The capital of the state of South Australia sits on the shores of the Gulf of St. Vincent. The city is noted for handsome Victorian and Edwardian buildings and its many churches. Key attractions include the Art Gallery of South Australia, Maritime Museum, Botanic Gardens, the National Wine Museum, the Adelaide Central Markets and the Zoological Gardens. Aboriginal culture and artifacts are displayed at the South Australian Museum and at Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, a museum and performing-arts center. If you're looking for nightlife, try the elegant casino housed in what was once an ornate railway station, the Universal Wine Bar or the groovy Apothecary 1878 on Hindley Street. The Migration Museum in Port Adelaide recounts the area's history.
Day trips can be made into the Barossa Valley (35 mi/55 km north) to explore the area's more than 50 wineries and vineyards and sample their products. Farther north (277 mi/446 km) of Adelaide but still easily accessible, the Flinders Ranges National Park is filled with mountain ranges, gorges, tree-lined creeks and wildlife. Highlights include Wilpena Pound (a huge natural geological bowl), aboriginal artworks at Arkaroo Rock and Brachina Gorge—where you may be lucky enough to see the rare yellow-footed rock-wallaby. There are great walking trails and an abundance of wildflowers in the spring.
Another pleasant day trip is to Hahndorf (20 mi/30 km east of Adelaide), a town in the Adelaide Hills settled by German immigrants in the 1830s. Today, it has small inns, good restaurants and shopping. Farther afield is Kangaroo Island (70 mi/115 km, generally reached by air for day tours), site of the first European settlement in the state and Australia's third-largest island. You can visit beaches, take short camel treks and go bird-watching. The island is home to a large colony of sea lions at Seal Bay, as well as to Flinders Chase and 14 additional wildlife reserves for koalas, kangaroos and other marsupials. Steamboats ply the nearby Murray River east of Adelaide (trips last up to five days—very relaxing and highly recommended). The Adelaide Festival, an internationally renowned celebration of the arts, takes place in March every even-numbered year. 725 mi/1,165 km west of Sydney.
