Parks & Gardens
Adelaide is often referred to as a 'city within a park' because it is completely surrounded by green space.
The influential urban design of Adelaide - Australia's first planned city - has been granted Australia's highest heritage honour with its inclusion on the National Heritage List. The listing recognises the Adelaide Park Lands and city layout as an urban masterpiece that influenced the planning of other towns in Australia and overseas.
Designed in 1837 by Colonel William Light as an intergral part of his plan for the City of Adelaide, the Adelaide Park Lands today comprise nearly 900 hectares, or around 45 per cent of the city, forming a significant aspect of the city's identity and appeal. They include gardens and ancient gums, playing fields and 19th century olive groves, historic sites and contemporary art, ceremonial places and informal native plantings, appreciated by locals and visitors alike.
Each park has its own character. There are formal rose gardens, wide spaces with grand native and exotic trees, playgrounds and lakes, and sporting fields for football and cricket to petanque and archery. There are walking trails, quiet spaces and gathering places throughout this green network. Head to these parks and squares to relax, lie back on the grass, or watch the rest of the city bustle by:
Elder Park
One of Adelaide's most popular venues, where you can hire paddleboats and bicycles. Across the river are the beautiful gardens of Pinky Flat, the Memorial Drive Tennis Complex and Adelaide Oval. The park sweeps down to the River Torrens beside the Festival Centre.
Rymill Park
Hire a rowboat for a stint on the lake or stretch out on a blanket and watch the ducks at Rymill Park. You'll also find large shady trees, a rose garden, barbecue facilities, a playground and a kiosk serving great coffee. Also on the eastern fringe of the city centre, Rymill Park is bordered by Dequetteville Terrace, Rundle Road, Hutt Street and Bartels Road.
Botanic Park
This is one of Adelaide's best-loved parks, and a sensational venue for Adelaide's annual international music festival WOMADelaide. It's situated between the Adelaide Botanic Garden and the Adelaide Zoo and you can enter from Hackney Road into Plane Tree Drive, which forms a drive-through loop around the park. There is on-site parking, plenty of shade trees and an interpretive trail.
Peace Park
One park you might find very moving is Peace Park, incorporating the much-revered Cross of Sacrifice, the Prince Henry Gardens, Ester Lipman Gardens, and the Pioneer Women's Memorial Gardens. It's located just across the River Torrens where Sir Edwin Smith Avenue and War Memorial Drive converge with King William Road.
Adelaide-Himeji Garden
This beautiful Japanese garden is a walled oasis of peace and tranquillity. Himeji blends two classic Japanese styles, the lake and mountain garden and the dry garden, and celebrates Adelaide's sister-city relationship with the ancient Japanese city of Himeji. At the corners Glen Osmond Road, South Terrace and Hutt Road.
Veale Gardens
Situated between Sir Lewis Cohen Avenue and Peacock Road, Veale Gardens have many interesting features including a rose garden of more than 50 varieties (fronting onto South Terrace) and a beautiful little waterfall spilling into a stream frequented by families of ducks. You'll discover a conservatory, a statue of Pan by Adelaide sculptor John Dowie, and grassy mounds covered by groves of trees and shrubs. The Pavilion On The Park Restaurant is at the eastern end of the gardens.
River Torrens Linear Park
This is the largest hills-to-coast park in Australia and you can either walk or cycle on a bitumen pathway along the banks of the River Torrens from the city, west to the coast at Henley Beach or north east to the Tea Tree Plaza interchange. Extensive plantings of trees and shrubs create a sense of being well away from civilisation. You can walk short sections by beginning on one side of the river, crossing over one of many footbridges and returning on the other. A good place to start is from Elder Park in front of the Festival Theatre.
Victoria Park
Home to the internationally acclaimed motor sports street circuit for the Clipsal 500 Adelaide, Victoria Park also comprises the Victoria Park Racecourse, a bicycle path, a sweat track, walking paths and an old olive grove on the East Terrace side. The trees in this park swarm with native birds, including Eastern Rosellas and Rainbow Lorikeets. A walk along East Terrace is worth the effort to admire the beautifully restored stately homes. Victoria Park is framed by Fullarton Road, Wakefield Road and East Terrace on the eastern fringes of the city.
Bonython Park
A fabulous, meandering park alongside the Torrens River, with lake for model boats, two playgrounds, bike path, nature trail and more. Major events including the annual Schutzenfest are held here. On site parking provides easy access to barbecue facilities, a kiosk and more.
Wirranendi
Bounded by West Terrace, Anzac Highway and Sir Donald Bradman Drive, Wirranendi provides a fascinating city experience. An interpretive walking trail (allow 30 to 45 minutes) embraces a young urban forest of 3,000 trees, magnificent specimens of River Red Gum, a Mallee Box woodland, attractive native grasses, a bush tucker trail and a wetland.
