By Max Anderson
Adelaide has long called itself the festival city – not just because it’s jam-packed with arty parties, but because the city is a natural stage. It’s all about the civic squares, the ring of parklands and the square-mile grid, as well as a slew of corners on which to locate pubs doubling as venues. When the city is hosting an event, you’re hard-pushed not to get caught up in it.
Not far outside Adelaide, you’ve got wine country which moves to its own natural rhythms – and also likes to pop a cork in celebration. Beyond that, you’ve got a state that sprawls in all directions, from cool maritimes in the south to arid deserts in the north, offering natural spectacles that change all the time.
Summer
Glenelg Beach on a warm summer evening. Credit: iStock
Expect Adelaide to be doing its classic Mediterranean-summer thing, which usually means bone-dry heat. Not unrelated, you’re looking at primo beach weather along a 50-kilometre urban coastline that gets none of the population pressures experienced in the east. For cute seaside action, head to Glenelg or Henley; for some decidedly non-urban expanses of absurdly large and empty beach, do Semaphore or Port Noarlunga.
Seasonal downsides? School holidays put some pressures on accommodation. And the outback destinations are only for the heat-tolerant or the brave. Some popular outback pubs (Parachilna’s Prairie Hotel for instance) close their doors during January/February.
Don’t miss
When the sun gets too fierce, head for the Hills: though only 20 minutes from the CBD, the elevation lowers the temp by a good four degrees; the wineries of the Adelaide Hills (and nearby McLaren Vale and Barossa) will have you basking in the pleasures of sun-drenched cellar doors.
If you want it wild, head in any direction. Even in summer, with the school holidays in full swing, you’re likely to find solace. Kangaroo Island, Limestone Coast, the peninsulas of Fleurieu, Eyre and Yorke – all offer massive acreage of untrammelled sand. If fishing is your thing, the Australian salmon start to come within beach-casting range around January.
Key events
A big wheel deal: The Santos Tour Down Under. Credit: SATC/John Veage
In January, the city surrenders to The Santos Tour Down Under, a big deal in the international cycling calendar as both city and surrounding wine regions host plenty of pedal action. Culturally speaking, the Greek community parties hardest at Semaphore in January; and in December, German Christmas traditions endure in Australia’s oldest German village, Hahndorf.
Autumn
All the planets align in late-summer/autumn to make for SA’s most sensational time to visit. The mercury is dropping, the kids are back at school and the largest open-access festival in the southern hemisphere arrives in the capital to kick off silly season.
Don’t miss
The Garden of Unearthly Delights at Adelaide Fringe.
Mid-Feb is when Adelaide Fringe lands — a month-long party that occupies all the squares, streets, restaurants and pubs of the city. It doesn’t stop there: immediately after Fringe is WOMADelaide, when international musicians take to stages in the Botanic Park. Next, it’s the turn of the Adelaide Festival, the 60-year-old arts fest that has clout and cachet enough to attract headline theatre, music, and dance performances from around the world. Writer’s Week is also in the mix.
They don’t call it “Mad March” for nothing, and unsurprisingly, accommodation is at a premium. Savvy festival-goers book early.
Key events
By mid-March, you want to get into the neighbouring wine regions — Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, Barossa and Clare Valley — to see the dazzling autumn colours of the vines. Clare Gourmet Week in May is a celebration of all the good things to come off the land; Australia’s first food and wine festival is still going strong after 39 years.
In March, the weather will be getting cool — the perfect time to head north into the Flinders Ranges or west to the Gawler Ranges. Think cool, clear mornings, warm days and dazzling night skies.
In April/May, Tasting Australia brings 10 days of feasting to the state, with local and international chefs in residence to host long lunches, tastings and masterclasses. The event is state-wide but Adelaide’s Victoria Square lays on a particularly lively spread.
WINTER
Rain, yes, wind, yes. More festivals? Yes.
Don’t miss
Illuminate Adelaide.
In June, Adelaide plays host to the Cabaret Festival. The largest of its kind in the world (and growing bigger every year), it entices major artists onto the program. Illuminate Adelaide, held in July, has really taken off in the last year, attracting huge crowds of locals to see their city in a whole new light: laser-wizardry, theatrical effects and music render places such as the Botanic Garden truly ethereal.
Key events
The Adelaide Winter Reds festival in July features 30 wineries in the Adelaide Hills firing up the hearths and the braziers for a four-day program of food and music.
Two of nature’s visitors take up residence in the winter months. Southern right whales and humpbacks begin their seasonal migration, coming from the west to cross the South Australian Bight and begin breeding. Head of Bight and Fowler’s Bay are hotspots for mothers and calves; closer to Adelaide, they can be reliably seen off Victor Harbor and the southern coastal towns of Middleton and Port Elliott.
Off a tiny patch of coast north of Whyalla on Eyre Peninsula, up to 250,000 Australian giant cuttlefish gather for three months to breed and lay their eggs. These extraordinary animals are wonderful to snorkel with during an event seen nowhere else on the planet. In 2023, the spawning grounds were added to the National Heritage List.
Still with nature, the rains will have greened up the Flinders and the wildlife will be flourishing nicely ahead of breeding season.
SPRING
South Australia’s wilder corners are stirring after winter. The huge bird migrations are arriving at the vast saline water body that is the Coorong. The native animals in the outback (and most famously, Kangaroo Island) have young ’uns in tow. And the wildflowers are making showings across the region, including the now-green corners of the ancient Flinders and Gawler Ranges.
Don’t miss
Adelaide celebrates Christmas early with its November Christmas Pageant.
Adelaide is still rugged up, but there are cultural celebrations afoot. One of the biggest is The Christmas Pageant which comes to town at the beginning of November. The parade has been filling King William Street since 1933; today, it’s still free and it still draws thousands of families to greet Santa as well as scores of floats bearing fairy tale characters, clowns and SA-related ephemera. The pageant is the second-largest single-day parade in the world, outdone only by the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
A welcome though less famous upside of visiting in spring is jacaranda season, when streets adopt a vivid purple haze.
Key events
The 18-day OzAsia Festival presents contemporary theatre, dance and music, from across Asia, with the Moon Lantern Festival and Lucky Dumpling Market always proving a hit with the city. The week-long Italian Festival in November is one of Australia’s biggest and oldest and also goes pretty heavy on the regional food as the nonnas come out in force.
The Valo 500 is the latest incarnation of the V8 Supercars. Though moved to a new late-spring slot in 2022, this November four-day shindig has been around the block a few times – 23 times to be precise. The city knows how to make a party of it, complete with a headline musical act. Hear it roar.
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