Free State Tourist AttractionsThe Motheo Region
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.
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.
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.
Popular Towns in the Motheo Region
Bloemfontein
Overnight? Accommodation in Bloemfontein
Despite being situated in an area of dry grassland, Bloemfontein more than lives up to its name - spring of flowers. Thousands of rose bushes line the city; more than 4000 rose trees have been planted in the rose gardens in Kings Park, and many homes...
More information and photographs: Bloemfontein Information
Botshabelo
Overnight? Accommodation in Botshabelo
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...
More information and photographs: Botshabelo Information
Generaal de Wet
Overnight? Accommodation in 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...
More information and photographs: Generaal de Wet Information
Hobhouse
Overnight? Accommodation in 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...
More information and photographs: Hobhouse Information
Thaba Nchu
Overnight? Accommodation in Thaba Nchu
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...
More information and photographs: Thaba Nchu Information
Wepener
Overnight? Accommodation in Wepener
Wepener is often also mentioned in the same breath as the Caledon Nature Reserve, a pretty reserve home to numerous types of game and over 200 types of birds that also serves as a popular fishing venue. But Wepener deserves more than a...
More information and photographs: Wepener Information
