Adelaide: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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Adelaide was founded in 1836 as a planned colony of free settlers — no convicts were ever sent here — and laid out by Colonel William Light as a grid of wide streets entirely surrounded by a belt of parkland. It promised religious freedom, which drew dissenters, Lutherans and Jews from the start. Half a day on foot; everything on North Terrace is free.

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A short history of Adelaide

Adelaide was founded in 1836 as the capital of South Australia and was named after Queen Adelaide, the wife of William IV. The surveyor William Light planned it in advance as a grid of streets around squares, surrounded by a wide belt of parkland that has survived to this day. Unlike Sydney and Hobart, it received no convicts but free settlers, among them Lutheran immigrants from Germany who planted the vineyards of the nearby Barossa Valley. In 1894 South Australia was one of the first places in the world to give women the right to vote and to stand for parliament.

The ten best sights in Adelaide

1
Victoria Square
The centre of Light’s grid
2
South Australian Museum
Aboriginal cultures; free
3
Art Gallery of South Australia
Free
4
State Library
The Mortlock reading room
5
Migration Museum
In the old Destitute Asylum
6
Botanic Garden
Glasshouses and a giant waterlily
7
National Wine Centre
Taste the whole state
8
Adelaide Oval
Cricket and the roof climb
9
Old Synagogue, Synagogue Place
The first synagogue, 1850
10
Adelaide Hebrew Congregation
The synagogue today, in Glenside

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What is an audio walk?

Tours in Adelaide →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Adelaide:

Free walking tours in Adelaide

Colonel Light’s city

Victoria Square · The central square of Light’s grid, whose Kaurna name, Tarntanyangga, is now official beside the English one; the city was laid on the land of the Kaurna people, whose language was almost lost and is being revived.
Central Market · A covered market open since 1869, among the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, with stalls run for generations by the families of German, Italian, Greek and Vietnamese immigrants.
Old Synagogue, Synagogue Place · In this lane off Rundle Street stood the first synagogue of Adelaide, opened in 1850 for a Jewish community founded only two years before; the congregation moved to a new synagogue in Glenside in 1990, and the lane keeps the name.
State Library · The Mortlock Wing, opened in 1884, is a reading room of two balconies of carved wood and iron under a glass dome, regularly named one of the most beautiful libraries in the world.
South Australian Museum · Its gallery of Australian Aboriginal cultures holds one of the largest collections of its kind in the world, from shields and boomerangs to the painted bark of Arnhem Land.
Adelaide Oval · The cricket ground across the river, called the most beautiful in the world, with a roof climb above the stands. On the hill above it stands Light’s Vision, his statue looking over the city — on Montefiore Hill, named after Jacob Montefiore, a Jewish commissioner of the colony and cousin of Sir Moses Montefiore.

The gulf and the port

Adelaide lies on a plain between the hills and the Gulf St Vincent; a tram runs from the city to the beach at Glenelg, where the colony was proclaimed, and the old port lies north. Half a day by tram and train.

Migration Museum · In the buildings of the old Destitute Asylum, the stories of the people who came to South Australia from over a hundred countries — and of the Aboriginal families whose children were taken from them.
Moseley Square tram stop · The tram from the city to Glenelg has run since 1929 on the line of an older railway of 1873, the only tram line that survived when Adelaide tore up the rest in the 1950s.
Glenelg · On 28 December 1836 the governor read the proclamation of the colony under a gum tree near the beach here; the Old Gum Tree still stands, and the day is a public holiday in the state.
Glenelg Jetty · A jetty of some two hundred metres into the gulf, rebuilt after storms destroyed the original; the sun sets straight across the water, because Adelaide is one of the few Australian cities that faces west.
Port Adelaide · The old port, where most nineteenth-century settlers first landed; its river and creeks are a dolphin sanctuary, and a resident group of bottlenose dolphins swims among the wharves.
Maritime Museum · In a bond store of the port, ships, lighthouses and the cramped berths of the migrant ships that brought the colonists on voyages of three to four months from England.

The hills and the wine

Behind the city rise the Adelaide Hills, settled by German Lutherans, and beyond them the Barossa; to the south, McLaren Vale runs down to the sea. A full day by car — with a driver who does not drink.

Mount Lofty · The highest point of the hills above the city, with a view over the whole plain of Adelaide to the gulf; its lookout and obelisk were rebuilt after the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983 burned the summit.
Cleland Wildlife Park · A park in the bush where kangaroos and wallabies roam free among the visitors and can be fed by hand, and keepers bring out koalas for close encounters at set times.
Hahndorf · Founded in 1839 by Lutherans who fled religious persecution in Prussia, and named after Dirk Hahn, the captain who brought them. In 1918, during the First World War, its German name was replaced by Ambleside; it was restored in 1935.
Tanunda · A town of the Barossa, the valley settled by Silesian Lutherans from the 1840s, who planted vines; some Barossa vines planted in the nineteenth century still bear fruit, among the oldest producing vines in the world.
McLaren Vale · South of the city, a wine region between the hills and the gulf, known for shiraz and grenache, with cellar doors a few minutes from the beaches.
d’Arenberg Cube · A winery building opened in 2017 in the shape of an unfinished Rubik’s cube, five storeys of glass rising from the vineyards, with a tasting room on top.

sleepntripFree with every roomThree audio walks in every city

A guide in your headphones, stop after stop.

To the walks

Getting to Adelaide and getting around

Adelaide Airport · Twenty minutes from the centre
Adelaide Railway Station · Suburban trains under the casino
Moseley Square tram stop · End of the tram to the beach

Cheap eats in Adelaide

Adelaide’s counter food has its own names: the pie floater, a meat pie floating upside down in pea soup with tomato sauce; the yiros, as the gyros is called here, thanks to the Greek community; and Fritz, the local sausage. A pie floater costs about eight to twelve dollars.

Central Market · The market stalls
Gouger Street · Chinatown and late food
Hahndorf · German bakeries and wurst

Museums in Adelaide

The museums of North Terrace, most of them free, side by side.

South Australian Museum · Aboriginal cultures
Art Gallery of South Australia · Australian art
Migration Museum · The migrants

Holy places in Adelaide

The city of churches, which promised freedom of religion — and its Jewish community, there almost from the start.

Old Synagogue, Synagogue Place · 1850
Adelaide Hebrew Congregation · The synagogue today

Things to do in Adelaide with kids

With children: kangaroos to feed, a tram to the beach and dolphins in the port.

Cleland Wildlife Park · Kangaroos and koalas
Glenelg · Beach by tram
Port Adelaide · Dolphin cruises

Nature and day trips near Adelaide

Gardens, hills and the vineyards.

Botanic Garden · The glasshouses
Mount Lofty · The view
Tanunda · The old vines

sleepntripRoad and rail routesEvery night on the road, our hotel

Whole routes, with a room up to $80 at every stop.

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Frequently asked questions about Adelaide

What is there to see in Adelaide?

The top sights in Adelaide are Victoria Square, South Australian Museum and Art Gallery of South Australia. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Adelaide?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Adelaide without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Adelaide?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Adelaide, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Colonel Light’s city.

How do you get to Adelaide and get around?

The main ways are Adelaide Airport, Adelaide Railway Station and Moseley Square tram stop. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Adelaide, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Adelaide that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

Looking for a hotel in Adelaide for your dates?

Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.

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