Luxury hotels in Adelaide

Adelaide guide

Adelaide: the Barossa and Kangaroo Island

Some of Australia's great wine regions an hour away, the Central Market and wildlife on the island.

Adelaide is the gateway to some of Australia's most celebrated wine regions, and a day in the Barossa Valley, famous for Shiraz, or in McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills, is the most cited experience. Cellar doors welcome visitors, and many have outstanding restaurants.

In the city, the Central Market, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the beach at Glenelg are worth a day. Kangaroo Island, a short flight or ferry away, has sea lions, koalas and the Remarkable Rocks, and the Adelaide Festival and Fringe fill the city in February and March.

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island, a short flight or ferry from Adelaide, is one of the most cited wildlife destinations in Australia: Australian sea lions resting on the beach at Seal Bay, the granite Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch in Flinders Chase National Park, and kangaroos, wallabies and koalas in the wild.

The island has recovered from the 2019–2020 bushfires, and its local produce, from Ligurian honey to gin and sheep's cheese, is excellent. Two or three nights allow time to explore at a gentle pace.

McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills

McLaren Vale, about forty-five minutes south of Adelaide, is one of the most cited wine regions in South Australia, known for Shiraz and Grenache, with vineyards running down to the sea; the d'Arenberg Cube, a glass building shaped like a puzzle, has become a landmark.

The Adelaide Hills, cooler and greener, produce Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, and Hahndorf, Australia's oldest surviving German settlement, has cafés and galleries. Adelaide's Central Market is one of the best in the country.