Pretoria
Capital of South Africa: population, location, elevation, climate and landmarks.
Pretoria CBD1: Petrus Potgieter, Petrus at en.wikipedia, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Overview
Pretoria is the capital of South Africa, in Gauteng. About 2.1 million people live in the city proper, making it the 4th largest city of South Africa in our atlas.
It lies at 25.74° S, 28.19° E, about 1,332 m (4,370 ft) above sea level, and keeps time on the Africa/Johannesburg time zone.
Location
Red dot: Pretoria. Green dots: other major cities of South Africa. Map data: Natural Earth.
Climate
Pretoria has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh). The warmest month is usually Nov, with average highs near 31°C (88°F); the coolest nights come in Jul at about 4°C (40°F). Around 570 mm (22 in) of rain and snow falls in a typical year, most of it in Jan.
Bars: average daily high and low (°C) for each month; blue columns and figures: average precipitation (mm). Gridded 2001-2025 averages from NASA POWER, so mountain and coastal spots can differ from local station records.
Landmarks and places to see
Popular sights within a few kilometres of the city centre, ranked by how widely they are documented on Wikipedia.
What to eat in South AfricaNational dishes, street food, desserts and drinks on Intercontinental Chef.Nearby major cities
- Thembisa · 28 km
- Soshanguve · 31 km
- Benoni · 51 km
- Boksburg · 52 km
- Johannesburg · 53 km
- Soweto · 67 km
- Evaton · 94 km
- Vereeniging · 106 km
- Population, coordinates, elevation, time zone: GeoNames 964137 (CC BY 4.0)
- Wikidata Q3926 (CC0)
- Climate: NASA POWER 2001-2025 climatology
Text written by Geographical Effect from these sources.
- Pretoria CBD1: Petrus Potgieter, Petrus at en.wikipedia, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- South Africa-Pretoria Zoo-005: NJR ZA, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Transvaal Museum: Luckymelon, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Pretoriase kunsmuseum 1: Laurens, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Libertas, since 1994 known as Mahlamba Ndlopfu, in 1934 by Gerard Moerdijk designed as official residence in Pretoria for the state of the Union of South Africa. - panoramio: Hendrik van den Berg, CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- South African Reserve Bank Building in Pretoria: Raw stuff, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Antonvanwouwhouse: Borisgorelik, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 9 2 258 0008-Staats Model School-Pretoria-s: Janek Szymanowski, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
