The capital of South Australia is too often
overlooked by travellers, but this only means you find
yourself in smaller tourist crowds.
The most popular place to visit is
Adelaide
Central Market, but there are also the Botanic
Gardens and Adelaide Zoo, and some interesting museums
including the old Adelaide Gaol. Adelaide’s problem is probably its
location, away from the more popular eastern coast, but if you are in
the
area, the city is definitely worth a visit.
Adelaide Australia by Michael Dawes via Flickr.com
The Central Adelaide Australia
Adelaide is symmetrically planned, with Victoria Square in the middle
and four other squares around it. The city centre is between the
North, South and West Terraces in the north, south and west; and Hutt
Street in the east. The main street from south to north is King William
Street which goes all the way to north Adelaide; and the main street
east-west is Grote Street which changes name to Wakefield Street east
of Victoria Square.
Adelaide Australia - Eastern City Centre
East from the Victoria Square is St Francis Xavier Cathedral, west is
St Mary’s Convent, and north is the Town Hall with a tourist
information centre. On the surrounding streets there are a lot of
hotels and restaurants, and east of the Town Hall is the Tandanya
Indigenous Cultural Institute,
an interesting place to learn about the culture of Australian
Aboriginal People.
Adelaide Australia - Western City Centre
West of the Town Hall are the Central Market and Chinatown. As all
the other Australian Chinatowns, it’s a colourful
place to stroll and not that you will understand many signs unless you
can read Chinese, but that’s what makes it different. There are many
Chinese restaurants and interesting shops; and the Adelaide Central
Market is a great
place to have a look around.
Adelaide Australia - Northern Town Centre
But most of the action happens in and around Rundle Mall,
north of the Town Hall and Chinatown. Like the malls of many other
Australian towns and cities, Rundle Mall is a pedestrian mall with some
great shops and restaurants.
Adelaide Australia - Museums
North of the Rundle Mall are some of the best Adelaide museums: South
Australian Museum, Art Gallery of South Australia, and Migration
Museum. The South Australian Museum
has displays about Australia’s natural history and Aboriginal Culture,
while in the Migration Museum you find stories of the many
nationalities that have migrated to South Australia. The Art Gallery of
South Australia is
huge – there are both an Australian and an international art collection
with works of many famous artists.
Adelaide Australia - Rymill Park and Ayers House
South-east from here there is an art gallery in the Urban Cow Studio;
and the
impressive Ayers House – a former home of
Henry Ayers who gave name to Ayers Rock (nowadays called Uluru).
Henry Ayers was a
politician and a successful businessman who made a fortune in South
Australia’s copper mines, and the house is huge and reflects all
the wealth – it is so big there is even a library. Not all the rooms
are open to the public, but the ones that are,
are interesting to discover, and there are even two restaurants. East
of the Ayers House is Rymill
Park – a lovely place to walk or paddle.
Adelaide Zoo and Adelaide Botanic Gardens
North of Rymill Park is the National Wine Centre of Australia; and Adelaide
Botanic Gardens. At the National Wine Centre of
Australia
you can go on a wine tasting tour, and in the Botanic
Gardens there are free guided tours. North of the Botanic
Gardens is the Botanic Park, and Adelaide Zoo south of Torrens
River.
Torrens River and the Old Gaol in Adelaide Australia
The Torrens River, or River Torrens as it also is called, divides the
town into a northern and a southern part. It is surrounded by lovely
parklands with walking and bicycling paths which are very popular. On
the western side along the river is the old Adelaide Gaol, an
interesting
museum that also has guided tours.
Adelaide Oval and St Peter’s Cathedral
North of the Torrens River is North Adelaide. As you drive north along
the King William Road, it changes name to O’Connell Street after the
bridge across the Torrens River. You’ll pass the Adelaide
Oval on your left hand side before you come to the
beautiful St Peter’s Cathedral, one of the town’s most famous
landmarks. Further north is North Adelaide’s central square -
Wellington Square, surrounded by a few streets and lots of parklands.
Port of Adelaide Australia and South Australian Maritime
Museum
About 20km north-west of the city centre is Port of Adelaide – a
port like others but the highlight is the beautiful red lighthouse that
has been relocated twice and has been standing here since 1985. Inside
is the South Australian Maritime Museum
with displays about South Australia’s maritime history, ship models and
nautical instruments, and even artworks and paintings of ships. It is
an interesting museum, and the lighthouse itself is very pretty on
photos.
Adelaide Australia - Glenelg South Australia
Adelaide’s most famous beach, Glenelg, is south of the city centre. It
is popular with tourists as well as local swimmers and surfers, and
there are some nice cafes on the beachfront. An interesting place to
visit is Rodney Fox Shark
Experience where you can learn all the good and bad things
about Australian
sharks, and the founder of the place is one of Australia’s
most famous shark victims! You can also go scuba diving here with
Glenelg Scuba Diving Centre.
Adelaide Hills and Cleland Conservation Park
East of the town is Adelaide Hills – a lovely area up in the mountains
with small townships, vineyards and olive plantations. You can reach it
via the Princes Highway south-east of the city centre. Not far out of
the town on your left hand side is Cleland Conservation
Park with some walking tracks, and the summit of Mount Lofty.
Inside the park is the Cleland Wildlife Park
where you can see the usual Australian
animals like koalas
and kangaroos.
Adelaide Australia - Eastern Adelaide Hills
East of Mount Lofty are Mount Lofty
Botanical Gardens; and around in the area are lots of vineyards such as
Asthon Hills Vineyard and Barratt Wines in north, and Petaluma’s
Bridgewater Mill, Nepenthe Winery, Shaw Smith, Hahndorf Hill
and Mawson Ridge in east. Further east in Mount Barker are the Hahndorf
Farm Barn and Beerenberg Strawberry
Farm.
Adelaide Australia - Festivals in Adelaide Australia
Adelaide has made South Australia famous as the “festival
state” and there are a fair few festivals.
In March there are
Adelaide Festival of Arts, Clipsall 500 and Womadelaide. In August
there is the Royal Adelaide Show and in October there are the Feast and
Glenelg Jazz Festival. In November, there are the
Christmas Pageant and Horse Trials, and in December there are the
Proclamation Day and Bay Sports Festival.
Accommodation in Adelaide Australia
There are some good places to eat in the city, with Rundle Street,
Chinatown, and Jetty Street in Glenelg being some of the most popular.
And there are
many places to stay (See
here for more
Adelaide
Accommodation).
Hotels include Ambassadors
Hotel, Arkaba
Hotel, Comfort
Hotel Highlander, Crowne
Plaza Hotel, Grand
Chifley Hotel, Hilton
Hotel, Majestic
Roof Garden Hotel, Mantra
Hotel Hindmarsh Square, Mantra
on Frome Hotel, Medina
Grand Treasury Hotel, Mercure
Grosvenor Hotel, Oaks
Embassy Hotel, Oaks
Plaza Pier Hotel, Plaza
Hotel, Quality
Hotel Tiffins on the Park, Rendezvous
Allegra Hotel, Richmond
Hotel, Rydges
South Park Hotel, Stamford
Plaza Hotel and The
Sebel Playford Hotel.
Motels include Comfort
Inn on Marion, Comfort
Inn Scotty's, Glenelg
Motel, Jasper
Motor Inn, Motel
Adjacent Casino, Paringa
Motel, Parkside
South Terrace Motel, Pavlos
Motel, Princes
Arcade Motel, Princes
Lodge Motel, Princes
Highway Motel, Tollgate
Motel and Welcome
Inn 277.
Holiday apartments include Allenby
Court Apartments, BreakFree
on Hindley Apartments, Buxton
Manor Apartments, Chelsea
Apartments, Esplanade
Apartments, Franklin
Central Apartments, Glenelg
Pacific Apartments, Grand
Apartments, Manor
Estate Apartments, Oakwood
Frewville Apartments, Oaks
Liberty Towers Apartments, Oaks
Precinct Apartments, Oxford
Terraces Apartments, Quest
Apartments on Wakefield, Quest
Mansions Apartments, Quest
on King William Apartments, Quest
on Sturt Apartments, Seawall
Apartments, Timeball
Apartments, and Windsor
Apartments.
Here's a map of Adelaide Australia, where
I have
tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on
the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the
map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move
around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth,
click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
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