“Why Adelaide?”
That’s the question I kept hearing after I’d told friends where I was spending my holidays.
Well, shame on them!
Apart from the stunning wine regions South Australia is renowned for, its capital city is a funky hive of food, culture and entertainment.
For Melburnians familiar with good coffee, great restaurants and street art along laneways, Adelaide offers all that and more, at a refreshingly slower pace.
Adelaide is an 80-minute flight from Melbourne or an eight-hour drive if you prefer a road trip.
If driving, my advice is to leave early in the morning – say, 4 – to avoid traffic.
We chose to stay at The Playford hotel, on North Terrace and opposite the Convention Centre and City Casino, with the State Library, SA Museum and Art Gallery a little further down the road.
The Playford offers spacious, stylish and, importantly for this traveller, clean rooms. We stayed in a studio spa suite.
The Playford restaurant, which has won the gong of ‘Best Restaurant in Accommodation’ for the past three years at the Australian Hotels Association SA awards, is a must-try for both its buffet breakfast and fine-dining dinner menu.
The only downside is internet access. Apart from a daily free Wifi hour in the downstairs bar and lounge, guests incur a daily fee to access it.
A great thing about Adelaide is that pretty much everything is within walking distance.
Once outside the hotel, tourists are spoilt for choice in what’s fast becoming a foodie precinct. Tastebuds will be tempted by Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Jamie’s Italian, by Sean Connelly’s Sean’s Kitchen at the Adelaide Casino, and the range of eclectic pubs, cafes and restaurants along Rundle and Gouger streets.
Rundle Mall is a shopper’s paradise, with more than 700 retail stores, three major department stores, 15 arcades and centres, and buskers left, right and centre. Also in the heart of the city is the Adelaide Zoo, which features giant pandas Wang Wang and Funi, who are on loan from China as part of a conservation program to protect endangered wildlife.
Ten kilometres from the city is the charming seaside resort of Glenelg, where you can swim with wild dolphins.
For wine lovers, the only problem with being in South Australia is deciding which wine regions to visit. Having long been fans of Taylors Shiraz, we drove 90 minutes out of Adelaide to visit the Taylors Estate in the Clare Valley, which has more than 40 cellar doors stretching between the towns of Auburn and Clare.
The region is also gaining a reputation for boutique beer, and we stopped at Hop and Vine in Auburn to try out a “flight”; that is, a sample of four of their craft beers. We also spent a day driving through the famous Barossa Valley, including the 10 kilometre-long Seppeltsfield Road, which is flanked by palm trees and is home to some of the Barossa’s most famous wineries and gourmet destinations.
You might need a week to see everything this region has to offer, but the Maggie Beer Farm Shop, Jacobs Creek cellar door and the Barossa Valley Cheese Company are must-sees if you have only a few hours to spare. So, when planning your next holiday, don’t ask yourself, why Adelaide; ask how you’re going to fit in everything there is to see, eat and do.
