15 Best Sights in Adelaide, South Australia

These magnificent formal gardens include an international rose garden, giant Amazonian water lilies, an avenue of magnificent Moreton Bay fig trees, acres of green lawns, and a gorgeous Victorian palm house. The Bicentennial Conservatory—the largest single-span greenhouse in the southern hemisphere—provides an environment for lowland rain-forest species such as the cassowary palm and torch ginger. The Santos Museum of Economic Botany contains fascinating exhibits on the commercial use of some species, and on-site Restaurant Botanic utilizes many plants grown on-site in exquisite degustations. In summer the Moonlight Cinema series screens new, classic, and cult films in adjacent Botanic Park at sunset; if you forget a picnic blanket you can hire one as well as buy drinks and snacks. Tickets sell fast, so plan ahead. Check the website for workshops, events, and exhibitions in the park.

Many famous Australian painters, including Tom Robbins, Margaret Preston, and Sidney Nolan are represented alongside Renaissance and British artworks. But the real jewel is the collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works that showcases artists, including Albert Namatjira, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, and John Prince Siddon. There is also a café and bookshop on-site.

The eminently approachable beach in this affluent coastal suburb offers white sand, gently lapping waves, summer entertainment, and a square known for popular dining spots. You'll find families spread out along the shore, and there's plenty of space on the wide lawns to enjoy a picnic or fish-and-chips. The jetty is perfect for walking or fishing—drop a line in the water and try your luck. During summer, Henley Beach Square comes alive with live music and festivals while eateries along Henley Beach Road bring the world to your plate—Asian, African, Mediterranean, and Indian mix with local cuisine and incredible gelato. Amenities: food and drink; parking; toilets. Best for: sunrise; sunset; swimming; walking.

This imposing Victorian building with an eye-catching clock tower made from local stone has looked out over the city since 1866. Tours visit the Colonel Light Room, where objects used to map and plan Adelaide are exhibited, and there are regular art exhibitions. The balcony of the Town Hall is famous for the appearance of the Beatles in 1964, which attracted the venue's largest crowd to date: approximately 300,000 screaming fans.

Located just 11 km (7 miles) from the Adelaide city center, palindromic Glenelg is a busy seaside suburb known for its sandy beach, historic jetty, volleyball courts, bustling shops, hotels, restaurants, bars, and The Beachouse entertainment complex. Trams lead the way to the beach, carrying passengers from the city along Jetty Road while pedestrians weave in and out of the various retail outlets that line the strip. A day trip to Glenelg is a summer tradition, but the easygoing beach vibe encourages everyone from backpackers to more discerning travelers to make it their Adelaide base. The beach is large and sandy with a very gentle slope, and the waters are calm. Expect to see large crowds on hotter days and, depending on the season, seaweed can be a problem. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking; showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: sunset; swimming; walking. 

The multifaceted Centre of Immersive Light and Art houses a restaurant, café, and live music venue, but the second-floor Light Room Studio is the beating heart of this high-tech complex. Accessed via a gallery that showcases works sitting at the intersection of art and technology, this one-of-a-kind venue is enclosed by 1,500 square feet of high-definition LED screens that serve as canvases for digital artists who create stunningly intricate digital gardens, rain forest, and aquaria. Exhibitions change regularly.

Dual names that recognize Adelaide’s Kaurna heritage are increasingly common throughout the city, and this 10½-km (6½-mile) trail explores 24 sites of significance to the Kaurna people as it meanders along the banks of the River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri before finishing up at Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga. Along the way, artworks, interpretive signs, and historical records illuminate the everyday lives and customs of the Kaurna people before, during, and after colonization, as well as showing how much the landscape has changed in just two centuries.

Exhibits in the converted 19th-century Destitute Asylum, which also served as a school where Aboriginal children were forced to train as servants to the British, explore the origins, hopes, and fates of some of the millions of immigrants who settled in Australia over the past two centuries. The museum is starkly realistic, and the bleak welcome that awaited many migrants is graphically illustrated, while temporary exhibitions point to a more hopeful future.

This futuristic “museum of discovery” is aimed at young adults, but the rotating exhibitions that tackle surprisingly ambitious themes are designed to appeal to all ages. Interactivity is at the heart of the displays, which incorporate technology in a range of innovative ways and encourage guests to explore often complex themes and question what their impact on (and in) the future will be. In addition to Australia’s first Science on a Sphere, a giant globe that projects a range of data onto a 6-foot diameter globe, the Museum includes a café.

This timber, steel, and glass building resembles a huge wine barrel from the outside and the soaring open-plan interior provides a suitably spectacular setting for the incredible showcase of Australian wines. The  Wine Discovery Guided Tour, offered daily at 11 am, takes you from Neolithic pottery jars to modern stainless-steel tanks, and you can even make your own virtual wine on a touch-screen computer. Guided tastings start at A$50 per person, while the on-site Wined Bar features state-of-the-art enomatic servers pouring 120 wines drawn from all over Australia. Iconic drops, including Penfold's Grange and Henschke's Hill of Grace, make regular appearances, and there’s also a good all-day menu that includes a great selection of local cheeses and smoked meats.

Ten Corinthian columns are the most striking features of this neoclassical parliament building. It was completed in two stages 50 years apart: the west wing in 1889 and the east wing in 1939. Alongside it is Old Parliament House, which dates from 1843. Free guided tours of both houses are offered on weekdays at 10 and 2 when parliament is not sitting, and the viewing gallery is open to the public when parliament is sitting.

This museum's Aboriginal Cultures Gallery houses the largest collection of Indigenous Australian cultural material in the world. Old black-and-white films show traditional dancing, and touch screens convey a sense of desert life. Also in the museum are an exhibit commemorating renowned Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, after whom Australia's main Antarctic research station is named; an Opal Fossils Gallery housing the world's most expensive opal collection and the fantastic opalized partial skeleton of a 19-foot-long plesiosaur; and a biodiversity gallery. There's also a café overlooking a grassy lawn. If you are traveling during local school holidays, there are fantastic interactive craft and education activities for children for a small fee.

A reminder of the religious tolerance espoused by the colony of South Australia, this Catholic church is the oldest cathedral in Australia. The Gothic revival structure includes a soaring nave, stone arches, side aisles with dark-wood ceilings, and beautiful stained-glass windows. For a self-guided tour, a useful free booklet called “19 minute Cathedral Tour” is available by the entrance.

The spires and towers of this cathedral loom over adjacent Adelaide Oval and dramatically contrast with the nearby city skyline. St. Peter's is the epitome of Anglican architecture in Australia, and an important example of grand Gothic Revival. Free 45-minute guided tours are available Wednesday at 11 am.

Known as the "place of the red kangaroo dreaming" to Kaurna traditional owners and designated by William Light as the geographical center of Adelaide, this public space is the city's focal point and a popular meeting spot. The fountain in the square, which is lit up at night, celebrates the three rivers that supply Adelaide's water; the Torrens, Onkaparinga, and Murray are each represented by a stylized man or woman paired with an Australian native bird. The park hosts many events and attracts lunching office workers while shoppers and tourists come and go from the Glenelg-City Tram, which stops here on its way through the city.