Pretoria

About an hour north of Johannesburg (traffic-depending—on a bad day it can take more than two hours), Pretoria, the country's capital, is within the larger metropolitan area of Tshwane (pronounced Chwa-aah-nie). Though it was once a bastion of hard-line Afrikanerdom, the city now has a refreshing cosmopolitan breeze blowing through its streets. In addition to its several historic buildings, it's renowned for its jacaranda trees, whose purple blossoms blanket the city in September and October.