9 Of The Best Spots for Hiking in Adelaide

South Australia is known for its incredible landscapes and exploring Adelaide and surrounds on foot will give you a taste of its wild beauty.

Whether you’re looking to traverse sandstone cliffs, established boardwalks, sandy inlets or spot kangaroos grazing along trails, Adelaide is blessed with a stunning array of options for walkers in search of everything from a stroll to a more strenuous hike in the great outdoors. The only problem is deciding where to start. Here are nine of the best spots for hiking in Adelaide.

1. Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty

Where: Yurebilla Trail

Travel time from Adelaide: 35 minutes

Length: 7.8km/ 1.5-3 hours return

Difficulty: Medium

Waterfall Gully in Mount Lofty — Waterfall Gully delivers a healthy dose of nature. (Image: Ben Goodes)

Description: This is Adelaide’s version of the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk. A popular walk among both locals and tourists, this spot is well-equipped with signage, benches, a clear path and cafes at each end. You’ll pass a mix of leisurely walkers, runners and others in training for distant trekking and hiking.

There are a few steep sections, with a couple of hard hills, so be sure to wear sturdy exercise footwear.

Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty — Climb for views from Mount Lofty.

2. First Falls Valley

Where: Morialta Conservation Park

Travel time from Adelaide: 25 minutes

Length: 1.7km/ 45 minutes return

Difficulty: Easy

Description: Hidden within one of Adelaide’s most popular parks, this glacial trail will take you down to Morialta Gorge and deliver plenty of cliffs, waterfalls and wildlife to keep you entertained along the way.

A girl at a waterfall in Morialta Conservation Park — Breathtaking views from Morialta Conservation Park. (Image: Megan Crabb)

3. The Marion Coastal Walk

Where: Hallett Cove Boardwalk

Travel time from Adelaide: 35 minutes

Length: 10.2km return/ 4 hours

Difficulty: Medium/Hard

Description: Experience the rugged beauty of Adelaide’s coastline on this clifftop boardwalk between Marino and Hallett Cove.

There are lots of steps, pathways and boardwalks to navigate as you take the time to admire the rocky cliffs and reef platforms on the descent through numerous gullies and bends. It’s a good one for keeping fit, too – you can thank the abundance of ascending and descending stairways for that.

Sugarloaf in Hallet Cove — The Sugarloaf is a highlight of the Marion Coastal Walk. (Image: Jessica-Coulter)

4. The River Torrens Linear Trail

Where: Torrens Lane Linear Park

Travel time from Adelaide: 25 minutes

Length: 30km/ 5 hours

Difficulty: Hard

Description: Marvel at the city of Adelaide as you explore it on foot via the River Torrens Linear Park trail – one of the most popular trails in the city. The trail will take you from the Adelaide foothills, wind its way through the CBD and finish at the coast.

For those who aren’t keen to trek the entire distance, several entry points along the trail will allow you to customise it to your preferred distance.

5. Coast Park Walking Trail

Where: From North Haven to Sellicks Beach

Travel time from Adelaide: 35 minutes

Length: 70km

Difficulty: Easy (but long!)

Description: In 2018, the Government of South Australia and six local councils announced a scheme to create a 70km walking and cycling path along the metropolitan Adelaide coastline. Stretching from North Haven to Sellick’s Beach, it has been progressively developed since 1992, and construction on the last section is in its final stages.

The Coastal Park Walking Trail overlooks Sellecks Beach — Sellicks Beach marks the end of the 70-kilometre trail. (Image: Jesse Ehlers)

Start anywhere, stop anywhere, have a coffee or walk the dog along your preferred section of the trail. The walking distance between beaches ranges from 2.2 km to almost 10km.

For those keen to just tackle one section of the walk, Port Noarlunga South to Moana is the most popular stretch of the trail. It provides coastal views of Gulf St Vincent and passes through family-friendly reserves, playgrounds and picnic areas.

Surfers using the coastal walk at Port Noarlunga South — Port Noarlunga South is a great place to start, ending at Moana. (Image: Trent Martin Photography)

6. The Onkaparinga River Hike

Where: Onkaparinga River National Park

Travel time from Adelaide: 40 minutes

Length: 4.2km return/ 2.5 hours

Difficulty: Medium

Description: Beginning at Gate 15 on Chapel Hill Road, this spectacular gorge walk will take you down into valleys, underneath winding cliffs and to the edge of waterholes. The trail starts fairly easy but quickly steepens as you descend into the gorge – which is something to remember for the way back!

7. Aldgate Valley nature walk

Where: The Adelaide Hills

Travel time from Adelaide: 25 minutes

Length: 13.6km/ 3.5 hours return

Difficulty: Medium

Description: A versatile walk through native bushland. This trail connects a series of nature reserves that are all worthy of exploring on foot.

Begin at either Mylor or Aldgate and spend your hours traversing through the Mylor Parklands, Aldgate Valley, Kyle Road Nature Reserve and the Nurrutti Reserve. Stop for a bite to eat at the Aldgate Pump Hotel or the Harvest Cafe.

Be sure to also keep your eyes peeled for the variety of wildlife that call this valley home. There are the usual suspects: kangaroos, possums, koalas and echidnas, but also the southern brown bandicoot. The notoriously shy creatures can often be spotted foraging for food in the early evening.

Sy wildlife along the Aldgate Valley nature walk.

8. Waterfall Hike

Where: Belair National Park

Travel time from Adelaide: 20 minutes

Length: 6.5km/ 3 hours return

Difficulty: Medium

Description: This scenic track guides walkers through the two Belair National Park waterfalls – the lower and the upper.

Both waterfalls are large in scale after heavy rainfall but are often down to a trickle of water for most of the year. Attempt to time your visit with a good downpour to see these waterfalls in full force.

Stand to take photos on the lower waterfall viewing platform before the walking trail takes you past the top of the upper one. There are some steep sections, particularly around Echo Tunnel, and non-fenced escarpment lookouts can mean the cliff edges are slippery at times, so be sure to wear sturdy walking shoes.

9. Sugarloaf Circuit

Where: Cleland Conservation Park

Travel time from Adelaide: 20 minutes

Length: 5.8km/ 3 hours

Difficulty: Easy

Description: Those with an affinity for wildlife should take note of the Sugarloaf Circuit. A trip down this escarpment often brings hikers face to face with koalas, kangaroos and an array of birds.

Park the car at Waterfall Gully Road, then follow the Chambers Gully Track. While the Sugarloaf Circuit is enough to keep you busy, you can extend the journey by following the signs to Long Ridge Lookout to check out those famous panoramic views over Adelaide City and Glenelg.

Slow down and find your rhythm on a Murray River journey through time and place.

Trust is a funny thing. It seems not that long ago that my mother was insisting on pouring the milk into my cereal bowl, because she didn’t trust me not to slosh it over the table, and yet here I am on the Murray River at Mildura in far north-west Victoria, being handed the keys to a very new and very expensive luxury houseboat.

After a crash course in how not to crash, I’m at the wheel of the good ship Elevate – pride of the All Seasons fleet – guiding her upstream past red-ochre cliffs as pelicans glide above the rippled river and kookaburras call from reedy banks. There’s a brief moment of breath-holding while I negotiate a hairpin turn around a jagged reef of skeletal, submerged gum trees, before a cheer rings out and calm descends as the timeless river unfurls in front of us.

The Murray River winding through Yarrawonga. (Image: Rob Blackburn)

Setting sail from Mildura

Murray River birds — Home to a large number of bird species, including pelicans. (Image: The Precint Studios)

A journey along the Murray River is never less than magical, and launching from Mildura makes perfect sense. Up here the river is wide and largely empty, giving novice skippers like myself the confidence to nudge the 60-tonne houseboat up to the riverbank where we tie up for the night, without fear of shattering the glass elevator (the boat is fully wheelchair accessible) or spilling our Champagne.

My friends and I spend three days on the water, swimming and fishing, sitting around campfires onshore at night, and basking in air so warm you’d swear you were in the tropics. The simplicity of river life reveals an interesting dichotomy: we feel disconnected from the world but at the same time connected to Country, privileged to be part of something so ancient and special.

Stop one: Echuca

19th-century paddlesteamers — A historic 19th-century paddlesteamer cruises along the Murray River. (Image: Visit Victoria)

The six-hour drive from Melbourne to Mildura (or four hours and 20 minutes from Adelaide) is more than worth it, but you don’t have to travel that far to find fun on the river. Once Australia’s largest inland port, Echuca is the closest point on the Murray to Melbourne (two hours 45 minutes), and you’ll still find a plethora of paddlesteamers tethered to the historic timber wharf, a throwback to the thriving river trade days of the 19th century. The PS Adelaide, built in 1866 and the oldest wooden-hulled paddlesteamer operating in the world, departs daily for one-hour cruises, while a brand-new paddlesteamer, the PS Australian Star , is launching luxury seven-night voyages in December through APT Touring.

The town is also a hot food and wine destination. St Anne’s Winery at the historic Port of Echuca precinct has an incredibly photogenic cellar door, set inside an old carriage builders’ workshop on the wharf and filled with huge, 3000-litre port barrels. The Mill, meanwhile, is a cosy winter spot to sample regional produce as an open fire warms the red-brick walls of this former flour mill.

Stop two: Barmah National Park

Just half-an-hour upstream, Barmah National Park is flourishing, its river red gum landscape (the largest in the world) rebounding magnificently after the recent removal of more than 700 feral horses. The internationally significant Ramsar-listed wetland sits in the heart of Yorta Yorta Country, with Traditional Owners managing the environment in close partnership with Parks Victoria. Walkways weave through the forest, crossing creeks lined with rare or threatened plants, passing remnants of Yorta Yorta oven mounds and numerous scar trees, where the bark was removed to build canoes, containers or shields.

The Dharnya Centre (open weekdays until 3pm) is the cultural hub for the Yorta Yorta. Visitors can learn about the ecological significance of the Barmah Lakes on a 90-minute river cruise, led by a First Nations guide, or take a one-hour, guided cultural walking tour along the Yamyabuc Trail.

Stop three: Cobram

Continue east to Cobram to find the southern hemisphere’s largest inland beach. Swarming with sun-seekers in summer, the white sand of Thompson’s Beach is shaded by majestic river red gums and dotted with hundreds of beach umbrellas, as beachgoers launch all manner of water craft and set up stumps for beach cricket. But the beach is at its most captivating at sunset, when the crowds thin out, the glassy river mirrors the purple sky, and the canopies of the gum trees glow fiery orange.

The region is also home to some fine resorts and indulgent retreats. Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort has two riverside championship golf courses, luxury apartments and self-contained villas. While not strictly on the Murray, the historic wine town of Rutherglen is rife with boutique (and unique) accommodation, including an exquisitely renovated red-brick tower in a French provincial-style castle at Mount Ophir Estate. Fans of fortified wines can unravel the mystery of Rutherglen’s ‘Muscat Mile’, meeting the vignerons and master-blenders whose artistry has put the town on the global map for this rich and complex wine style.

Stop four: Albury-Wodonga

First Nations YindyamarraSculpture Walk — First Nations Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk is part of the Wagirra Trail. (Image: Carmen Zammit)

Follow the river far enough upstream and you’ll arrive at the twin border cities of Albury-Wodonga. The Hume Highway thunders through, but serenity can be found along the five-kilometre Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk – part of the Wagirra Trail that meanders through river wetlands just west of Albury in Wiradjuri country. Fifteen sculptures by local First Nations artists line the trail, conveying stories of reconciliation, enduring connection to culture, local Milawa lore and traditional practices. It feels a long way from Mildura, and it is, but the pelicans and kookaburras remind us that it’s the same river, the great conduit that connects our country.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

New Mildura motel Kar-rama. (Image: Iain Bond Photo)

Kar-Rama is a brand-new boutique, retro-styled motel in Mildura, with a butterfly-shaped pool and a tropical, Palm Springs vibe. Echuca Holiday Homes has a range of high-end accommodation options, both on the riverfront and in town.

Playing there

BruceMunro’s Trail of Lights in Mildura — Bruce Munro’s Trail of Lights in Mildura. (Image: Imogen Eveson)

Artist Bruce Munro’s Trail of Lights installation, comprising more than 12,000 illuminated ‘fireflies’, is currently lighting up Mildura’s Lock Island in the middle of the Murray. Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) is a hub for contemporary art, with a rotating roster of exhibitions, and is a major outlet for young and First Nations artists.

Eating there

Mildura’s diverse demographic means it’s a fantastic place to eat. Andy’s Kitchen is a local favourite, serving up delicious pan-Asian dishes and creative cocktails in a Balinese-style garden setting. Call in to Spoons Riverside in Swan Hill to enjoy locally sourced, seasonal produce in a tranquil setting overlooking the river.

9 of the best spots for hiking in Adelaide

South Australia is known for its incredible landscapes and exploring Adelaide and surrounds on foot will give you a taste of its wild beauty.

1. Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty

2. First Falls Valley

3. The Marion Coastal Walk

4. The River Torrens Linear Trail

5. Coast Park Walking Trail

6. The Onkaparinga River Hike

7. Aldgate Valley nature walk

8. Waterfall Hike

9. Sugarloaf Circuit

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Explore historic wine towns and sculpture trails on a 3-day self-guided Murray River cruise

Slow down and find your rhythm on a Murray River journey through time and place.

Setting sail from Mildura

Stop one: Echuca

Stop two: Barmah National Park

Stop three: Cobram

Stop four: Albury-Wodonga

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Playing there

Eating there