Routes and access

How to get to Pilanesberg National Park from Johannesburg and Pretoria

Name: Pilanesberg National Park
Address: South Africa

Pilanesberg is a road park. It sits next to Sun City in North West Province, about 50 km north of Rustenburg, and every route from Johannesburg, Pretoria and the two Gauteng airports is tarred to the gate turn-offs.

If you only want the answer

Drive. Plan on 2.5 to 3 hours from Johannesburg or OR Tambo with real traffic; route planners give 2 h 25 to 2 h 50 to the gates on empty roads. Any ordinary car reaches the gates and the tarred drives inside, but take a high-clearance car if you want the gravel loops. Pilanesberg airport has had no commercial flights since its terminal burned on 29 August 2023, so the nearest scheduled airport is Lanseria, about 127 to 148 km away.

How long is the drive from Johannesburg to Pilanesberg?

Plan on 2.5 to 3 hours from Johannesburg or OR Tambo. The OSRM route planner, run on 24 September 2026 with no traffic allowance, gives 2 h 25 from Sandton to Manyane gate and 2 h 46 from OR Tambo, but Gauteng traffic, trucks on the N4 and livestock on the R556 all add time. Lanseria and Pretoria are the quick starts, at about two hours to the nearest gate. Agent sites print anything from "a quick 2 hour drive" to "three hours" on the same page; the table below gives the measured figures.

Distances and drive times to each gate

These are the shortest measured legs from the four usual starting points, plus the short hop from Sun City. Times assume empty roads, so add half an hour for a weekday morning out of Gauteng and more on a Friday afternoon.

Route	Distance	Time	Notes
OR Tambo International to Kwa-Maritane gate	194 km	2 h 48	Tar to the turn-off; south gate next to Sun City
OR Tambo International to Manyane gate	198 km	2 h 46	Tar; R510 via Mogwase, east gate
OR Tambo International to Bakubung gate	215 km	2 h 50	Tar; R556 past Sun City, south-west gate
Sandton to Kwa-Maritane gate	153 km	2 h 27	Tar to the turn-off; R512 then N4 west
Sandton to Manyane gate	157 km	2 h 25	Tar; R512, N4, R556, R510
Lanseria International to Kwa-Maritane gate	127 km	2 h 04	Tar to the turn-off; shortest airport leg
Lanseria International to Manyane gate	132 km	2 h 03	Tar
Pretoria (Church Square) to Manyane gate	145 km	2 h 02	Tar; N4 west, Doornpoort and Brits tolls
Pretoria (Church Square) to Bakgatla gate	158 km	2 h 18	Tar; R510 north past Mogwase
Sun City resort to Kwa-Maritane gate	About 7 km	Not measured	Tar; figure from an agent site

Distances and times from the OSRM route planner on OpenStreetMap roads, run 24 September 2026, with no traffic allowance. The Bakgatla and Kwa-Maritane points use the resort and lodge coordinates because the gates are not mapped. Bakgatla is 212 km and 3 h 03 from OR Tambo, the longest of the airport legs.

The route: R512 or N4, then the R556

From Johannesburg or Lanseria, take the R512 over Pampoen Nek to the N4. From Pretoria, take the R80 or the N4 west. From either, leave the N4 at Modderspruit onto the R556 towards Sun City. Stay on the R556 for Bakubung and Kwa-Maritane on the south side; for Manyane and Bakgatla on the east and north-east, turn north on the R510 through Mogwase.

The R556 has livestock on the road and frequent speed cameras, a warning that has run in self-drive guides since at least 2020. Drive it in daylight if you can. There is no border on any of these routes: Pilanesberg is inside South Africa.

Tolls on the N4 Platinum route

Heading west, the Bakwena N4 plazas run Doornpoort, Brits, then the R512 junction, then the R556 exit, then Marikana, Kroondal and Swartruggens. You therefore never pay Marikana or Swartruggens on the way to the park. Coming from Pretoria on the N4 you pass Doornpoort and Brits, R20 each for a car under the tariff that runs from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027, so about R40 one way. Coming up the R512 from Johannesburg, you join the N4 after Brits by that plaza order and pass no N4 plaza before the R556; check it on your own map before you rely on it.

Which gate should you use?

Kwa-Maritane (south): the closest gate to Sun City and the shortest leg from every airport. A 2020 guide describes the south-east approach as gravel.
Bakubung (south-west, near Ledig): a short drive west of Sun City on the R556; Kubu Drive runs north from it on tar.
Manyane (east, via Mogwase): the main eastern gate, with Manyane Resort just inside and Tshwene Drive on tar to the centre. Best for the Mogwase guesthouses.
Bakgatla (north-east, near Saulspoort and Moruleng): Bakgatla Resort sits at the gate and Kgabo Drive runs south on tar.
The private reserve on the western side and Shepherd's Tree have their own entrances off the R565 for lodge guests only.

One agent site says the park has five public gates but names only four. We list the four that every source agrees on.

What car do you need for Pilanesberg?

A 2WD sedan is enough for the gates and the four tarred spines inside the park: Kubu, Kgabo, Tshwene and Tau Drive. Much of the rest of the roughly 188 km of track is gravel, and the FAQ on the main agent portal says some gravel roads are in poor condition and a high-clearance vehicle is recommended. In 2026 the tar itself has potholes and broken edges; the board reported more than 80 km of road graded by August 2026, but tour operators still called the roads in very poor shape. Motorcycles are not allowed in the park, only on the road to the Manyane and Bakgatla camps.

Car hire, shuttles and public transport

Car hire at OR Tambo and Lanseria is the normal way in, and the drive is straightforward on tar. In March 2026 the board's chief executive described the usual fly-in route as Lanseria plus a two-hour shuttle, but we found no shuttle operator with a published price, and the main agent transfer page is an enquiry form. If you want a transfer, ask your lodge for its rate before you book.

We found no public bus or minibus service into the park in any source. Without a car, the realistic choices are a lodge transfer, then the lodge's own guided drives or the Mankwe Gametrackers scheduled drives that leave from Sun City, Bakubung gate, Manyane and Bakgatla.

Arriving at the gate: time and payment

Gates open at 05:30 from November to February, 06:00 in March, April, September and October, and 06:30 from May to August, and close between 18:00 and 19:00. Entry generally stops an hour before closing, so in July you need to be through by about 17:00. Since 1 December 2025 the gates take cards only, in rand: carry a chip-and-PIN card and a backup. Weekend day-trippers from Gauteng queue at the gates from 08:00 to 09:00, which is a good reason to leave early and arrive at opening.

Something this page does not answer?

The board publishes no route or gate information of its own in 2026. If your plan depends on a particular gate or road, ask us and we will tell you what we know.

Ask us. We answer questions about the park itself, and we can usually tell you which camps work on one route and who to write to. If what you want is a trip someone else arranges, we will say so and hand you to an operator we know, and we earn a commission if that becomes a booking.

Nothing on this site sits behind the form. Every figure we have is already on the page.

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Sources

Where to go next

Entry Fees What you pay when you arrive at the gate Map Gates, airstrips and coordinates Lodges & camps Where to sleep once you are in