Johannesburg alexandra · Alexandra in Johannesburg
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Alexandra in Johannesburg
Alexandra in Johannesburg
Alexandra, unlike most other dangerous areas in Johannesburg, which would take some more effort or serious getting lost to accidentally get into, is a very poor and most dangerous township that deserves particular attention for the foreign visitor because it is next to the road that you would drive on from the airport to Sandton and is therefore easy to land up in if you get lost or take the wrong offramp.
Never take the London Road offramp from the N3 highway to get to Sandton (which you will see on the horizon and London Road may look like a shortcut even when reading a map or using GPS) as this road goes right through the heart of Alexandra and could lead to your speedy death (or at least being robbed of your car and everything of remote value, leaving you barefoot in your underwear on the pavement in the middle of a slum).
To get to Sandton when coming from the airport, take Marlboro Drive from the N3 and drive straight until you reach the M1 highway (this is also called the Marlboro offramp). Do not turn south/left (if you are coming from the N3) or right/south (if you are coming from the M1/Sandton side) anywhere between the N3 and the M1, including Louis Botha Avenue (which may be dangerous unless you know the area).
Alternatively, if you want to avoid the risk of getting this wrong, you can drive a farther (the N3 becomes the N1) and take Rivonia Road to the south, which will take you straight into central Sandton passing through only affluent areas for the entire length of this road, so if you go the wrong way, you are still in safe areas.
Also, when taking the Gautrain (very safe and nausiatingly well-guarded) between central Sandton and the airport, one of the stations it will stop at is Marlboro Station. This station is right on the edge of Alexandra. Do not (except in the case of a dire emergency) exit at this station.
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Johannesburg Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.