Vrede is an agricultural town in the north-eastern region of the Free State province of South Africa, approximately 20 km east of the N3 National Route, close to the Mpumalanga border.
The town was founded on a farm named Krynauwslust and laid out in 1863. The first European land owners named the area Vrede which means “at peace”. It was officially proclaimed a town in 1879.
Vrede is surrounded by undulating Highveld hills and is is situated along the R34 Provincial Route, as well as the R546 and R543 Regional Routes.
It is situated in the hub of the region’s agricultural industry and is an important producer of maize, wheat, wool, mutton, beef, dairy products and poultry.
Vrede lies approximately 393km north-east of Bloemfontein (the provincial capital), 202 km south-east of Johannesburg in Gauteng and about 46 km south-east of Cornelia on the R103 Regional Route to Warden and Harrismith.
Vrede is the spine of the Drakensburg off the N3 highway from Durban to Mbombela (previously Nelspruit), and the alternative Durban to Johannesburg, and also on the main route from Johannesburg via Newcastle to the North Coast and Zululand. Travellers from down south can use it to make their way to the Kruger National Park.
