The sky is the stage at Illuminate Adelaide's one-night-only show

Illuminate Adelaide 2025 is the winter festival lighting up Australia – and this is the one show you can’t miss.

If you see just one thing at Illuminate Adelaide 2025 (one of the best events happening this July), make it Horizons . For one night only on Friday 18 July, Adelaide Oval will be transformed into a living, breathing canvas of light, sound and sky. Hundreds of synchronised drones will take flight, choreographed to a powerful soundtrack, dazzling laser effects and cinematic visuals.

Horizons at Illuminate Adelaide 2025 — Horizons is coming for one night only. (Image: Supplied)

It’s an epic retelling of 60,000 years of South Australian history, from the Kaurna people’s deep connection to Karrawirra Parri (River Torrens) to the oval’s evolution as a place for community, concerts and culture. It’s a bold, ambitious collision of tech and tradition created by some phenomenal visual storytellers: AGB Creative, KOJO and Illuminate’s own creative team.

This is Illuminate Adelaide’s most ambitious show yet, and the buzz is real – a second session was added due to overwhelming demand. Think Vivid-style spectacle meets Welcome to Country meets skybound art installation. If you’ve ever wanted to see storytelling light up the night sky, this is your moment.

But Horizons is just the beginning.

Universal Kingdom: The Next Era

Adelaide Zoo, 3–20 July

From the creators of Mirror Mirror and Light Cycles comes Universal Kingdom: The Next Era , an otherworldly light-and-sound experience that takes over The Light Room at ILA until 20 July. Expect immersive rooms, epic digital landscapes and a sensory adventure that blurs the lines between nature, humanity and technology.

Night Visions

Adelaide Botanic Garden, 2–20 July

After dark, the garden is reimagined into a glowing wonderland in Night Visions . Follow a two-kilometre path through laser tunnels, projection art and soundscapes designed by a team of world-class artists, including Robin Fox, Amelia Kosminsky and more.

This self-guided experience is perfect for families, date nights or solo wanderers. And for the ultimate treat, book the Botanic Lodge dinner package for a feast among the lights.

City Lights

Adelaide CBD, 4–20 July

The city becomes a glowing gallery with 40+ installations and performances lighting up the streets, buildings and laneways of Adelaide. Think giant luminous horses parading through Rundle Mall, interactive mirror tunnels, fibre-optic fungi and floating angels blessing you with light. It’s completely free and totally magical.

Base Camp + 10-Minute Dance Party

Lot Fourteen, 3–20 July

Base Camp at Illuminate Adelaide 2025 — Get cosy at Base Camp. (Image: Tyr Liang Xplorer Studio)

Back for another year, Base Camp is the cosy heart of the festival – a free-entry winter village filled with fire pits, live music, glowing art installations and top-tier food and drink from South Australian favourites.

But the real fun? Step into a shipping container for 10 minutes of full-blast dance floor energy at the 10-Minute Dance Party . It’s a music-fuelled hit of joy, created by Melbourne artist Jof O’Farrell and rotating DJs nightly.

Supersonic + Unsound + Kiasmos

Kiasmos Live at Illuminate Adelaide 2025 — Icelandic duo Kiasmos are performing. (Image: Maximilian König)

If music’s more your thing, Illuminate’s late-night scene is off the charts this year.

Unsound (11–12 July): A mind-bending festival of boundary-pushing international artists, including Velvet Underground legend John Cale.

Kiasmos (18 July): The Icelandic techno duo returns for a one-night-only “emotional rave" .

Supersonic (19 July): A 12-hour music takeover of the West End with 17 artists and DJ sets across seven venues.

Illuminate Adelaide 2025

Now in its fifth year, Illuminate Adelaide has cemented itself as Australia’s most underrated winter festival.

Whether you’re chasing drone magic in the sky, prehistoric giants at the zoo or a pop-up dance party inside a container, Illuminate delivers. But if you want the biggest wow-moment of them all? Look up. Horizons is calling.

Illuminate Adelaide runs until 20 July. Explore the full program and grab your tickets before they sell out.

From the Kimberley to Cape York, explore Australia’s epic and varied landscapes on curated and all-inclusive, intimate adventures via custom-built all-terrain coaches with Outback Spirit.

From the tip of the Northern Territory to the rugged coast of the country’s southernmost point, Australia is a continent ripe with diverse and distinct adventures that are captivating and inspiring in equal measure. Luckily, so many of them are accessible by car with epic road trips that showcase the journey as much as the destination. With Outback Spirit, the award-winning and eco-certified tour operator from leading experiential tourism group Journey Beyond, the road less travelled – accessible in custom-built all-terrain coaches chaperoned by expert local guides – is the only way to go.

From the dramatic jewels of the Kimberley in Western Australia to the remote stretches of Savannah Way in the country’s far north, Outback Spirit does all the hard work on all-inclusive, small-group tours that pause at an exclusive network of lodges and safari camps – so you can just enjoy the ride.

1. The Kimberley

With an otherworldly ambience that must be experienced to be understood, the Kimberley is a cornucopia of breathtaking cliffs, stunning gorges and exceptional waterways. A highlight of the 13-day Jewels of the Kimberley adventure is the spectacular 18-minute scenic helicopter flight over the Bungle Bungles. You’ll encounter a bounty of new perspectives elsewhere, too, between the astounding cruise through the Attenborough-approved Buccaneer Archipelago, humbling walks beneath ancient rock drawings, and evenings spent in the comfort of Outback Spirit’s exclusive-use, well-appointed Ngauwudu Safari Camp Safari Suites.

Relax in Ngauwudu Safari Camp Safari Suites.

2. Arnhem Land

The Traditional Lands of the Yolngu People reach into your heart and stay there. Outback Spirit’s 13-day Arnhem Land Wetlands & Wildlife tour was conceived in extensive consultation with Traditional Owners to guarantee a true immersion in Country. Explore the world’s largest outdoor rock art gallery; try your luck catching a metre-long barramundi; and discover pristine ecosystems from freshwater swamps to rocky escarpments. Relax each night in comfortable lodges exclusive to Outback Spirit, including the iconic Seven Spirit Bay Resort. Here, sophisticated luxury villas are perched on the bay’s edge overlooking clear, turquoise waters of Coral Bay.

Seven Spirit Bay in arnhem land — Enjoy the views at Seven Spirit Bay Resort.

3. Cape York

Travelling from Cairns to Cape York and back over 13 days, the small-group Cape York Wilderness Adventure tour runs from May to September, with unparalleled access to stunning sacred destinations and vibrant experiences on Thursday, Horn and Friday islands in the Torres Strait. The World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest is a star of the expedition, with the exclusive guided Dreamtime Gorge Walk with a Kuku Yulanji elder taking place beneath lush ferns, with the commanding rumble of Mossman Gorge in the distance.

tour guide at Mossman Gorge — Join the Dreamtime Gorge Walk. (Image: TEQ)

4. Margaret River

The nine-day Margaret River & Rottnest Discovery highlights fine wine, great food, art, music and local produce at Leeuwin Estate on the vineyard-packed banks of the Margaret River, pausing to explore the ancient underground caves and towering Karri timber forests. Start the journey with a ride on the iconic Indian Pacific and pop to Rottnest Island on the tail-end of the trip, with 10,000 quokkas to befriend and 63 gorgeous beaches to explore before lunch. With bubbles included, of course.

food and wine at Leeuwin Estate — Treat your tastebuds at Leeuwin Estate. (Image: Tourism WA)

5. Savannah Way

On this 15-day Leichhardt’s Savannah Expedition , Outback Spirit’s custom all-terrain Mercedes-Benz coaches cross two states from Cairns to Darwin. After visiting the most northerly camp of the Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860/61 and visiting the see-it-to-believe-it Millaa Millaa Falls (refreshing swim optional!), you’ll indulge in three nights at the million-acre Lorella Springs Station, a sunset dinner cruise on the Gulf of Carpentaria and a dip in warmed thermal pools in the middle of the wilderness.

aerial of Millaa Millaa Falls — Dive into Millaa Millaa Falls. (Image: TEQ)

6. Central Australia

The captivating splendour of Uluru is the central focus of the eight-day Red Centre Explorer tour, which includes Alice Springs and Kings Canyon among its stops. Hosted on the sacred lands of the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Anangu, this itinerary is grounded in the landscape, with visits to the critically acclaimed Field of Light installation, a multi-course dinner under the stars at Ayers Rock Resort, and a didgeridoo performance to accompany bush-tucker-packed snacks all within the shadow of the sacred geological site. Awaken early for a sunrise over the pindan plateau, the image of which will remain in your memory for a lifetime to come.

two people in front of the field of light — Marvel at the Field of Light installation (Image: Tourism NT/ Lola and Jira/ Uluru Kata-Tjuta NP)

7. Flinders Ranges

The remote South Australian landscape is your playground on the 11-day Outback South Australia tour, which takes in the sights (including Wilpena Pound and beloved Lake Eyre), sounds and flavours of the ‘festival’ state. At Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, cosmos chasers will enjoy a tour of the stars at the accredited onsite astronomical observatory as endangered yellow-footed rock wallabies bounce in the dark. The next day, guests will take to open-air 4WDs with expert guides for the Ridgetop Tour to explore the breathtaking, unique 1600-million-year-old landscape within the Flinders Ranges.

mist around Wilpena Pound in flinders ranges — See the impressive Wilpena Pound. (Image: Emile Ristevski)

8. Tasmania

Take in stunning views from Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park (or, afterwards, from the comfort of Cradle Mountain Lodge) on the 12-day curated Tasmanian Wilderness Explorer itinerary. Taste the incredible food on Bruny Island and wander Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park. Traverse the glacial-formed Dove Lake on a 5.7-kilometre hike; soak up sombre history at Port Arthur; and pose with penguins in Penguin before settling in for the night at Outback Spirit’s suite of exclusive partner lodges.

Wineglass Bay in tasmania — See the spectacular Wineglass Bay. (Image: Chad Dewson)

Find your Outback Spirit with the 2026 season. Book now to receive Earlybird savings up to $2200 per person at outbackspirittours.com.au .

The sky is the stage at Adelaide‘s epic one-night-only show