Adelaide

Introduction

Sunset on Glenelg beach

© All Rights Reserved fenderson

Adelaide, referred to by many Australians as the 'city of churches' is the capital of South Australia and with a little over 1.1 million inhabitants, home to nearly 70% of all people living in the state and Australia's fifth largest city. With a nickname originating from the settlement of the area and the desire to create a dignified city, it is a surprise to many that today pubs and nightclubs outnumber the churches.

Adelaide is located on the coast, the Southern side of South Australia, and the area surrounding Adelaide is popular for surfing. The city is well laid out, with plenty of parks, gardens, wide boulevards and large public squares to give it a spacious and overall relaxing feel. Adelaide is known for its many festivals, arts and sports. With it's location plump in the center of the wine regions of McLaren Vale, the Barossa Valley and Clare Valley, Adelaide is also an opportune location from which to undertake day-trips to the many vineyards in the surrounding areas.

Neighbourhoods

• Glenelg
• Inner City

Sights and Activities

Events and Festivals

• Adelaide Festival of Arts
• Adelaide Fringe Festival
• Adelaide Film Festival
• Adelaide Festival of Ideas
• Adelaide Writers' Week
• Feast Festival
• WOMADelaide is Adelaide's premier world music festival.
• Royal Adelaide Show

Weather

Getting There

By Plane

Adelaide Airport (ADL) is located about 8 kilometres from the city centre. The airport has international connections with Auckland, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Several domestic and regional carriers operate flights to Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Sydney and several regional centres. Tiger Airways is scheduled to launch a budget service between Melbourne and Adelaide in January 2008. Virgin Blue and Jetstar already operate budget flights on the Melbourne-Adelaide route as well as services from several other cites.

Catching the public transport bus is the cheapest option for getting into the city. The local public transport system, Adelaide Metro, includes a service called JetBus connecting the airport to Glenelg, West Beach, and the North Eastern suburbs. You can either by a single pass for the journey or a daytrip or multitrip ticket if you intend to make more trips on Adelaide's public transport system. A standard single ticket costs $4.10 at peak hours and $2.50 between peak hours, from 9.01am till 3pm Mon-Fri.

The Skylink Airport Shuttle (tel: (08) 8332 0528) runs every 30 minutes Monday-Saturday and every 60 minutes on Sundays and public holidays. A trip to the city center costs $7.50 one way and takes about 35 minutes to reach the final stop.

Both JetBus and the Skylink Airport Shuttle leave from the southern end of Level 2 at Terminal 1.

Taxis are the final option, costing about $20 for a one-way trip taking 15-25 minutes, depending on traffic.

By Train

Adelaide is part of the cross-country train network, with regular departures to and from Sydney and Melbourne. Its location on the Southern coast, as the last large city before the desert heading north and west, make it a crucial connecting point for trains in both those directions. This makes it nearly impossible to take the train to Perth or Alice Springs and further north without going through Adelaide.

One of the world's most famous train routes, The Ghan travels between Adelaide and Darwin (via Alice Springs), 3000 kms to the north. The train departs twice weekly and takes about 48 hours to reach the final destination.

By Car

The closest large city to Adelaide is Melbourne, which is about a 9 hours drive away on the shortest route. Sydney is approximately twice the distance.

• Melbourne - Adelaide = approximately 750 km on the Western/Dukes Highway (National Highway 8) via Horsham or 900 km on the Princess Freeway (National Highway 1) via Mt Gambier
• Sydney - Adelaide = approximately 1400 km on the Sturt Highway (National Highway 20) via Mildura or 1700 km via Broken Hill on the Barrier Highway (National Highway 32)

By Bus

All the cross-country bus networks stop in Adelaide, so getting to and from Adelaide by bus is straightforward, albeit slow. As with the trains, this is the last major stop before heading north to Alice Springs or west to Perth through the desert.

If you are travelling to Adelaide from Melbourne, you can choose to either catch one of the large bus companies which will travel along the somewhat dull Western/Dukes Highway or opt for a smaller bus company which might be able to offer trips along the stunning Great Ocean Road instead.

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

Australia is on a GSM 900/1800 network, so if you have an unlocked phone that works on those frequencies, you will be able to buy a prepaid SIM-card and stick into your phone when you're in Adelaide. You will receive a new Australian phone number with the SIM-card.

To dial out of Australia use the prefix 0011, followed by the calling code of the country you are trying to reach, followed by the area code of the city/town (without the 0!) and finally the phone number.

Within Australia, it is necessary to add an area code to the phone numbers if you are calling from outside the area.
Adelaide's area code is 08, which is the same for all of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. If dialing interstate, use one of the following area codes.

02 - New South Wales & Australian Capital Territory (Sydney, Canberra)
03 - Victoria, Tasmania
07 - Queensland (Brisbane)

000 is the emergency telephone number in Australia, but the international GSM mobile emergency telephone number 112 also works on mobile phones.

Post

Australia Post is the government's postal service. Most suburbs will have at least one post office. A standard letter or postcard sent within Australia will cost $0.50. Internationally, it costs $1.25 (to other Asia-Pacific countries) or $1.85 (rest of the world). It is also possible to send things as parcels or by express mail.