We flew into Johannesburg from NYC and traveled all around South Africa. An amazing trip that was started and completed out of OR Tambo international airport. We stayed at the Protea Hotel Parktonian at both bookends of the trip and enjoyed our stay tremendously.

The staff was amazing and courteous, which is pretty typical of all of South Africa from our experience! We had a beautiful room with the most amazing view - the view was tremendous and gorgeous. We were on the 30+ floor both times and had huge windows throughout the suite (all rooms are suites!!!!) and a balcony. The twinkling lights of Johannesburg were beautiful. The suite itself is a little run down and outdated, but who comes to South Africa to stay in a hotel room?! Especially for the price we paid, it was a bargain. The food was sufficient (at the end of the trip I think we had become a little disgusted of hotel meals after 17 days of traveling, but I do recall the first night praising a grilled cheese and my fiance loving his cheeseburger). The bar was fun and we met plenty of kind people who were willing to chat and have other light conversation. The bartender was fun and kept our drinks full and us cheery. Also there is the rooftop bar, deck, pool and full 360 degree view of Joburg. It's very beautiful and always humbling, even for a New Yorker who loves her skyline.

Now as far as why only 3 stars out of 5, the location is not great. When booking the trip I couldn't bare to book a hotel at the airport. That seemed too depressing and utilitarian. I wanted us to explore Johannesburg and after reading up on Newtown and other areas in Johannesburg I thought this location seemed like there could be a lot of culture and experience. So very wrong. We spent 2 days at this hotel at the end of the trip, we came in and were excited to explore Newtown and the nearby Oriental Market, from our research it sounded like Bushwick/Williamsburg in Brooklyn - dirty but artsy. The Oriental Market read of a beautiful outdoor market with silks and spices. After the hotel consierge warned us that we should not walk to Newtown ourselves, though it maps out as less than a 10 min walk we concede and are dropped off by the hotel van (we were charged of course). That would be all and good, but we had expressed excitement to explore the Newtown area and see all of the artwork, etc etc etc. We are dropped off and there is nothing. There are two restaurants open and a cafe...It's Friday. There is nothing that happens in Newtown (for tourists) unless it's Saturday or Sunday. We walked to the Oriental Market, it's filled with junk, literally junk that we could find here in NYC. There was nothing cultural or special about it. 3 hours later when we were picked up we felt disappointed and frustrated that we weren't advised that our timing was off. Then again, our research was obviously lacking and we chalked it up to a misadventure of a day. That evening we decide shake it all off and let's go to the Sanborn Mall and get dinner and pick up trinkets for friends and family back home. This came as a big surprise that Malls are very big in South Africa, partially as they are a safe haven, as Johannesburg definitely has an air of danger about it's streets. We typically wouldn't travel somewhere and hunt down a mall to hang out in, but this was an exception. There is a complimentary shuttle (as per the sign on the concierge desk) that it picks up at the hotel at 6pm, drops off at the mall and picks back up from the mall at 9pm. We ask for that service, retire to our room to relax for awhile, take a swim in the relaxing pool and get a drink at the rooftop bar. We jump in the van at 6:30 (after waiting 30 min for the driver to get found) and away we go to the mall - yay! We confirm we're getting picked up as per the sign at 9pm and the service is complimentary. Everything is in order, and we are starving so we hit up a seafood restaurant and finish dinner around 7:30/7:45. We're ready to peruse the wares and enjoy window shopping. Oddly enough we notice stores starting to begin the closing out process. We discover all stores close at 8 pm. We run to a sovineir shop and desparately make a couple of very odd purchases and then we sit in a courtyard for an hour until the van comes to collect us. Again, there was no logic as to why would they pick you up 1 hour after the mall is closed? Very frustrating for us, but considering everything else we were able to do on this trip, this is but a small scratch on the page.