Adelaide city itself is really small -- the city was deliberately planned (by
Colonel William Light) to be
a
mile square, bounded by North Terrace, West Terrace, South Terrace and ... you guessed ... East Terrace. This is surrounded by parklands -- lots of trees, grass, and a river running along the north side. (
Adelaide University lies between the city and the river.)
Within the city square mile, most of the action takes place at the northern end. North Terrace is where we have our Parliament, Art Gallery and Museum of Natural History. One street south, on the east side, is Rundle Street, which is the major shopping area; half is a mall -- no cars -- the other half is arguably the best eating district you'll find anywhere, with every style of food imaginable, pizzas to Thai food to Mexican, whatever. Dining here is always relaxed, cafe-style.
Adelaide is surrounded by suburbs. These stretch 25 miles to the north, and 40+ to the south, in a narrow band, confined between the sea and the hills. Beaches of white sand pretty much stretch along the entire coast line, so if you have any desire to get wet, you're spoiled for choice. Most visitors head for Glenelg, which you can reach by tram (similar to European trams) from the city. The tram is very picturesque, and the beach at Glenelg is OK. No surf though -- you'd have to go south, or a long way north, to find surf.
The hills are very nice too. We have several wildlife sanctuaries, and some quaint old towns from the colonial days.
For the wine lover, Adelaide is the starting point for tours to several wine regions: the Barossa valley (a favorite because of its German settler heritage), McLaren Vale to the south (very nice wines -- I live near there), and further to the north, the Clare valley.
Further afield, visitors usually go south to Kangaroo Island, which has nice wilderness, seals, penguins and other wildlife; or north to the Flinders Ranges, which are very rugged, spectacular country, wonderful if you like the outdoors.
Of course there are tour companies who can arrange visits to all these places for visitors. The wine areas and Adelaide Hills can each be visited in a day; Kangaroo Island and the Flinders Ranges really need at least three days.
I can also say that Adelaide is a nice city for just hanging around in for a day or two. Plenty for visitors to see.
The best time to visit, weather-wise is September through to the end of November, which is spring here -- the weather most days is just wonderful. (About
22 degrees Centigrade.) Also nice is our Autumn -- March to May. Winters are cold and wet, Summers are hot. But we don't generally get the extremes of weather. Most summer days would not rise above 35 degrees C, most winter days would not sink below 14C.
Please come and visit -- we need your money!