Planning a Trip

Visitor Information

Go to the South Australia Visitor & Travel Centre, 18 King William St. (tel. 1300/655 276 in Australia, or 08/8303 2033; fax 08/8303 2249), for maps, travel advice, and hotel and tour bookings. It's open weekdays from 8:30am to 5pm, weekends from 9am to 2pm. The info booth on Rundle Mall (tel. 08/8203 7611) is open daily from 10am to 5pm.

World-Class Festivals in Adelaide

Adelaide is home to Australia's largest performing arts festival, the Adelaide Festival, which takes place over 3 weeks in March in even-numbered years. The festival includes literary and visual arts as well as dance, opera, classical music, jazz, cabaret, and comedy. The festival includes a Writers' Week and the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

In February or March, the 3-day WOMADelaide Festival of world music takes place. Crowds of 60,000 or more turn up to watch Australian and international artists.

For more information, visit www.adelaidefestival.org.au and www.womadelaide.com.au.

City Layout

Adelaide is easy to navigate because of its gridlike pattern, planned down to each wide street and airy square by Colonel William Light in 1836. The city's official center is Victoria Square, where you'll find the Town Hall. Bisecting the city from south to north is the main thoroughfare, King William Street. Streets running perpendicular to King William Street change their names on either side; Franklin Street, for example, changes into Flinders Street. Of these cross streets, the most interesting are the restaurant strips of Gouger Street and Rundle Street, the latter running into the pedestrian-only shopping precinct of Rundle Mall. Another is Hindley Street, with inexpensive restaurants and nightlife. On the banks of the River Torrens just north of the city center, you'll find the Riverbank Precinct, the home of the Festival Centre, the Convention Centre, and the Skycity Adelaide Casino. Bordering the city center on the north and south are North Terrace, which is lined with galleries and museums and leads to the Botanic Gardens, and South Terrace.

Follow King William Street south and you'll be chasing the tram to the beachside suburb of Glenelg; follow it north, and it crosses the River Torrens and flows into sophisticated North Adelaide, an area crammed with Victorian and Edwardian architecture. The main avenues in North Adelaide, O'Connell and Melbourne streets, are lined with restaurants, cafes, and bistros that offer the tastes of a multicultural city.

Northwest of the city center is Port Adelaide, a seaport and the historic maritime heart of South Australia. It's home to some of the finest colonial buildings in the state, as well as good pubs and restaurants.