Cheapest€32.79
- Shosholoza Meyl SM345606:502h 8m08:58Polokwane stationJohannesburg Park Station
Door to door 2h 52mCO2 9.7 kgChanges 0Refundable
Polokwane to Johannesburg train
Trains from Polokwane to Johannesburg start at €32.79 and take 2h 52m at their fastest.
Check dates and fares
Fares and seats move by the day. Price Polokwane to Johannesburg on the date you actually want, rather than on the date this page was built.
The Trains from Polokwane to Johannesburg starts at €32.79 and takes 2h 52m door to door, run by 1 operator over 293 km, with around 5 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 45 days before departure.
- 2h 52mDoor to door
- 2h 8mMoving
- €37.74 to €82.84From
- 06:50 to 07:30First and last departure
- 5Per day
- 9.7 kgCO2
First and last are taken from the services we sell on October 5, 2026. The return direction keeps its own timetable and is not these times reversed.
€37.74 to €82.84 for one passenger across the 14 departure dates priced here. The low end is one day, not every day. Worked out from this corridor rather than held for anybody. The operator sets the price on the day.
Shosholoza Meyl runs this service and does not sell it here. Bookaway takes the payment.
Buying this trip
Bookaway lists departures for Polokwane to Johannesburg on your date, and you pay on their side.
See Polokwane to Johannesburg 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 €82.84Sun20
- about €78.44Mon21
- about €58.63Tue22
- about €55.34Wed23
- about €72.39Thu24
- about €63.04Fri25
- about €55.34Sat26
- about €44.89Sun27
- about €56.44Mon28
- about €37.74Tue29
- about €53.69Wed30
- about €59.19Thu1
- about €61.93Fri2
- about €43.79Sat3
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 cheapest and the fastest on October 5, 2026
Rail operators
| Operator | From | Fastest | Typical speed | Flexibility | On board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shosholoza Meyl | €32.79 | 2h 46m | 140 km/h | Refundable | Power outlets, Wi-Fi |
The train gets you into Johannesburg. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.
A room in Johannesburg for the night the train gets in
Sort by distance from Johannesburg Park Station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.
Search Johannesburg 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 Polokwane to Johannesburg
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €43.2490 days
- €33.1860 days
- €31.1445 days
- €33.1830 days
- €38.4921 days
- €43.7914 days
- €54.427 days
- €58.633 days
- €73.891 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €31.14.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 137 percent. The most expensive point is €73.89, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 45 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Which departure day costs least
Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.
- €42.62Sun
- €38.49Mon
- €37.74Tue
- €47.34Wed
- €44.98Thu
- €48.52Fri
- €43.79Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
Johannesburg
Rail
- Johannesburg Park Station
- Dube
- Angus
What the journey looks like
- Direct or connecting
- 33% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 67% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 293 km against 293 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 Soshanguve, Centurion, Emalahleni, Pretoria. The gap between arriving and leaving is 45 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 20 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
- First and last departure
- The first service of the day leaves Polokwane at 06:50 and the last at 07:30, across 5 departures The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
Trains against the other ways to make this journey
| Mode | Door to door | Moving | At the ends | From | CO2 | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Train | 2h 52m | 2h 8m | 44m | €32.79 | 9.7 kg | 5 |
| Flight | 4h 1m | 51m | 3h 10m | €34.36 | 74.3 kg | 1 |
Questions about Polokwane to Johannesburg
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 the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg take?
The Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg takes 2h 52m door to door, of which 2h 8m is spent moving. The route runs 293 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.
How much does the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg cost?
The Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg starts at €32.79 for one passenger, as of September 19, 2026. A typical fare is €47.08. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.
Who runs the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg?
1 operators run the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg: Shosholoza Meyl. Between them they file around 5 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.
Which terminal does the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg use?
The Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg leaves from Polokwane station and arrives at Johannesburg Park Station. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.
Is the Train the best way from Polokwane to Johannesburg?
The Train is both the cheapest and the fastest way from Polokwane to Johannesburg, at €32.79 and 2h 52m door to door, against 1 other modes that also run the corridor. On this route there is no trade to make between the money and the hours.
When should I book the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg?
Fares for the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €31.14. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 137 percent, measured on September 19, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg produce?
The Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg produces about 9.7 kg of CO2 per passenger over 293 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.
What is provided on board the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg?
Operators on the Train from Polokwane to Johannesburg publish Power outlets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 2h 52m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.
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
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Polokwane to Johannesburg on September 19, 2026: 293 km of route against 293 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operator a cheapest fare of €32.79, and 2h 52m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
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The train is the simple part. What you do once you are in Johannesburg is somebody else's catalog.
Day trips out of Johannesburg and across South Africa
Day trips that leave Johannesburg in the morning and cover a good part of South Africa by evening.
See Johannesburg on GetYourGuideOr browse Viator
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