Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg runs about 10 times a day, with the first departure around 06:50 and the last around 19:31. One passenger pays between €41.44 and €47.64, every fee included, depending on the operator and the way you travel. The fastest door to door is 3h 46m over 452 km, on services run by 3 operators across 2 modes.
What one seat costs
The spread between the cheapest and dearest typical fare on this corridor, across 3 operators and 2 ways of making the journey. The operator sets the price on the day.
Typical fares · Priced for October 5, 2026
€41.44 to €47.64
- 104%Moves across the booking window
When it runs, leaving Johannesburg
No operator has filed a timetable for this direction yet, so the first and last departure below follow the pattern of the corridor. Read them as the shape of the service day rather than as times to turn up for.
- 06:50First departure
- 19:31Last departure
- 10Services per day
- 60%Run direct
Shosholoza Meyl runs this service and does not sell it here. Bookaway takes the payment.
Buying this trip
Bookaway lists departures for Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg on your date, and you pay on their side.
See Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg on Bookaway
Partner link. We do not sell this ticket, and we earn nothing from this one.
Fares by date
What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.
Typical fares
- about €75.07Mon21
- about €78.61Tue22
- about €64.45Wed23
- about €88.05Thu24
- about €78.02Fri25
- about €78.02Sat26
- about €58.55Sun27
- about €51.47Mon28
- about €52.65Tue29
- about €56.19Wed30
- about €63.27Thu1
- about €62.09Fri2
- about €59.14Sat3
- about €46.75Sun4
- about €41.44Mon5
- about €43.79Tue6
- about €43.80Wed7
- about €53.83Thu8
- about €48.52Fri9
- about €50.88Sat10
- about €50.29Sun11
Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.
The flight gets you into Pietermaritzburg. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.
A room in Pietermaritzburg for the night the flight gets in
Sort by distance from Pietermaritzburg railway station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.
Search Pietermaritzburg on Booking.com
Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.
When to book Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €50.8890 days
- €43.8060 days
- €37.3145 days
- €36.7230 days
- €50.2921 days
- €46.7514 days
- €58.557 days
- €64.453 days
- €75.071 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €36.72.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 104 percent. The most expensive point is €75.07, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 30 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Book now Fares on this route are lowest around 30 days ahead. You are inside that window.
This corridor, specifically
Facts that apply to Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg and to no other route on the site.
Clocks
Both ends keep the same time, so the arrival is the departure plus the journey.
The shape of it
452 km
444 km as the crow flies, 2% further by the route services take. The bearing runs south-east.
Who lives at each end
9,418,183 → 839,327
Population at the departure city and at the arrival city, which is usually what decides how often anything runs.
How we know
0/4
4 of these connections were inferred from service-area overlap rather than observed in a timetable. We would rather say so.
The route
What the journey looks like
Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.
- Direct or connecting
- 78% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 22% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 452 km against 444 km in a straight line, a detour of 2 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Ladysmith, Nigel, Newcastle, eMbalenhle. The gap between arriving and leaving is 63 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 15 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is ours to fix and you are rebooked at no charge.
The fare from PZB into Pietermaritzburg is the one price on this trip we cannot show you, because it is not ours.
A car waiting when you land in Pietermaritzburg
Settled in advance, so the ride into Pietermaritzburg costs what it said it would rather than what the cab stand says.
Book a ride from PZB with Daytrip
Partner links. We do not operate transfers. We earn a commission on a booking, and the fare is the same as going direct.
Who runs this route
The flight gets in hours before any room is ready. Holding a bag is not what we sell.
Baggage storage near Pietermaritzburg railway station
Most of the points near Pietermaritzburg railway station open before the first train and close after the last one.
Check Pietermaritzburg on StasherOr try Bounce
Partner links. We do not run these networks. We earn a commission on a booking, and the price is the same as going direct.
Questions about Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg
The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does it take to get from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
The fastest journey from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg takes 3h 46m door to door, of which 3h 4m is spent moving, on the train. Most services take around 4h 8m, because that average includes slower stopping services and journeys with a connection. Times include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end.
How much does it cost to travel from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
The cheapest fare from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg is €41.44, as of September 20, 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €68.58. Both figures are the total for one passenger, including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so nothing is added at checkout.
What is the cheapest way to get from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
The cheapest way from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg is by flight, at €41.44 for one passenger on October 5, 2026. That journey takes 4h 10m door to door. Cheaper is rarely faster on this corridor, and the comparison table on this page shows what each mode costs against what it saves.
What is the fastest way to get from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
The fastest way from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg is by train, at 3h 48m door to door. Only 3h 4m of that is spent moving; the remaining 44m is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end. The cheapest fare on that mode is €47.64.
When should I book Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
Fares from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg bottom out around 30 days before departure, at €36.72. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive lead time is 104 percent, measured on September 20, 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.
Which day of the week is cheapest for Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
Sunday is the cheapest day to depart from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg, at €50.29. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of September 20, 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.
Which month is cheapest for Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
February is the cheapest of the next 5 months to travel from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg, at €36.72 for one passenger. Each month is priced on its fifteenth, so the comparison is like for like rather than a mix of weekends and midweek departures.
Who runs service from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
No operator record names Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg directly. Airlink (SAA), Shosholoza Meyl, South African Airways publish service areas covering both ends and may serve it, so we list them as possible operators rather than confirmed ones.
Is there a direct service from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
78 percent of the services we sell from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg are direct. The rest connect at Ladysmith, Nigel, Newcastle, eMbalenhle, with about 63 minutes between the two services. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is rebooked at no charge.
How much CO2 does the journey from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg produce?
Traveling from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg by train produces about 14.7 kg of CO2 per passenger, the lowest of any mode on this corridor. The same journey by Flight produces about 112.7 kg, roughly 8 times as much for one passenger.
Which station or terminal do services from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg use?
Services from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg by train leave from Johannesburg Park Station and arrive at Pietermaritzburg railway station. Allow about 44m in total for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one, which is already included in every door to door time on this page.
Can I change or refund a ticket from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg?
1 of the 3 operators we sell from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg allow a change or a refund. A change on a changeable fare costs €5.00. The operator table on this page names which is which, and the condition is shown again before you pay.
Where these numbers come from
Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.
Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.
Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon, Distances
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg on September 20, 2026: 452 km of route against 444 km in a straight line, 18 services a day, 3 operators a cheapest fare of €41.44, and 3h 46m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
The flight is the simple part. What you do once you are in Pietermaritzburg is somebody else's catalog.
Day trips out of Pietermaritzburg and across South Africa
Day trips that leave Pietermaritzburg in the morning and cover a good part of South Africa by evening.
See Pietermaritzburg on GetYourGuideOr browse Viator
Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.
The two ends, compared
Johannesburg reaches 104 places in 45 countries on services we hold, over distances from 41 to 13,566 km. Pietermaritzburg reaches 14 places in 1 countries, from 53 to 444 km.
Other ways to make this journey
Leaving Johannesburg
- 104Places you can leave for
- 45Countries
- 46Operators
Arriving in Pietermaritzburg
Leaving Pietermaritzburg
- 14Places you can leave for
- 1Countries
- 3Operators