This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you use the links in this article to book, I may make a small profit, at zero cost to you, which helps me keep writing these posts! I only endorse products and companies I actually like and have used. Lesotho is a wonderful, but sadly often overlooked addition to any South Africa itinerary, or a fantastic choice of destination as a standalone trip, Luckily getting from Lesotho to South Africa and back is not difficult, so this should be an easy journey for most travellers to make.
Lesotho is a small country, with a very small GDP per capita, and they are badly in need of responsible tourists. The country as a whole is generally considered to be very safe, and there are some truly unique things to see and do. If you are starting your trip in Johannesburg, then you can drive to Lesotho in five and a half hours.
The journey is extremely scenic, and the roads are pretty easy to drive and to navigate. The only entry into Lesotho is via the Maseru Bridge border, therefore the bulk of your journey will be on South African roads , which are generally very well serviced and maintained. There is no other route into and out of the country. Bloemfontein is a pretty large city, and you should be able to pick up anything you need, refuel etc.
From Bloemfontein, Maseru is a very easy one hour drive. From most other places in South Africa Cape Town, for example , the drive is quite far and you will likely need to stop somewhere on the way. We find they are usually the cheapest car booking platform, and are very simple to use. If you are planning to take a hire car over the border, it is usually quite a simple process from South Africa to Lesotho and similar to Eswatini , you simply need to get permission from the car rental company.
Buses go from the major cities in South Africa Johannesburg, Durban, Nelspruit, Bloemfontein and Gqeberha to Ladybrand thanks to the reasonably extensive Intercape network.
