How To Best Explore Adelaide With Kids

Fun things to do in Adelaide with kids

Adelaide TreeClimb

Located in Parklands, the green belt surrounding Adelaide’s CBD, TreeClimb is the only inner-city aerial adventure park (high ropes park) in the world and! If the adults want to stay on stable ground, kids over 100cm | 3.2ft height can climb through the kids’ course all by themselves. 

Adults and children over 135cm | 4.4ft can tackle the Grand Course together. You need to try to overcome 52 different challenges that slowly increase in difficulty. Who dares to complete the whole course?

Hire bikes and ride through Parklands

Pretty much every kid loves riding a bike. Hire bikes as a family for an outing to Parklands and choose your favourite trail from a massive network of paths and tracks. Ride from one playground to the next to keep the kids entertained and reward yourself with a break in the shade. And don’t forget to pay TreeClimb a visit. 

Another great trail to ride is River Torrens Linear Park Trail. It meanders along the river all the way from the city to the beach. It’s about 13km long, so your kids should either be old enough for a longer ride or you can just hire an e-bike. At the end of the trail you get to reward yourself with a play in the waves. And maybe even ice cream? You surely deserve it! 

Adelaide Beaches

Did you know it’s only a 20-minute drive from Adelaide’s city centre to the beach? Adelaide’s beaches are wide, gently sloping and the sand is soft as powder. Spending the day on the beach building sandcastles is definitely one of the best things to do in Adelaide with kids, and one of the most budget-friendly, too!

Most of Adelaide’s city beaches can easily be reached by tram or bus. One of the most popular beaches in Adelaide is Glenelg. It has a lot to offer for kids, and adults will also enjoy spending time here. As well as the great beach, there are plenty of restaurants and cafes to choose from, a huge selection of shops for your retail therapy and heaps of playgrounds for the kids.

Glenelg Beachhouse

Sporting Bumper boats with water cannons and three waterslides just waiting to be explored, the Beachhouse in Glenelg is packed with fun for kids of all ages! Located right at Glenelg Beach, you can cool off inside during the hottest time of the day. Or just spend all day in the Beachhouse on a rainy day.

The Beachhouse Glenelg has a huge range of activities to keep the kids busy. Did we mention the bumper boats, water cannons and waterslides? For those who prefer to stay dry, there are arcade games, a carousel, play castle, bumper cars and even an 18-hole mini-golf course! You might have a slightly tricky time getting the kids to leave the Beachhouse again.

Dolphin cruise and swim with the dolphins

Is swimming with dolphins on your bucket list, too? Then you should look into a dolphin cruise with Temptation Sailing, leaving from Glenelg Beach. The cruise takes about 4 hours and you’ll have the chance for a close encounter with the dolphins about three to four times. Wearing a wetsuit, mask and snorkel, you hold on to a rope at the back of the boat, your head underwater. The dolphins seem to appear out of nowhere. These playful creatures are wild, they come to the boat on their own accord and are not tempted by food. This makes the interaction even more unique and every sail different. 

If you don’t want to get into the water with the dolphins, you can just stay on the boat and watch them play from there.

Children from 9 years of age are allowed to swim with the dolphins, which makes the dolphin cruise a memorable experience for the whole family.

West Beach Mega Adventure Climbing Tower

This is another great adventure in Adelaide with kids who are fearless and they usually are. The question is just...are you? 

Children from as young as 3 years can show their bravery on the kids-only course while you watch from below. If they dare, they can even jump off the 18m | 59ft freefall simulation tower by themselves!

Anyone over 120cm | 3.9ft is allowed to challenge themselves on the MegaClimb. The climbing tower looks like a massively oversized jungle gym and is filled with 70 imaginative challenges to overcome. Climb, jump, crawl and even row from one obstacle to the next, if you dare.

Trampolines and indoor climbing at Latitude Adelaide

Trampolines and climbing walls are the best way to spend a rainy day in Adelaide with kids. Latitude Adelaide has both and with your 1-hour session ticket, the kids can bounce and climb to their heart’s content. There’s also a Kids Zone for the littlest ones with their own trampolines, ball pits and slides. 

You can watch the kids from the ground if you prefer but no one is stopping you from unleashing your inner child and doing some ‘cool’ tricks on the tramp (whether you’re cool or embarrassing probably depends a lot on the age of your kids..). There’s even a ninja warrior parcours as you know it from TV! A great challenge for older kids and adults. 

Each session lasts for 60 minutes. Chances are both you and your kids are powered out by the end of that one-hour session. 

Escape Rooms

Kids have the most fantastic imagination and have the ability to fully engross in a story. Now imagine how much fun it will be to solve puzzles and mysteries together in a room that was created for that sole purpose. 

Escape Rooms have become incredibly popular all over the world and Adelaide is no different. Several of these places are sprinkled all over the city. Most of them contain a multitude of rooms with different themes and stories, giving you the agony of choosing which one you should go for. You have 60 minutes in a room to decipher a riddle, find a mystic creature, solve a murder or even save the world.

Adelaide Zoo

The zoo is always a favourite with kids and Adelaide Zoo will be no different. A special highlight is visiting the adorable Giant Pandas Wang Wang and Fu Ni. Other animals the kids will love watching are the playful sea lions, giraffes and lions. 

The zoo’s new designated Children’s Zoo isn’t just your average petting zoo. It’s all about learning about the animals, watching them play and playing with them. The Children’s Zoo is just around the corner from the children’s playground and the cafe. Get yourself a treat while the kids are having their best day ever.

Monarto Safari Park

At Monarto Safari Park, the animals roam freely (some more than others) within a 1500 hectare open-range zoo. It’s the largest safari park outside of Africa and the largest zoo in Australia (in fact, all Australian zoos could fit into Monarto Safari Park and there’d still be room for more). You’ll feel like you’re on a true safari. 

Located close to the Australian Outback, about 70km | 43mi east of Adelaide - great for a day trip-, the hot and dry climate is perfect to host a range of African and Australian animals. 

A bus with commentary about the zoo residents circles the park regularly and stops at different points to let you explore. A big network of walking tracks lead through the park for those who prefer to walk.

The most impressive animal encounter must be the Lions 360 experience. Unlike other zoos, here, it’s the humans who’ll watch the lions from inside a cage. The lions can come right up and even climb on top of the cage. It’s scary and interesting at the same time.

MOD. Museum of Discoveries

The Museum of Discoveries (MOD.) is all about learning about science in a fun way. MOD. is at the intersection of art and science and wants to get you creative about how you think of the future. Most of the exhibition is interactive and encourages you to read, listen, push buttons and conduct experiments. 

The Museum of Discovery is mainly aimed at kids 15 years and up but it’s never too early to interest your younger children in science.

Strawberry picking at Beerenberg

Beerenberg literally means berry mountain in German. And it couldn’t be more fitting as Beerenberg is all about berries, fruit and making condiments. 

During the strawberry season from November to April, you can grab a punnet for a small charge and head off into the strawberry fields to pick as many fruits as you can carry. Incredibly sweet and still warm from the sun, a freshly picked strawberry is so much more delicious than the berries you can buy at the supermarkets.

Located in Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills, about 30 minutes outside of Adelaide, add picking strawberries to your wine and beer tasting day for a more child-friendly component to your South Australia self-drive itinerary. 

Farm Barn Hahndorf

Another must-do when you’re in Hahndorf with kids is a stop at the Farm Barn. The farm is packed with cuddly animals to pet. The little ones can learn how to bottle feed a baby lamb or how to milk a cow. Other animals on the farm include bunnies, goats, guinea pigs, chickens, donkeys and many more.

Kids from 2 to 12 years of age can take a ride on Bonnie the pony, fully controlled by a team member for the safety of the passenger. 

The farm shop has cold drinks, coffee and things to munch on but there are plenty of tables and a BBQ area for those who bring their own snacks. 

Fun Playgrounds in Adelaide

Adelaide has some real epic playgrounds. Here are our favourites:

Marshmallow Park 

Located in Parklands, Marshmallow Park Playground is shaded by trees and full of adventurous things to explore for the kids. Water features, climbing towers, sandpits and of course slides will keep the children entertained for hours. You can park up under a tree and watch them play and prep some lunch at one of the BBQ stations. 

Glenelg Foreshore Playspace

Sandwiched between the beach and Moseley Square, you really can’t beat the location of this playground. After building sandcastles and playing in the waves, you can all go and get some ice cream from one of the cafes at Moseley Square. Then head over to the playground where the kids can clamber up the climbing net, go down the wide slide or play in the big water feature. The Beachhouse (see above) is also around the corner for some climatised indoor fun.

Keen to find more family-friendly adventures in Australia? We can help with that!

Have a look at our South Australia self-drive itineraries. Alternatively, if you would like to create your own kids-friendly self-drive itinerary then simply chat to our First Light Travel specialists about our bespoke packages.