Things to do in Bronkhorstspruit: a Weekend Getaway

Bronkhorstspruit is an excellent option for a weekend getaway when you don’t want to drive too far from Joburg (or Pretoria). Just 1.5 hours from Johannesburg, you can be situated at a lovely farm stay Airbnb and also get up to some adventuring.  

But first, how did we end up in Bronkhorstspruit? Well, I love the Anton Smit Gallery that is located in the vicinity of the city and we decided to make a weekend trip out of the visit rather than drive back and forth. It’s also known for the Fo Guang Shan Nan Hua Temple, which makes you feel like you’ve totally left South Africa.

A farm stay in Bronkhorstspruit

We struck gold with the Stone Cottage Heels Airbnb just outside Bronkhorstspruit. I was captivated by the alpaca pictures in the listing and immediately booked it for our weekend. The cottage is located on a farm with views, a small walking path, and cute animals to keep you entertained.

The cottage looks even larger in person than it does in the listing. The kitchen is huge and creates a really inviting space. The kitchen is equipped with pots, pans, salt, pepper, and even oil. Plan to bring your own groceries and enjoy the space. Wood is provided with the braai; a caretaker comes by each morning to clean out your remaining braai bits and ash.

The property is so lovely and has several alpacas, donkeys, cows, chickens, dogs, sheep, and horses. I really enjoyed walking around the small path around the property. If you’re a fan of dogs, there are a couple of friendly dogs of all sizes that’ll invite themselves over.

The alpacas were my favorite, and there was one particular alpaca that was so sassy and kept running away. I had honestly never seen an alpaca run before.

The sunsets on the property are also really beautiful. Be sure to bring out some beers and enjoy the view.

Extra amenities

It was a lot of these extra touches that made our stay wonderful. The host is very lovely and communicative as well. There is still Wi-Fi during load shedding, and there are several lanterns and headlamps provided.

Additional goodies I didn’t even know I needed were peaceful sleep insect repellent as well as a flying insect killer spray. I quickly became addicted to the spray and probably accidentally used up half the can as I killed any mosquito that buzzed inside the cottage. (After spending a night there, I immediately bought a can on TakeALot for the mosquitoes in our own room back home.).

The Best Things to do in Bronkhorstspruit

Anton Smit Studio

Whether you’re spending the night or not, a trip to the Anton Smit Studio is one of the top things to do in Bronkhorstspruit. It’s easy to spend two hours here getting a bite to eat at the cafe and wandering the indoor and outdoor gallery.  Everything on site is for sale (if you have the bank budget for it!).

The studio is open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-4pm.

The kitchen has the staple selection of breakfast items and we decided to come here for our brunch over the weekend. If you come later on, note that the kitchen closes at 3pm even though it’s open until 4pm.

When we visited, there were some new statues (featuring a collaboration with graffiti artist Mars) that were the highlight for us!

Fo Guang Shan Nan Hua Temple

The Fo Guang Shan Nan Hua Temple will have you forget you’re even in South Africa. The temple is open Tuesday-Sunday 10am-2pm. I suggest budgeting around an hour to visit.

This Buddhist temple is the largest in Africa! The temple was first realized in 1992 when the Bronkhorstspruit City Council donated the land to the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order for a Chinese Buddhist, cultural, and educational complex. Learn more about it here.

No pictures are allowed inside, but you can take some around the courtyard area. It’s such an interesting and unexpected thing to do around Bronkhorstspruit.

There is also a cafe inside the temple, but when we visited it was closed. I’ve heard good things though!

Visit the Bronkhorstspruit Municipal Nature Reserve

Visit the nature reserve by entering from here. You can do water sports activities if you have your own boats and such, but I recommend walking up and down the dam’s edge as we did. There was a herd of Impala and even an ostrich on the reserve.

There is an entrance fee, though we didn’t have enough cash for it… We ended up paying a “cool drink” fee with all the money we had to be able to stay 30 minutes.

It is R32 per person and something like R40 or R50 per car. (I thought I wrote the cost down but I can’t find it!)   Keep this in mind if you wanna visit so you have cash with you. Apparently, there is a card machine, but it wasn’t working when we arrived.

 Other things to do around Bronkhorstspruit

• Visit the 4×4 driving center and learn how to operate a 4X4 car in any condition. Although I haven’t done this, I have a friend who did it and enjoyed it.
• Get pizza or pasta at Yeast Pizzeria. There is just one veg pizza option but it’s really great! We got one pizza to share and then another to take back to the Airbnb.