1 Apartheid Museum The museum is as determined to keep alive the memory of a hated system as the new South Africa is to move beyond a dreadful legacy. And, even if make-believe, visitors are hurled into the core of apartheid the minute they hand over their entrance fee. First, in a bid to emulate the old racial classification system, the ticket determines whether visitors are 'white' or 'non-white'. Today, everyone enters through the same door. In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, 'non-whites' went around the back, if they were allowed in at all rather than spat upon and unceremoniously ejected. That's just the beginning of a tour housed in a 6,000-square-metre complex said to be the most important public building built in South Africa in the past 20 years. The 121 nooses swinging from the ceiling bear gruesome testament to political prisoners executed by the apartheid regime. Tear gas, police bullets, resistance marches, prejudice, abuse, suffering, destruction ... and, finally, hope in the post-apartheid Constitution that is one of the final exhibits. The Apartheid Museum is adjacent to Gold Reef City, south of Johannesburg (corner of Northern Parkway and Gold Reef Road, Ormonde, 2001. Tel: [27 11] 309 4700; www.apartheidmuseum.org).

2 Gold Reef City The five-kilometre trip from Johannesburg city centre is worth making twice: the first to the Apartheid Museum and the second to Gold Reef City, which is as bright and lively an entertainment experience as the museum is a grim reminder of the country's recent past. The official name is the Gold Reef City Casino and Theme Park, which is some indication of where its priorities lie. However, in addition to the casino (one of a rash of gaming complexes that have sprung up around the capital), Gold Reef City is the best celebration of everything that shaped Johannesburg - from the gold rush days of the late 1890s and early 1900s, complete with an underground bar and replica mining houses, to a modern-day funfair with the country's longest and scariest roller coaster, gumboot dancing displays and a mint where visitors can buy Kruger rands - South Africa's most valuable icon apart from Nelson Mandela. There are also about 15 museums dedicated to everything from turn-of-the-century toilets to circus acts. Although Gold Reef City is a prime tourist destination, the complex is not short of local families enjoying a day out, particularly at weekends (Gold Reef City Entertainment, tel: [27 11] 248 6813; Gold Reef City Casino, tel: [27 11] 248 5000, www.grcc.co.za; Gold Reef City Protea Hotel, tel: [27 11] 248 5700. The official address is the corner of Northern Parkway and Data Crescent, Ormonde, 2008, www.goldreefcity.co.za; but the area is not as well known as its major attraction. Simply ask for Gold Reef City and you're much more likely to get accurate directions).