🇬🇧 ➔ 🇿🇦UK to South Africa

Calling South Africa
from the UK
Dial 00 + 27

Make seamless calls to south africa from uk directly from your browser. Outbound calls don’t require a dedicated number. To receive inbound calls, secure a unique US/Canada digital number ($2.14–$5/month).

Product facts

  • Outbound: No dedicated number required.
  • Inbound: Requires US/Canada digital number ($2.14–$5/month).
  • No apps: Works in Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox.
🇿🇦

How to Dial South Africa

1

UK Exit Code

Dial 00. This is the standard prefix for international calls from the UK.

2

SA Country Code

Dial 27. This connects you to South Africa.

3

Area Code

Dial the city code (e.g., 21 for Cape Town) and the number. Drop the leading zero!

South African Area Codes

Johannesburg
Gauteng
11
Cape Town
Western Cape
21
Durban
KwaZulu-Natal
31
Pretoria
Gauteng
12
Port Elizabeth
Eastern Cape
41
Bloemfontein
Free State
51
East London
Eastern Cape
43

Connectivity Tip

South Africa experiences "load shedding" (power cuts). If a landline doesn't answer, try calling the mobile number. StartACall connects to both with excellent quality.

Country deep dive

From United Kingdom to South Africa

Practical reference covering the destination country's dial code, time zone, mobile carriers, city area codes, business etiquette, and any regulatory rules that affect inbound calls. The information below is specific to this route — different country pairs surface different operational details.

Calling South Africa (+27)

South Africa sits in SAST (UTC+2) — no daylight saving.. The country dial code is +27 and the official language for business is English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, and 8 other official languages. Local business hours run roughly 8:00–17:00. Load-shedding (scheduled electricity outages) frequently interrupts business calls — many companies publish schedules so calls can be timed around outages..

Major cities & area codes

  • Durban · 31
  • Pretoria · 12
  • Johannesburg · 11
  • Cape Town · 21

Mobile carriers in South Africa

  • Cell C · 74, 84
  • Telkom Mobile · 81
  • Vodacom · 72, 76, 79, 82, 83, 84

What to know when calling South Africa

  • •Drop the leading 0 in the area code for international format — Johannesburg is +27 11, not +27 011.
  • •Voice calls remain the dominant business channel because mobile data is comparatively expensive.

Calling from United Kingdom

From United Kingdom (GMT (UTC+0) / BST (UTC+1, last Sunday of March to last Sunday of October).) the local business window is 9:00–17:30 typical. Pub-and-lunch culture clusters meetings 10:00–12:30 and 14:00–16:30.. Most outbound callers reach a live answer most easily mid-morning local time, before lunch, and again in the late afternoon.

  • •070 numbers look like UK mobiles but are 'personal numbers' that can cost the caller £0.50/minute or more — they're not real mobile lines.
  • •0800/0808 are freephone from UK landlines and (since 2015) from UK mobiles too. 03 numbers cost the same as 01/02 calls — used by NHS, banks, government.
Operational facts above are sourced from regulator publications and carrier disclosures; specific rates and routing are confirmed in the live dialer.
More calling routes

Related international calling guides

Other routes our customers compare with this one. Tap any guide to see dialing rules, country codes, and rates.

Call South Korea from Uk
Call Business Calls South Africa
Call Australia from Uk
Call Austria from Uk
Call Bangladesh from Uk
Call Call Afghanistan from Uk
Call Call Pakistan from Bradford Uk
Call China from Uk
Call Denmark from Uk
Call France from Uk
Call Germany from Uk
Call Ghana from Uk
Call Greece from Uk
Call How To Call Uk 0800 from Mobile
See all international calling routes