. Sketchy edges; central blocks are fine in daylight and on event evenings.

Wits University museum tracing modern human origins through southern African archaeology — San rock art, hand-axes, the genetic story. Smaller and sharper than the Apartheid Museum and a useful pairing.

Northwest of the city near the Witwatersrand ridge, this 300-hectare garden centres on a permanent waterfall and the resident Verreaux's eagles overhead. The default weekend escape for Joburg families.

Drive-through safari and conservation centre north of the city — lions, wild dogs, cheetah and other predators in walk-around and drive-through enclosures. Not the wild but the easiest big-cat visit from Joburg.

University art museum on Jorissen Street with one of the strongest African art collections on the continent — masks, beadwork, contemporary South African work in rotating shows. Quiet, well-lit, free.