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1. Learn a language
Parlez-vous français? Few skills are more valuable than learning a new language. Your travels will be enriched when you can interact with people in their mother tongue and you'll gain valuable insights into different cultures. It also improves your memory and problem-solving skills. Of course, there are few things more difficult to do. Duolingo's great, but truly learning a language requires practice – and people with whom to practice. These places in Joburg make it easier with courses tailored to your proficiency in the language.Learn French and isiZulu at Alliance Française in Parkwood while snacking on some croissants to keep you going. Order your pasta in fluent Italian by heading to Dante Alighieri Society in Houghton and sprechen Deutsch with Goethe-Institut, also in Parkwood. Wits Language School in Braamfontein offers a range of languages that include isiZulu, Portuguese, and South African Sign Language, as well as several courses on translating and teaching English as a foreign language. With options to do the courses part time or online, you can arrange your learning to suit your schedule.
2. Put on your dancing shoes
Head into 2026 moving and grooving. Whether it's ballroom, ballet, pole, or pantsula that gets your feet tapping, Joburg's got the studio for you. Choreographer and dance coach Mark Hawkins' ballet for adult beginners in Forest Town will help you realise your Margot Fonteyn dreams in a fun and judgement-free space. With studios in Fourways, Illovo, and Fairlands, La Rouge Studio's liberating women's dance classes on offer include pole dancing, aerial hoop, and burlesque.
If you think you have what it takes and want to try your hand – or rather, your head and feet – at breakdancing, DS Dance Studios in Northcliff offers open breakdance classes, with all ages welcome. DS Dance Studios has an impressive track record, training various world and South African dance champions. Different variations of pantsula, twerking, and gqom are the standout dance styles offered at Soweto's Finest Dance Studio at Newtown Junction (yes, we said twerking). Then, Five6Seven8's Randburg studio offers 27 dance styles, including Latin and ballroom. From salsa and bachata to Kizomba, Zouk, and every Afro-Latino rhythm your hips have been begging to try, Dance Spirit offers weekly lessons in Morningside as well as dance events across the city.Secret Sunrise is your go-to if you're after carefree movement, with events all around Johannesburg and Pretoria. And if you’ve always wanted to run away to the circus, well, The Cirk's classes at Cresta Shopping Centre are just the thing for you: swing from the rafters as you learn aerial and acrobatic tricks. They even have kids' courses so your little ones can join in the fun. For more, check out our feature on where to learn to dance in Joburg. Or mix your own beats to groove to with House DJ Tomby, who offers private lessons for budding to more experienced DJs.
3. Pick up a new sport
There’s nothing worse than taking the stairs at work only to find you need five minutes to catch your breath at the top so you don’t walk into the office huffing and puffing. With plenty of ways to get active in Joburg, you’ll soon be hitting the top feeling fresh and perky.
Dust off your bike and join Banditz Bicycle Club or Street Friends for one of their rides around Joburg. Or join Girls On Bikes for an all-female power pedal. For more, check out our guide to cycling the city. If you prefer pounding the pavements, join the Braamfie Runners, #Letthepeoplerun aka Run Tell That, Shelflife running club or regular Parkrun events, and see where you can start racking up the steps with our guide to running in Johannesburg. If you're after something more social with a side of friendly competition, padel is the perfect pick. Find out where to play padel in Joburg and Pretoria, and read our intro to padel here.
Make a splash by finally learning how to swim! Joburg has plenty of places to help you glide, float, and kick with confidence. Aquatic Zone Swimming School (voted Best Swim School in Johannesburg by the Best of Joburg Readers’ Choice 2025 Awards) offers everything from Aquatots for tiny water babies under three to learn-to-swim, adult lessons, and even stroke development for future Olympians. They have branches in Houghton, Fairland, Alberton, and Midrand. Over in Linden, Joburg Swim School offers private sessions and water-confidence classes to take you from nervous splasher to smooth swimmer in no time.
Adrenaline junkies should check out CityROCK in Fontainebleau and Friends and Allies in Strijdom Park, two of Joburg's best indoor rock climbing and bouldering gyms. And once you're ready to flex your chops outdoors, here's our guide to climbing spots around the city. With rock climbing recently added to the Olympic Games, we've put together a list of other unique Olympic sports in Joburg and where to learn them. For a more high-energy outlet, there are great boxing clubs around the city, including MissFit, Fight Club, and Alan Toweel Boxing Gym.
4. Explore the great outdoors
While Cape Town gets praise for its natural splendour, Joburg and the surrounding Highveld and Bushveld regions aren't short on beauty either. The magnificent Magaliesberg mountain range is one of the oldest on the planet, extending over 120km from Pretoria to Rustenburg. Join the Johannesburg chapter of the Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) for access to permit-holder-only hiking areas like Cedarberg Kloof and Mhlabatini, or strap on your boots and go mountaineering at these tried and tested trails in Gauteng.
If you're after some nature therapy without the longer drive, Joburg has beautiful parks aplenty – whether you favour long walks, carefully manicured formal gardens, or wild green spaces. Delta Park is one of the biggest green lungs in the city with lovely stretches of grassland and woodland, and prime cosmos-spotting territory in autumn. The beautiful Melville Koppies Nature Reserve plays host to monthly guided tours and storytelling sessions. For more places to stretch your legs, check out our favourite city parks.Kloofendal Nature Reserve is a cultural heritage site just 25km from the city centre that hosts fascinating walks and talks each month covering topics ranging from wildflowers to biomimicry and fungi. And if cacti water wise plants are your game, the Johannesburg Succulent Society has regular meetings and plant shows celebrating the rich diversity of South Africa's succulents.
5. Master chef, loading
Ditch the fast food and learn how to cook. Not only is it easier on the wallet, but it’s healthier too. The Cookery by The Secret Jozi Chef is a popular cooking school in Craighall Park that offers fun, themed lessons for groups. Download a short format cookbook from That Food Guy Shop for a crash course on bread-baking, pasta-making, or vegetarian cooking.
Book a course at Vitality HealthyFood Studio on the rooftop of 1 Discovery Place in Sandton to learn to cook aromatic Asian cuisine or healthy summer brunch dishes. If you'd prefer a wider range of Asian-inspired cooking classes, look at Umami Food Studio's class schedule. And if cooking from scratch isn't enough for you, HomeGrowers gardening and hydroponics nursery takes it up a notch with butter, cheese, and kombucha-making courses. You'll find them in Edenvale.
6. Get crafty
It's never too late to learn a new craft or grow your creative skills. When it comes to the art of pottery, Kim Sacks is one of the best – she also offers once-off workshops with experts in botanical dyeing, felting, and origami at her ceramics studio in Parkwood from time to time. The Melville Mudroom offers more pottery fun, and Create Lonehill at Prison Break Market is a ceramic painting café where you can customise cups, plates, bowls, and more.
If you've always wanted to work with textiles, it's worth connecting with the Johannesburg Weavers and Spinners Guild (contact them to find out where the meeting for the current month will be), or follow The Yarn Tree in Parktown for knitting and crochet workshops.
Braamfontein's Wits Art Museum (WAM) and the Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts (located in WAM) host book-binding and paper workshops, often tied to the museum's current exhibitions. For more paper crafts, you can check out the Pulp Paperworks store at 44 Stanley or Victoria Yards. While in the 44 Stanley precinct, you can also try your hand at still life painting or join a paint-your-own-tote workshop at Artwave Studio.
Ready to stitch your way into a new passion? In Melville, Sew & Grow turns absolute beginners (and secret fashionistas) into confident creators. It offers fun, hands-on sewing classes for everyone from age 10 to 90, perfect whether you’re dreaming up your own label or just want to try a new hobby that isn’t doom scrolling on social media. Further north in Sandton, Stitches in Time by Beverley Hudson offers beginner, advanced, and “I-kinda-remember-how-to-sew” refresher lessons, where you bring your self, you machine, your fabric, and your fabulous fashion flair.
If you'd like to make and wear your own custom jewellery, check out Bingley Park Jewellery for a variety of workshops.
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