Adelaide, cellar door to coast.
Barossa reds an hour north, the Central Market at first light, dolphins in the Port River and Kangaroo Island off the coast. What each tour is really like, what it costs, and where to book it.
Seven bookings worth the drive.
First visit or fifth, these carry a South Australian trip: the Barossa cellar doors with the long lunch, a dawn paddle among the Port River dolphins, the Central Market stalls the tour buses drive straight past.
Barossa Premium Wine Tasting tour & Winery Lunch
Adelaide to Barossa with 3 family winery cellar-door tastings, VIP-style Kies visit, a regional platter lunch, and iconic photo stops.
From $126 per person
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★ 5.0Safe betDiscover Barossa: 4 Wine Tastings, Gourmet Lunch, and Hidden GemsFrom $1211,027 reviews
★ 4.6Books out fastRiver Torrens Popeye Sightseeing CruiseFrom $19949 reviews
★ 4.8Crowd favouriteAdelaide Oval Stadium Guided TourFrom $20760 reviews
★ 4.5Worth the driveKangaroo Island in a Day Tour from AdelaideFrom $271722 reviews
★ 5.0Easy winKangaroo Island 75-Minute Coastal SafariFrom $63607 reviews
★ 4.5Local favouriteBarossa Valley Inc Maggie Beers & Hahndorf (German Village)From $128467 reviews
The Barossa earns a whole day.
Leave the city after breakfast, be at the first cellar door by mid-morning, then let the day slow right down: the fortified vault at Seppeltsfield, a long lunch among the shiraz vines, a wandering drive home through the Adelaide Hills. This is the day people plan a trip around.
Which wine region is yours?
Three great regions, all under an hour from the city, each a different kind of day. Pick the one that sounds like you, and every tour behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Big reds
The Barossa
from $128 · 1,475 reviews
Shiraz country. Grand old estates, the fortified vault at Seppeltsfield, and lunches that run well into the afternoon. The heavyweight day: bold wines, deep history, and a driver you will be very glad you booked.
See the Barossa days →
Sea breeze
McLaren Vale
5h 30m · from $63 · 417 reviews
Vines that run down toward the Gulf. Boutique cellar doors, olive groves, the d’Arenberg Cube standing in a paddock, and a beach at the end of the road. The relaxed coastal answer to the Barossa.
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Cool climate
The Adelaide Hills
8 hours · from $114 · 877 reviews
Twenty minutes up the freeway into the gum trees. Crisp whites, cider and gin, the old German main street of Hahndorf, and the view back over the city from Mount Lofty. The easiest half-day of the three.
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Kangaroo Island plays by its own rules.
Sea lions asleep on the sand at Seal Bay, koalas dozing in the Flinders Chase gums, the Remarkable Rocks catching the last of the light. A short flight or a ferry from the mainland, and a world away from it. Go with someone who knows where the wildlife actually is.
The Central Market feeds the city.
Adelaide eats at its Central Market: eighty-odd stalls of cheese, smallgoods, produce and coffee under one roof since 1869. Book a guided graze and you will have tasted half of it before lunch, with a local doing the ordering.
Adelaide meets its dolphins.
The Port River keeps a resident pod, and a kayak sits low enough to meet them almost at eye level. Paddle the mangroves at dawn, or take a cruise out past the old ships’ graveyard. Wild dolphins, twenty minutes from the CBD.
The Fleurieu is in no hurry.
An hour south, the land runs out at Victor Harbor. Ride the horse-drawn tram across the causeway to Granite Island, watch for southern right whales through winter, and trace the coast road past the surf beaches of the Fleurieu. The unhurried end of a South Australian trip.
Adelaide runs on its regions.
The city is the base; the days out are the point. Barossa for the big reds. The Hills for cool-climate whites and a German main street. The Fleurieu coast for the slow finish. Kangaroo Island for the wild.
Know what you’re after?
Twelve ways to spend a day around Adelaide. Pick the one that sounds like you, and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
A morning’s drive, a full day out.
South Australia is far bigger than its wine map. The Fleurieu coast, the Murray’s paddle-steamer bends, the red edges of the Flinders Ranges and Kangaroo Island’s wild coast are all a drive from the city.
Three days, done right.
You can’t drink your way through all of South Australia in one trip. You can do three very good days. This is the order we’d give a friend flying into Adelaide tomorrow.
Day 1
Settle into the city
The Central Market for breakfast, the museums and galleries along North Terrace, then twenty minutes up into the Adelaide Hills for a cool-climate white and the view from Mount Lofty.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Give the Barossa a full day
A driver, a handful of cellar doors, the fortified vault at Seppeltsfield and a long lunch among the vines. The day the whole trip was really for.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Finish on the coast
South to Victor Harbor and the Fleurieu, or the crossing to Kangaroo Island for the wildlife. Check the forecast and give the clearest day to the water.
Plan day three →
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