Adelaide
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The capital and largest city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth largest in all of Australia. It may not be as metropolitan as those other bigger cities, but is pleasant enough, offers a couple of dark attractions worth visiting, and also serves as a good jumping-off point for a road trip into the outback (including Woomera and Maralinga).
More background info: Adelaide was founded, together with the proclamation of the province of South Australia, in 1836 – not as a convict site, as Adelaideans can be keen to stress, but as a “free colony” (though for the local Aboriginals of the Kaurna people it was just as much land theft as elsewhere in Australia). The name Adelaide was chosen in honour of the wife of then King William IV.
The core of Adelaide is a planned city, laid out by government Surveyor-General William Light in 1837 as a rectangular grid of streets with a ring of parks around it and four green squares equidistant from each other and the larger Victoria Square in the very centre. The main thoroughfares are North Terrace along the “upper” end of the city centre and branching off it at a right angle King William Street running through the middle of the centre.
Adelaide has a reputation of being particularly progressive, being tolerant towards religious differences (one of its nicknames is “city of churches”), legalizing trade unions early and giving women the vote and the right to stand as candidates for the SA parliament all before the turn of the 20th century, long before most other places did the same. Later it was also at the forefront when it came to decriminalizing homosexuality and outlawing gender and racial discrimination.
Furthermore it’s long been regarded as one of the most “liveable” cities, with a vibrant arts and festival scene and is also renowned for its high-quality food and drink. Some of the most reputable wine regions of Australia surround Adelaide and the city is home to the National Wine Centre of Australia.
It’s also a commercial and industrial hub, including in defence, and it’s the seat of the Australian Space Agency (Woomera is only a few hours drive away).
For the traveller, Adelaide is also an ideal starting and end point for road trips into the South Australian outback, but also worth at least a couple of days’ stay in its own right – see below.
What there is to see: For the dark tourist Adelaide offers two prime attractions, both given their own separate chapters here:
- Z Ward
In addition Adelaide also has its War Memorial honouring the fallen ANZAC soldiers of WW1, though it’s on a much smaller scale than the equivalents in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.
Furthermore the South Australia Aviation Museum in the north of the city has some remarkable military aircraft that may be of interest to some, including a sleek F-111 supersonic bomber (16 Bedford Street, open daily 10-16h, 15 AUD).
Also in that area is the South Australia Maritime Museum (126 Lipson Street, open daily 10-17h, 22.50 AUD). This has sections on shipwrecks and early migration and allegedly offers tours to the Torrens Island Quarantine Station (cf. Q Station in Sydney!). The nearby Garden Island ship graveyard, however, has by now largely rusted away.
Location: in the south-east of South Australia on the River Torrens, ca. 650 km (400 miles) north-west of Melbourne and ca. 450 km (280 miles) south of Woomera.
Google Maps locators:
National War Memorial: [-34.9210, 138.6016]
South Australia Aviation Museum: [-34.8483, 138.5117]
South Australian Maritime Museum: [-34.8430, 138.5062]
Torrens Island Quarantine Station: [-34.7772, 138.5215]
Garden Island ship graveyard: [-34.8112, 138.5281]
Victoria Square: [-34.9284, 138.5999]
Central Market: [-34.9296, 138.5973]
National Wine Centre of Australia: [-34.9197, 138.6139]
Parklands terminus railwa station: [-34.9379, 138.5811]
Access and costs: easily reachable by plane or overland; not cheap.
Details: Given the distances in Australia, getting to Adelaide is the quickest by plane, BUT you can also get there by train from Melbourne, namely on the classy “Overland” of the Journey Beyond Rail operator who also run the fabled “Indian Pacific” from Sydney to Perth and “The Ghan” from Adelaide to Darwin. Unlike those longer sleeper train rides, “The Overland” is a daytime connection, taking ca. 10 hours. These trains are not necessarily cheaper than a budget flight, but better for the planet, so make use of the chance if you can. Note that “The Overland” terminates at the Parklands Terminal outside the city centre (and not Adelaide Station, which is only for local/regional trains), so you’ll have to get a taxi from there (the train operators usually call ahead for taxis so there should be one available for you to grab on arrival).
Obviously you could also get to Adelaide by road.
Getting around the city centre can largely be done on foot – but you needn’t walk it all: the tram system within the inner city and to the first stop outside the outer ring is free of charge! (Another tick for Adelaide on the being progressive front!)
Accommodation options span the whole range and you can find pretty good deals not straining your budget overly. I found a decent double room in a good location right on North Terrace for under 100 AUD per night.
In terms of food & drink, Adelaide has a good reputation, though I have to say that in my short personal experience it couldn’t quite compete with the range offered in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane on the restaurant front. At the top of the scale in Adelaide, both in culinary terms and price-wise (though I didn’t get to experience it myself), is said to be the restaurant right in the middle of the Botanic Gardens with a strong focus on native Australian ingredients, many harvested directly from the immediate environs.
The Central Market not far from Victoria Square is a true gem inviting self-catering but also offers on-site eateries and bars.
The wines of the region are rightly famous, as you can find out at the National Wine Centre of Australia located in the south-eastern corner of the Botanic Gardens.
The craft beer scene has also got a foothold in Adelaide, and I particularly liked the funky “Crafty Robot” bar, not just for their beers but also for their superb Detroit-style square pizzas with cheesy crusts.
Time required: I had only two nights in Adelaide and felt that this short amount of time didn’t quite do the city justice. Because of this I was unable to explore any of the sites in the north, in or around Port Adelaide (see above). So I’d recommend a minimum of three, better four nights to cover those other attractions too.
Combinations with other dark destinations: As already pointed out, Adelaide is a good base from which to undertake road trips into the South Australian outback. This is exactly what I did for a week during my trip to Australia in August 2024. I hired a car from Adelaide airport and first headed to Woomera, then on to Ceduna from where I did a fly-in tour to Maralinga, then carried on as far as the Nullarbor before heading back via Kimba and Iron Knob. See also under Australia in general.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: Adelaide itself has a good number of non-dark attractions, including plenty of art, both out in the open air and in galleries; the South Australian Museum is said to have one of the largest collections of Aboriginal artefacts; Adelaide Zoo (established in 1883!) is said to be excellent too; and just to the north-east of the city centre there’s also the very pleasant green oasis provided by the Botanic Gardens, which also has some cool greenhouse architecture and water features.
Adelaide’s cityscape isn’t as metropolitan as that of the bigger Australian cities, lacking the towers, skyscrapers and iconic sights of especially Sydney, but some of the city architecture is quite pleasant to look at, if mostly low-rise. Modern architectural marvels include the striking SAHMRI (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute) on North Terrace.
The Central Market is a joy to explore, especially for foodies of course, and offers stalls selling cheese, seafood, charcuterie, wine and whatnot. One stall specializes in delicacies from the fabled Kangaroo Island.
Further away from the centre are also watery attractions – ranging from Glenelg’s beaches to kayaking and/or dolphin watching in the creeks beyond Port Adelaide on the northern edge of the city.
See also under Australia in general.
