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South Africa South Africa summit

Vredefort crater

You can see 53 km from here, looking south-east.

58Viewyas Score

SummitSunset360°

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 53 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

58out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 53 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-east
  • 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 1,452 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are from June to September.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Jansouth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset39%
  2. Febwest6 min before the sea-level sunset41%
  3. Marwest4 min before the sea-level sunset48%
  4. Aprwest4 min before the sea-level sunset54%
  5. Maywest6 min before the sea-level sunset73%
  6. Junnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset78%
  7. Julnorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset81%
  8. Augwest4 min before the sea-level sunset78%
  9. Sepwest4 min before the sea-level sunset74%
  10. Octwest4 min before the sea-level sunset55%
  11. Novwest2 min before the sea-level sunset46%
  12. Decsouth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset37%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

Vredefort crater.

Largest verified impact crater on earth, dating from the Paleoproterozoic Era

Vredefort crater is a summit in South Africa, 1,452 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 53 km away, looking south-east.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.

The skies are clearest from June to September.

Vaal River, Vredefort Dome
Ossewa · CC BY-SA 4.0

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Tours, cable cars and tickets for Vredefort craterGetYourGuideSee prices Stays with a view near Vredefort craterBooking.comSee prices Car hire at JNB airport (Johannesburg)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

Vredefort crater seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

    • other viewpoints within 5 km
    • named peaks within 5 km
    • cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
    • marked trails within 3 km
    • shelters and huts within 5 km
    • car parks within 3 km
    • visitor centres within 5 km
    • restaurants and cafés within 3 km
    • campsites within 10 km
    • places to stay within 10 km

    Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

    In our other atlases

    What you see from Vredefort crater, and what is near.

    Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

    Peakyas28 mountains within 25 km
    Vredefort crater · this placeVredefort crater · 0.3 kmMollskop · 19 kmWitkranskop · 20 kmWitkop · 20 kmTweelingkoppies · 22 kmFeeskop · 24 kmBakenkop · 24 kmPresidentkoppie · 24 km

    Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

    Photographs

    The view, as people saw it.

    Vredefort dome - Vaal River - panoramio
    tadpolefarm · CC BY-SA 3.0
    Vredefort Dome in Venterskroon near Parys
    Phillip778899 · CC0
    Aasvoelkop - Vredefort dome - panoramio
    tadpolefarm · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Other viewpoints nearby.

    Vredefort crater

    South Africa

    • 58Viewyas Score
    • 53 kmFarthest ridge
    • —Peaks in view
    • 1,452 mAltitude

    Mont-Aux-Sources

    Lesotho · 238 km

    • 83Viewyas Score
    • 203 kmFarthest ridge
    • 18Peaks in view
    • 3,261 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Amphitheatre

    South Africa · 240 km

    • 74Viewyas Score
    • 187 kmFarthest ridge
    • 8Peaks in view
    • 2,963 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Njesuthi

    Lesotho · 306 km

    • 83Viewyas Score
    • 229 kmFarthest ridge
    • 17Peaks in view
    • 3,446 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Where these figures come from

    Name and typeWikidata (Q330095) · CC0
    SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
    Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
    Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
    CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
    What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
    ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
    Sister atlasesPeakyas

    Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

    The family

    Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

    Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

    beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
    viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
    birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit