Introduction
South Australia is not merely a food and wine lover's dream. Whether you're looking to experience the award-winning wine regions, the diversity of the local produce, the spectacular landscape or remarkable fine dining, this region has an offering to suit all tastes. Call our Australia holiday specialists, who'll help plan your perfect trip.
Adelaide
The capital city of Adelaide brings together fabulous food and wine from right across the state. There is a distinct sense of the Mediterranean to Adelaide, and a handful of cellar doors and breweries can be found in the city's surrounding suburbs, including the lauded Penfolds Magill Estate. Adelaide is also home to the striking National Wine Centre – the largest open cellar in the southern hemisphere and the colourful Central Market, with its old school neon, painted signs, enthusiastic hawkers and gloriously exotic smells, is also where the city meets for a chat, listens live music, reads the paper and generally just lets its hair down.
Kangaroo island
This unspoilt island, often referred to as Australia's Galápagos, is just a short flight from Adelaide. Comprising a national park and nature reserve, it's a place of wild beauty home to possum, bandicoot, platypus, wallaby, more than 250 species of bird and hundreds of kangaroos. There's also some exceptional accommodation to be found, especially at Southern Ocean Lodge where sweeping Southern Ocean views are matched by fine wines, gourmet dining and a full spread of guided island activities.
Wines and wilderness
South Australia's wines, such as those produced in the Barossa Valley, Claire Valley and Coonawarra are right up there with the best in the country. Vineyards characterise much of the countryside surrounding the lively state capital, Adelaide, and are a mainstay of the region’s reputation for superb food and drink.
North of the wine regions, huge tracts of wilderness extend inland, dotted with sheep stations and opal mines. The craggy terrain of the Flinders Ranges and the vastness of Wilpena Pound provide classic images of Outback Australia – sparse areas where cattle and sheep outnumber humans and whose sheer scale is best appreciated from the air.