About Free State

The Free State is South Africa's maize and wheat belt, a flat highveld plateau of grain silos and sunflower fields that has earned it the nickname of the country's breadbasket. Bloemfontein, its capital, doubles as South Africa's judicial capital and seat of the Supreme Court of Appeal, and the province's rugby side, the Cheetahs, play out of Toyota Stadium there in front of one of the most loyal followings in domestic rugby. Gold built towns like Welkom and Virginia in the Free State Goldfields during the twentieth century, while the Basotho cultural heritage of the eastern border region shows up around Phuthaditjhaba and the sandstone cliffs of Golden Gate Highlands National Park, close to the Lesotho boundary and the source of the Tugela River system.

Free State's smaller towns keep well over 100 events running through spring, led by endurance sport and Clarens' festival scene. Flora's Koranna Ultra Trail Run Festival gets trail runners moving this week, while Clocolan answers with its own test of stamina, the Zuikerkop Dash, the same weekend. Clarens turns into a long weekend of wine with the Cape2Clarens Wine Festival 2026, rounded out by art lovers wandering the Clarens Art Walk (CAW). Harrismith closes out the stretch with the Harrismith Mountain Race 2026 on cobbled streets below the Drakensberg.