Cullinan Tours · Cullinan
A guide walks you around the working Cullinan mine for about two hours, from the film and the replica diamonds to the shafts and the Big Hole lookout, and finishes at the diamond shop. Pick it if you can reach Cullinan on your own: the mine visit is the same surface tour that the transfer trips build their day around.
This is the most-booked Cullinan listing on GetYourGuide, run by a provider called Cullinan Tours. A trained guide takes you round the surface of the mine for about two hours and explains how ore travels from deep underground to the plant. The listing covers the 1905 find of the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, the largest gem-quality rough ever found, and the mine's rare blue Type II stones. The visit ends at the diamond shop.
What you see lines up with what the Cullinan operators publish for their surface tours: an introductory film, a room of replica diamonds, a life-size model of an underground tunnel, the working shafts and the lookout over the Big Hole. The shafts are real. No. 1 Shaft hoists from 934 m, according to a 2016 SAIMM paper, and the open pit you look into reached about 190 m before mining moved underground.
Now the honest part. You will not go underground. The mine suspended underground tours on 30 April 2023 after a health and safety review (Petra's statement), and no restart has been announced. A guest wrote in March 2026 that he would have loved the underground experience but couldn't find it; that's because it isn't sold. There's no pickup either, so you need a car or a driver to cover the roughly 40 km from central Pretoria. Booking direct is an option: Premier Diamond Tours, one of two operators at 99 Oak Avenue, lists its walking surface tour at R200 (2026). The listing doesn't say whether Cullinan Tours is that company.
The listing asks for a signed indemnity form and copies of ID (birth certificates for children) for every visitor aged 10 and over. Send them as soon as your confirmation arrives; Premier Diamond Tours, for one, wants its form two working days ahead.
Meet at the listing's meeting point in Cullinan (GPS -25.670558, 28.516623). Everyone takes a breathalyser test before entry, and anyone who tests positive is turned away. A 2025 visitor report describes hard hats and safety vests being handed out.
An introductory film on the mine, then the display room of replica diamonds, including copies of stones cut from the Cullinan.
A life-size model of an underground tunnel shows the conditions below, and the guide explains how the working shafts lift ore to the surface.
The view over the Big Hole, the old open pit. Bring a camera; the listing suggests one.
The tour finishes at the mine's diamond shop, where you can look at polished stones and souvenirs.
★★★★★We gained a lot of insight into the history and current mining of diamonds. It was worth it!!!
★★★★★Guide was perfect, he was graduated student in the industry so he could answer all the questions
★★★★★Very interesting! The guide was very pleasant and knowledgeable, and also very kind!
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No. Underground tours were suspended on 30 April 2023 after a health and safety review, and no restart has been announced as of October 2026. This is a surface tour: film, replica diamonds, tunnel model, shafts and the Big Hole lookout. Our underground tour guide explains what changed.
On your own. The listing has no pickup and gives a meeting point in Cullinan at GPS -25.670558, 28.516623. Cullinan is roughly 40 km east of central Pretoria: take the N4 east and exit at Rayton/Cullinan (R515). Without a car, a tour with pickup such as the Pretoria city day is easier.
From age 10. The listing says the tour is not suitable for children under 10, and asks for an indemnity form plus a copy of an ID or birth certificate for every visitor aged 10 and over.
It can be close either way. GetYourGuide shows a from-price of $12, and Premier Diamond Tours lists its own walking surface tour at R200 in 2026. The GetYourGuide booking adds free cancellation up to 24 hours before and pay-later, which matters if your plans might move.
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Two hours at the working mine: the diamond room, the shafts and the Big Hole lookout. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Royal Africa Diamond Mine TourA small-group surface tour in Cullinan, motorised or on foot, with a history room and a heritage house. From $12.★ 5.0 · 2.5 hours · from $12
Cullinan Diamond Mine Surface TourThe shortest way round the mine: video, replicas, tunnel model, the Shaft 1 skip and the Big Hole in 90 minutes. From $12.★ 5.0 · 1.5 hours · from $12
Cullinan Surface Half-Day Tour from PretoriaHotel pickup in Pretoria, the mine's surface tour and the diamond market in about 4 hours. Skip-the-line, private option.★ 5.0 · 4 hours · from $125