Vilakazi Street in Orlando West is the most famous street in Soweto and perhaps in South Africa. It is the address of both Nelson Mandela's former house (now a museum) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu's house — the only street in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize laureates have lived.
The street has become a destination in itself, lined with restaurants, craft shops, and tour operators. On weekends it is busy with visitors from across South Africa and internationally. While the commercial activity is considerable, the residential neighbourhood around it gives a real sense of what Soweto looked and felt like in the apartheid era — and of how much has changed. Walking the few blocks between Mandela House and the Hector Pieterson Museum, with time for a meal at one of the local restaurants, is the standard Soweto itinerary for good reason.