The Motheo Region, Free State
Motheo is one of five districts of the Free State in South Africa. The term ‘Motheo’ comes from the Sesotho for “foundation” or “cornerstone” and was consciously chosen to represent the heartbeat of the province, regarded as an area of entrepreneurial and investment opportunities and the centre of the economic and industrial development of the Free State.
The three municipalities of Mangaung, Mantsopa and Naledi fall within Motheo and include the city of Bloemfontein and other towns like Ladybrand, Hobhouse, Tweespruit, Wepener, Dewetsdorp, Thaba Phatswa.
Did you know? Once you've booked your hotel or Motheo accommodation in the Free State, explore the town and destination pages below for info on attractions, activities and things to do when you explore the Motheo Distict.
Motheo incorporates the highlands of the Maluti Route, the R26, which winds through Naledi, and the township of Botshabelo, 55 kilometres from Bloemfontein - the largest township in the province and the second largest in the country after Soweto.
Bloemfontein is without doubt the main attraction of Motheo. Marketed as an “outdoor mecca” by the city’s tourism, Bloemfontein is filled with history and myriad outdoor activities. From President Brand Street in the middle of town where the statue of President Brand stands in front of the National Afrikaans Literature Museum, along a street lined with stone building that date back to the 1800s, to the Botanical Gardens and Oliewenhuis Museum, there is plenty to do in the city.
Did you know? Bloemfontein is without doubt the main attraction of Motheo. Marketed as an “outdoor mecca” by the city’s tourism, Bloemfontein is filled with history and myriad outdoor activities.
The other attraction included in Motheo, 60 kilometres east of Bloemfontein, is Thaba ‘Nchu, a town established as early as 1873 that was granted independence in 1979 and then reincorporated in 1994, but not before it become the site of a casino complex - one of the main reasons that Bloemfontein residents regularly visit the largely Tswana and Sotho dominated town.
Find accommodation in the Motheo Region
South Africa Accommodation / Free State Accommodation / Motheo Region Accommodation
The Tredenham Boutique Hotel
The Tredenham Boutique Hotel is located in the luxury lifestyle estate of Tredenham Valley. The hotel offers a range of 10 spacious and individua...
Liedjiesbos B&B
Liedjiesbos offers luxurious accommodation with a homely, warm soul. Here you can chill on the stoep while savouring your organic coffee or eatin...
Dersley Manor
Dersley Manor offers superior accommodation in old world luxury. Nestled in the Northern suburbs of Bayswater, Bloemfontein, this movie themed 15...
Mont d'Or Monte Bello Estate
Mont d'Or Monte Bello Estate offers accommodation ideally located just 8km away from Bloemfontein. It is set on an old historic farm among giant ...
City Living Boutique Hotel
This 4 star hotel offers a modern retro element to luxury, tranquility and unrivaled style for the discerning traveller, visitor or business exec...
The Windmill Hotel
An ideally located hotel just off the N1 highway, The Windmill Hotel offers you and your family comfortable holiday accommodation in Bloemfontein...
Middelwater Farm Hotel
Middelwater Farm Hotel offers accommodation on the R30 Brandfort Road, approximately 30kms from Bloemfontein and 27kms from Brandfort. The establ...
Tuscan Rose
Tuscan Rose is a guest house located in Bainsvlei, Bloemfontein. Accommodation is offered in the Tuscan style building in a beautiful garden sett...
Belmont Guesthouse
Belmont Guest House is a 4 star guest house situated in a residential area just north of the city centre. It is a modern, luxury guest house that...
Destinations in the Motheo Region
Bloemfontein
Overnight? Bloemfontein accommodation
Bloemfontein is perched near the centre of South Africa, on the road between Cape Town in the Western Cape and Johannesburg in Gauteng.
Bloemfontein is one of the largest cities in the country, but is known for its natural prettiness and warm hospital...
Botshabelo
Overnight? Botshabelo accommodation
Botshabelo is a large township, a hangover from the apartheid era that lies close to Thaba Nchu, just east of Bloemfontein. People originally moved there in search of work, when they left their rural homes in the Free State to move closer to Thaba'Nchu (a...
Generaal de Wet
Generaal de Wet is a small suburb of Motheo, which is a part of the Free State Province of South Africa. Generaal De Wet is approximately six kilometres from the hub of Bloemfontein, which is not only the province’s capital city, but also a melting pot of...
Hobhouse
On the southernmost tip of the Eastern Free State region lies Hobhouse, named after the British girl who became a Boer heroine. Emily Hobhouse visited the war-torn South Africa during the Anglo Boer War and was appalled at the conditions in the concen...
Thaba Nchu
Overnight? Thaba Nchu accommodation
As one reaches Thaba Nchu, 65 kilometres east of Bloemfontein and one of the oldest settlements in the Free State, it becomes fairly obvious where it got its name. The mountain that looms over the town of Botshabelo often falls into shadow whereupon it be...
Wepener
Wepener gets a raw deal. It's usually no more than an afterthought in literature on the Free State, possibly because of where it lies at the foot of the Jammersberg (sorrow mountain), virtually on the eastern border of the province and right next door to ...
Additional Reading
- Best Places to Stay in the Southern Free State
- Visiting Bloemfontein? Read This
- The Free State's flipside - take the N6 from Bloem to Aliwal North
- Bloemfontein - An Insiders Guide
- I Love Bloemfontein because...
- Oliewenhuis - The city of roses divulges a gem
- Bloemfonteins Botanical Garden – Perfect for Photo Moments and Lazy Afternoons