Adelaide City Centre - The City centre is really nice and easy to walk around. Shopping is excellent on the paved pedestrian "Rundle Mall" in the middle of the city. Go to a "Pie Cart" (there is normally one in the city often in Victoria Square or on "The Parade" in Norwood which is a nice older suburb 5 minutes out of the city) and be brave and order a Pie Floater! This is a traditional South Australian snack of a meat pie in the middle of a plate smothered by mushy peas and tomato sauce! Yummy!
The museums and galleries are mostly all on North Terrace. The Museum and the
The Adelaide Casino is the old
Adelaide Oval is known to be the most picturesque Cricket Oval in the world. You can do tours of the place but it's just nice to walk out into the grounds (free and always open to the public)and just look around. It's just a few blocks from North Terrace walking towards
Adelaide Nightlife - All the pubs are good...for a good cafe and pub scene spend some time in Rundle Street (not Rundle Mall...it's at the end of the Mall towards the hills). There are excellent restaurants and outdoor cafes on Rundle Street and it really is becoming the "vibe" of the city. Also, Norwood, North Adelaide and Kent Town are great for pubs/cafes and Restaurants.
Glenelg – The Beach at Glenelg is great. Ride the old tram from
Victor Harbor - About 1 and a half hours drive down the coast - South of Adelaide...rugged cliff fronts, excellent seaside town and good wineries on the way down (Mclaren Vale Wineries). http://tourismvictorharbor.com.au/
Hahndorf - German town in the Adelaide Hills. There are local buses from downtown to Hahndorf...takes a little over an hour but is a really pleasant trip and the town is great. Many German settlers in the late 1800's moved into the Hills and formed a town. All the stores and pubs are German and the feel is very European. Pretty in the spring, and is still nice in the winter. http://www.adhills.com.au/tourism/towns/hahndorf/
Barossa Valley & Magill Estate - Can't be missed. My favourite wineries in the Barossa are Peter Lehmann Wines, Seppeltsfield, Chateau Yaldara, Yalumba and Penfolds (Penfolds also has a great winery in the suburbs of Adelaide in Magill, the Magill Estate where the world famous Penfolds Grange is made). They have a great tour you can do at the Magill estate and it’s only 20 minutes from the city.
http://www.penfolds.com/brand_penfolds/cellar-doors/magill-estate/
Hiking in Adelaide Hills - for Hiking and scenery. I always enjoyed Morialta Conservation Park which has a nice little hike that takes you to the Morialta Falls and some nice views back down over Adelaide. Also Mt Lofty has brilliant views over Adelaide and great hiking and also Waterfall Gully is great to name just a few. Adelaide has some great spots such as these for hiking and picnics and nature at it's wildest and best. Can be dry and hot in the middle of summer but still worth a visit. All of these areas are about a 20 minute drive from the city.
This website is great for information on the Hiking options in the parks.
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/Find_a_Park/Browse_by_region/Adelaide_Hills
Cleland Conservation & Wildlife Park - In the Adelaide Hills, again local buses from downtown can take you to Cleland or car rental is easy. Excellent natural surroundings wildlife park full of Kangaroos that you can feed and they eat right out of your hand. There are Koala's and Tasmanian Devils and lots of other wildlife...worth it if you've not done this type of thing before. http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/clelandwildlife/Home
Gorge Wildlife Park - In the Adelaide Hills. Easier with car rental but still only 20-30 minutes from the city centre. Just like Cleland yet a little less touristy and you don't have to pay to hold a koala. My personal favourite park although it can be a little tricky to find. http://www.gorgewildlifepark.com.au/
All the beach suburbs are pleasant but obviously not as nice in the winter. Glenelg is the biggest and most touristy and really nice. Henley Beach is great and where the movie Shine was shot in "Henley on the Beach" cafe, Grange and Semaphore beaches are excellent too and have cafes and jetty's (piers) to wander on. Nice place to spend an afternoon or early evening especially in the heat of summer.
I grew up in the suburbs at the foot (base) of the hills - "Highbury" and "Magill", pretty areas but not really anything for tourists, other than a visit to Penfolds Winery at the top of Magill Road on Penfolds Road (see Barossa..section above)
If you like you could get on the O'Bahn busway from one of the bus stops on Grenfell Street in the city centre and travel to Tea Tree Plaza Shopping Centre (out my way). The buses travel on the road for about 10 mins then onto train track type things through nice scenery. It's a bus on tracks with suctions and travels about 110kms an hour and only stops twice before getting all the way out to the “Plaza”. It's a German design and the only other one like it is in
Norwood is one of the oldest suburbs in Adelaide and close to the city. The "Parade" is the main street that runs through
Aussie Rules Football - ADELAIDE CROWS or Port Power are in the national competition. Try and get to a game at AAMI Stadium in Adelaide. It's not expensive and is fantastic. There are direct buses that leave from Currie St in the city. Try and get some locals to take you and especially a Crows game as that's my team! It's really part of the culture this game and many of them are played at night under lights and the atmosphere is great. Eat a meat pie with sauce (tomato...never ask for Ketchup) and a pastie...it's what you have to do at the footy! The games are only once a week with the season from APR-SEP (subject to making the finals in SEP).
Have a great time in my city!