Adelaide is a modest beauty.
It almost seems that she doesn’t want to take too much of the spotlight away from the popular kids in her neighbourhood, like the Barossa Valley, Murray River or the Flinders Ranges. Adelaide has tended to be overlooked at times, more as a stepping off point than a destination.
But Adelaide has so much more to offer than you'd expect at first glance.
Looking closer at this shy gal, you can see that she’s a beauty who deserves as much of the spotlight as the rest of South Australia. The city centre, a mix between historic buildings and modern architecture, is vibrant and teeming with life. Adelaide is famous for hosting international festivals and sporting events, with exquisite restaurants and cafes, and the proximity to some incredible wine regions. Some of the most awesome Adelaide activities include eating, drinking, shopping, climbing in aerial parks, long walks on the beach and kayaking with dolphins.
Is Adelaide worth visiting? After reading our massive list of all the awesome things to do in Adelaide, we’d be surprised if the answer was anything else but Hells Yes!
No city visit is complete without some proper sightseeing. Off you go for a wander around the city, equipped with a map (app) highlighting all the must-dos. Adelaide’s free tram and bus network makes it a breeze to get around on your own.
If you’re after more information about the city and its sights, it’s best to book a guided sightseeing tour. Plus, the quirky modes of transportation are heaps of fun.
You can easily get around Adelaide in an eco-friendly fashion that is enjoyable and relaxing. Well, for you anyway, as your driver hits the pedals of the e-rickshaw hard to show you around town. Choose from a range of tours, from your regular sightseeing tour to themed tours that visit street art, cafes and wineries.
Or maybe you prefer to zoom around Adelaide on your own wheels. Segway tours have been popular from the moment they were introduced to the world. The funky two-wheelers are steered by shifting your weight, it’s a lot easier to learn than it might seem. Ride along the riverbank in the city, through vineyards in the Barossa Valley or spin around the beach in Glenelg. You’ll be sure to have a ‘wheelie good time’.
Explore Adelaide’s riverside whilst enjoying a good BBQ from the water on these fun, donut-shaped, boats. You can take the family or a group of friends and chug around on River Torrens merry-go-round-style until you’re dizzy. The buoys are equipped with an engine so you can fully focus on your steak that’s sizzling on the BBQ in the middle of the table.
Sightseeing almost always includes at least some form of shopping and Rundle Mall is just the place for retail therapy. The walking street is jam-packed with over 700 stores from H&M to high fashion. Cafes and restaurants cater to your every need and make sure you won’t starve during your shopping day. And the whimsical sculpture of the Rundle Mall Pigs will delight both you and the kids and make for a great photo op.
If Adelaide was famous for just one thing, it would have to be eating & drinking. Ok, technically that’s two things but one without the other is really only half the fun.
Edible crops grow exceptionally well in South Australia, thanks to its unique climate. Grapes for wine, botanicals for gin, stone fruit and vegetables, all grow on the outskirts of Adelaide. It should come as no surprise that chefs love to experiment with the local produce and keep coming up with new culinary creations. And you have the pleasure (nay, duty!) of eating and drinking your way through the myriad of restaurants in Adelaide.
Only 8 km | 5 mi from Adelaide’s city centre lies one of the most iconic (and most urban) vineyards in all of Australia: Penfolds Magill Estate. On a tour behind the scenes, you walk through historic stone buildings from the mid-1800s, discover the underground wine cellars, home to hundreds of oak barrels full of ageing wine from the past years, dating back to the famous Penfolds Grange from 1951 until today.
To round off your experience, head over to the Estate Kitchen for a cheese flight paired with the right wines, or to the Estate Restaurant for an outstanding lunch or dinner.
Always worth a visit but especially when you don’t have the time for a day trip from Adelaide to the nearby wine regions. The National Wine Centre is home to the largest tasting room in Australia, letting you sample 120 different wines from 55 Australian wine regions, including South Australia’s.
Wander around the Wined Bar with your personal keycard. All wines are attached to a ‘wine tab’. Whenever you see a wine you’d like to taste, just insert the card into the slot and press the button above the bottle.
Walking through Adelaide’s most visited tourist attraction is a true sensory sensation. The sweet scent of fresh fruit, vegetable and cut flowers mixes with the piquant aromas of cheese and cured meat. Adelaide Central Market in the charming brick building of Federal Hall is the biggest fresh produce market in the Southern Hemisphere. The over 70 stalls with a giant selection of neatly arranged artisan products will turn just about everyone into a foodie.
Join a behind the scenes market tour. Your knowledgeable tour guide knows everything there is to know about the Central Market and where to find the best produce, tasting as you go. Meet the suppliers and stallholders, many of whose families have traded at the market for generations.
While the Adelaide Hills are not quite Adelaide city anymore, it’s only a 30-minute drive to the picturesque towns and vineyards which can be reached by public transport if preferred, so I guess we can still count it as part of the city.
South Australia is proud to be known as the ‘Festival State’. In keeping with the state’s reputation, Adelaide hosts heaps of festivals and events throughout the year. ]
The biggest festival is Adelaide Fringe! For a whole month over summer, Adelaide’s CBD as well as surrounding suburbs turn into one huge art festival that attracts not only locals but a big international crowd. Thousands of events take place over the course of the festival, some are free for everyone to watch, others cost entry.
Being all about food and wine in South Australia, it’s clear that there are multiple foodie events, especially Tasting Australia, one of the country’s longest-running food and wine festivals. Followed by the Beer and BBQ Festival as well as a number of wine-related festivals in the surrounding wine regions.
You can also find open-air movies at the Botanical Garden during summer, a cabaret festival, and sports events in and around Adelaide.
If you’re in the mood for world-class art and culture, you can’t miss visiting the Art Gallery. Located in a historic building, the Art Gallery of South Australia houses a huge collection of more than 40,000 artefacts. Immerse yourself in the sculptures, prints, sketches, photographs, textiles and design works from all over the world, attracting almost one million visitors every year.
General Admission is free.
The natural history museum holds collections of national and international significance. The museum is home to the world's largest collection of Australian Aboriginal cultural material, with over 3,000 artefacts on display. Exhibits include the Pacific Cultures, Megafauna, Opalised Fossils, Polar, Ediacaran, Minerals and the Ancient Egyptian Room. The ever-popular Discovery Centre on level one contains a wealth of information.
To keep things interesting, the museum keeps coming up with colourful and informative events for families as well as adults-only evening tours.
General Admission is free.
If you’re more into watching sport, the Adelaide Oval is the place to be.
A game of footy, cricket or a live concert: Whenever an event gathers a big crowd, it’s likely to be held at the Adelaide Oval. The stadium’s grounds have been in use for sporting events since 1871, after the formation of the South Australian Cricket Association and it grew and matured over the decades into the architecturally impressive building it is today.
One of the most special ways to watch a game of your favourite team must be right from the roof! The Oval Roof Climb Tour is already exciting in itself. Climb up and stroll around the roof while listening to entertaining tales about Adelaide. On game days, you can watch a full quarter of footy from the best seats ‘in’ the house, your rooftop seats, perched 50 meters over the turf.
Starting from the Adelaide Oval, the River Torrens Linear Park Trail weaves its way along the river all the way to Henley Beach towards the East and to Athelstone in the West, at the foot of the Adelaide Hills. The whole trail is 32km | 20mi long, Adelaide city almost exactly sitting on the halfway point.
There are plenty of bike hire stations scattered over Adelaide. The trail can get pretty busy on sunny days and the weekend, so please adjust your speed accordingly.
The beaches in Adelaide are wonderfully long, gently sloping and white, so white! This might come as a surprise to many as people don’t usually book their flights to Adelaide because of the beaches. They really should, though. And because we mean what we say we’ve created a whole post about Adelaide’s beaches to show you their beauty. Click here to read it.
FestiHave we convinced you that Adelaide is a great place for your next holiday? There’s definitely no shortage of awesome activities in Adelaide, no matter your preferences. For even more tips about Adelaide and travelling around South Australia, please contact our team any time, we love to help you organise your perfect holiday!
Parklands is Adelaide’s green backyard. It’s extremely popular with the locals, a place to take a time-out from the busy city life without actually having to leave the city. The figure-eight of land spans both banks of the River Torrens and separates the CBD from the surrounding suburbs.
It’s undeniable that watching the Panda Bear couple Wang Wang and Fu Ni playfully interacting with the zookeepers is utterly entertaining and adorable. The only breeding pair of Giant Pandas in Australia (it’s not easy to get Pandas to breed), you just know they feel right at home at Adelaide Zoo.
Older kids can also become a zookeeper for a day. If you’re into scary stories, you'll love the haunted after-dark tours of the zoo.
Treeclimb is Australia’s first inner-city aerial adventure park. Starting off relatively easy to get you used to the course, the obstacles quickly increase in difficulty. In the two hours it takes to get through the Grand Course, you complete 5 different difficulty levels and overcome 52 obstacles. How’s that for a challenge?
Yes, you can safely kayak in the middle of Adelaide city! On a guided 90-minutes tour, you paddle on River Torrens through Adelaide and listen to stories about the city as it glides past you.
A completely different world awaits you only 20 minutes from the city. On a guided tour, you paddle through the magnificent, 10’000 year-old, mangrove forest on the lookout for local bottlenose dolphins who feed in the area!
Another rope course, West Beach Adventure lies, as the name indicates, in West Beach. The aerial adventure park overlooks the ocean, meaning you’re provided with incredible views throughout your climbing adventure.
‘Relax’ at a picnic bench in dizzy heights, row row row your boat from one platform to the next or fight your friends and family, trying to throw them off their platform with an oversized cotton bud.
If you prefer to climb actual rocks instead of man-made circuits, Morialta Conservation Park just outside of Adelaide is your place to go. No previous climbing experience is needed to join a tour as the guides will properly instruct and secure you. You’ll have enough time during the tour to look around and take in the fantastic views of Morialta Gorge and the nearby Adelaide Plains
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