Getting from O.R. Tambo International Airport to the city

A station inside the terminal

• The Gautrain's OR Tambo station is integrated with the Central Terminal Building. The station concourse links directly to the departures level, one floor below, so you walk to the platform rather than to a shuttle.
• This is the reason the Gautrain works as an airport link at all, in a city where nothing else does.

The service

• Trains leave the airport from 05:30 on weekdays and 05:27 at weekends until 20:30, every 10 minutes at weekday peaks and every 20 to 30 minutes otherwise.
• Sandton is 15 minutes away on the East-West line, by way of Marlboro.
• Marlboro is the interchange for the North-South line to Midrand, Centurion, Pretoria and Hatfield.

What it does not cover

• There is no train from the airport after 20:30 or before 05:27. A lot of long-haul flights into Johannesburg land in that window, and for those you want a car arranged in advance.
• The airport train runs to Sandton, where you change for Rosebank and Park, beside Johannesburg Park Station in Braamfontein. If you are going somewhere the Gautrain does not, the train is the wrong tool.

Practical

• You need a Gautrain card, bought and loaded at the station, or a contactless bank card for pay-as-you-go trips.
• Gautrain buses run from the stations to nearby areas, and are included in the same system.
• Arrange your onward transport before you land if you are arriving at night. That is standard advice for Johannesburg and it is not scaremongering.