Where to stay in Adelaide – Australia’s most underrated city

We’ve found the best Adelaide apartment accommodation for families of all sizes. Now all you need to do is book your SA escape. 

Do a Google search for Adelaide and one of the alternate searches that comes up every time is “Is Adelaide boring?”. 

Adelaide has always been known as the city of churches – cue yawning from the kids. But just because Adelaide has an abundance of spires, doesn’t mean it’s boring.

It’s not as flashy as Sydney, and not as foodie as Melbourne. But Adelaide has great beaches, a vibrant cultural centre and some of the best wine in the nation (just for mum and dads).

Adelaide could just be Australia’s most underrated capital city. And that’s why it makes a great escape.

If you’re planning a trip to Adelaide with kids, we have two great ways to see the city. One allows you to soak up Adelaide’s beaches (yes, it has beaches) and the other takes you into the green heart of the city.

Either way, we promise you will fall in love with Adelaide.

Adelaide City Escape

If you really want a city escape, then head to the Adelaide CBD.

The centre of Adelaide city is encircled by a ring of parkland. Inside you will find Adelaide Zoo, Adelaide Oval, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Adelaide Botanic Garden. 

Kids will love TreeClimb, an inner-city nature-based aerial adventure park in Adelaide City Parklands. It has eight elevated treetops courses and zip lines.

Teenagers who want more of a thrill will love the Adelaide Oval roof climb. You can pick from daylight, twilight or night time climbs and if you’re really brave you can lean out 50 metres above the ground.

If you like history, take a tour of the 147-year-old Adelaide Gaol, which has housed some of the state’s most notorious criminals. The goal was open from 1841 to 1988. Close to 300,000 prisoners spent time inside these heavily-guarded walls. You can take a self-guided tour, a ghost tour or a history tour.

The Art Gallery of South Australia is a must-visit with kids. It’s set in a 19th-century building in the heart of Adelaide’s cultural precinct and houses more than 47,000 works of art.

Adelaide central market is the largest undercover fresh produce market in the Southern Hemisphere. At least 1 million kilograms of produced are delivered to the market and sold every month. Head here to get some cheap snacks to keep the kids going all day.

Getting here

The Adelaide CBD is just 16 minutes from the airport. Adelaide Metro offers a JetBus service to the city. You can purchase a Metro card at the airport ticket vending machine, which takes coins, notes and cards.

Adelaide airport also has a designated taxi rank on the western side of the pedestrian plaza as you walk out of the terminal.

Staying there

If you’re looking for Adelaide apartment accommodation in the CBD, you’re in luck.

Oaks have four hotels with one or two-bedroom apartments with kitchenettes in the Adelaide CBD.

The brand new Avani Adelaide Residences has a heated lap pool, a sauna cinema and a golf simulator.

Oaks Adelaide Embassy Suites is located in Adelaide’s vibrant west end are incredibly close to the theatres and restaurants. They also have an on-site coffee club, a pool and a gym.

The iStay Precinct Adelaide offers affordable one or two-bedroom accommodation with a full kitchen and laundry.

Click on the pins below to see the details of these incredible hotels.

Keep reading:

• South Australia family-friendly travel guide
• Best luxury accommodation in Fiji

Adelaide Hills day trip

From your Adelaide apartment accommodation, you can do a day trip up into the Adelaide Hills. It takes just one hour to reach the famous Barossa Valley.

Several Barossa wineries are kid-friendly. 

Whistler wines have a huge kids area with swings, a cricket pitch, a treasure hunt and rescue kangaroos. Pindarie Wines has a cubby house and hay bales for the kids to play and Turkey Flat has loads of kids games such as skittles, quoits and footballs to throw around.

At Seppeltsfield they let the kids taste red cordial in a fine glass while you get to taste the wine. 

This article on Adelaide apartment accommodation was produced with content supplied by Oaks Hotels and is a Holidays with Kids digital exclusive. Be the first to see more exclusive online content by subscribing to the enewsletter here.

Keep reading:

• The best holiday parks in Australia
• Feeling lucky? Check out our latest competitions

Australian family accommodation