By town
Old Age Homes · Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Italian-community old age home in Bedfordview offering assisted living, frail care and dementia care, open to all, with Life Bedford Gardens hospital minutes away.
Retirement Villages · North Riding, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Sectional-title retirement estate in North Riding for over-50s with a 30-bed frail care centre, doctors' rooms, heated pool, restaurant and a 2.7 ha wetland green belt.
Old Age Homes · Craighall Park, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Long-established Craighall Park village with life-right cottages, a main building of single and shared rooms with meals, and frail and high care. Publishes its prices.
Frail Care · Edenvale, Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Frail care nursing home in Edenvale providing 24-hour nursing for older residents, next to Edenvale Hospital and ten minutes from Netcare Linksfield.
Frail Care · Northcliff, Roodepoort, Krugersdorp & the West Rand
Private frail care home in Northcliff, part of a small group with Silver Stream in Randburg, offering 24-hour care in a residential setting.
Retirement Villages · Edenvale / Lyndhurst, Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Rand Aid's 223-unit life-right village on 13 hectares beside the Jukskei, with cottages and apartments for over-65s and the Ron Smith Care Centre on the same property.
Retirement Villages · Featherbrooke, Krugersdorp, Roodepoort, Krugersdorp & the West Rand
493-unit sectional-title estate for over-50s near Krugersdorp with a 30-bed frail care facility, home-based care, dining room, salon, shop and doctor's rooms.
Retirement Villages · Pretoriuspark, Pretoria East
Pretoria East retirement estate in Pretoriuspark with independent and assisted living, on-site healthcare and frail care, near Woodlands Boulevard and Netcare Pretoria East.
Retirement Villages · Garsfontein, Pretoria East
Church-linked Garsfontein community of two centres offering rentals, life rights, frail care and dementia care, with a dining room, library and on-site hairdresser.
Old Age Homes · Pretoria North, Centurion, Montana & Pretoria North
Residentia Foundation home in Pretoria North for older persons, with frail, palliative and restorative care, taking residents on the state pension subject to a waiting list.
Frail Care · Parktown, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Small private frail care home in Parktown offering 24-hour nursing and palliative care, with published rates of R17,900 for a shared room and R22,900 to R25,900 for a private room.
Dementia Care · Bryanston, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Specialist dementia and Alzheimer's care home in Bryanston run by the Livewell group, with secure gardens, structured daily activity and 24-hour nursing.
Retirement Villages · Olympus, Pretoria East
Olympus retirement village with its own frail care centre, part of the Olympus and Faerie Glen cluster of care homes serving Pretoria East.
Frail Care · Riviera, Pretoria East
Non-profit Ons Tuis frail care home in Riviera, central Pretoria, with one of the lowest published frail care rates in the country at about R8,700 a month.
Retirement Villages · Equestria, Pretoria East
Sectional-title retirement scheme in Equestria for self-sufficient people over 50, with independent living units and frail care on the property.
Retirement Villages · Lyttelton, Centurion, Centurion, Montana & Pretoria North
Established community retirement village in Lyttelton with independent units and frail care, in the heart of old Centurion near Netcare Unitas.
Retirement Villages · Midstream Estate, Centurion, Midrand & Waterfall
Midstream Estate's own retirement village, with a frail care facility and a dementia facility, next to Mediclinic Midstream and the Midstream medical centre.
Frail Care · Edenvale / Lyndhurst, Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Rand Aid's 160-bed frail care centre on the Elphin Lodge property, with single and double rooms, a dedicated memory-loss wing in River Lodges, recuperative and respite care.
Retirement Villages · Sandringham, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Auria's 122-apartment continuing-care community on the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington golf course, with serviced apartments, assisted living suites, frail care and dementia care.
Retirement Villages · Bryanston, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Auria Senior Living's flagship continuing-care estate in Bryanston: 168 garden villas, serviced apartments and assisted living suites, with frail and dementia care on site.
Frail Care · Lombardy East, Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Rand Aid's affordable 24-hour frail care centre in Lombardy East, with single rooms sharing a bathroom and en-suite double rooms, in extensive grounds.
Retirement Villages · Waterfall City, Midrand, Midrand & Waterfall
Over-50s estate inside Waterfall City with houses and apartments, a frail care facility in Waterfall Manor, a nurse on site at all times and Netcare Waterfall City Hospital next door.
Retirement Villages · Waterkloof Ridge, Pretoria East
Central Developments' waterfront estate for over-50s in Waterkloof Ridge, with a 24-hour frail care centre, a dementia and Alzheimer's centre, lifestyle centre and 3 km walking trail.
Retirement Villages · Witfield, Boksburg, Bedfordview, Edenvale & the East Rand
Trans-50's longest-running village, open since 1970 in Boksburg, with flats and single rooms, a care centre, memory care rooms and home care, run by a non-profit.
Frail Care · Witpoortjie, Roodepoort, Roodepoort, Krugersdorp & the West Rand
Roodepoort care home offering both assisted care and 24-hour frail care in Witpoortjie, serving families across the West Rand.
Frail Care · President Ridge, Randburg, Johannesburg Northern Suburbs
Established Randburg retirement home with a frail care centre in President Ridge, close to Netcare Olivedale and the Randburg shopping centres.
The province
Gauteng has more retirement units than any other province and the most under R2 million, which makes it the easiest place in South Africa to find a village a family can afford. It also has the densest network of private hospitals in the country. Netcare, Mediclinic and Life hospitals sit within fifteen minutes of nearly every suburb from Fourways to Faerie Glen, and that matters more at 85 than any sea view.
The market runs from large non-profit life-right villages in the east of Johannesburg, through church and community homes in Pretoria that take the state pension, to new lifestyle estates in Midrand, Broadacres, North Riding and Waterkloof with frail care on site and prices to match. Most families who stay are staying for a reason: the children and grandchildren live here, the GP is here, and the parent knows the roads.
Our town guides cover Johannesburg's northern suburbs, the east of the city and Modderfontein, Roodepoort and the West Rand, Midrand and Waterfall, Pretoria East, and Centurion and Pretoria North. For costs, read frail care costs in Gauteng and retirement village costs in Gauteng.
Frail care is round-the-clock nursing for older people who can no longer manage daily activities on their own. Care is given by registered nurses, enrolled nurses and care workers, and most facilities also offer short-term respite and post-hospital recovery stays.
Frail care centres are often attached to retirement villages, and village residents may get priority. Stand-alone centres take residents directly. Beds in popular towns can have waiting lists, so many families register interest before care is urgently needed.
Questions families ask
For hospital access, choice and price, yes. Gauteng has the most retirement units in the country and leads in units under R2 million. The trade-offs are traffic, water and power interruptions in some municipalities, and the absence of a coast. Families who stay usually do so because their children and doctors are here.
The east of the city (Lyndhurst, Edenvale, Modderfontein and Bedfordview) has the largest cluster, led by the Rand Aid villages. The northern suburbs from Bryanston to Fourways and Broadacres have the newer lifestyle estates, and Midrand's Waterfall estates sit between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Published 2025 and 2026 rates run from about R17,900 for a shared room in a small Parktown care home to R26,000 to R30,000 for private rooms and high care at established Johannesburg villages. Non-profit homes in Pretoria charge from about R8,700, and subsidised homes take most of the state pension.
Yes. The City of Johannesburg runs 29 homes and retirement villages with about 2,000 units for pensioners, and the provincial Department of Social Development funds non-profit homes across the province. Apply early: waiting lists in Gauteng are among the longest in the country.
Frail care is usually needed when someone needs hands-on help with several daily activities, such as bathing, dressing, getting out of bed or eating, or needs nursing supervision for medication or a medical condition. A GP or a facility's nursing manager can do an assessment.
Generally no. Medical schemes may cover a short post-hospital stay in a step-down facility, but long-term frail care is normally paid privately. Check your parent's specific scheme and plan.
Many facilities offer respite stays of a week or more. This is a good way to see the care, and for your parent to get used to the place.