Walking Adelaide
Author: Amanda Diaz
Category: Travel and Leisure
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A Guide to Adelaide on Foot
Adelaide's a fantastic city. Full of lively districts, excellent shopping and, for a small city, a surprisingly bouncing nightlife. And for the cash-strapped traveler backpacking in Australia, its size makes its very manageable on foot, saving you a small fortune on public transport.
Getting your bearings
For budget travelers walking in the city, a good online map of Adelaide hostels is never a bad start. Once you've found where you're staying, however, Adelaide, like all Australian cities, has a well organized tourist office on King William Street that gives out city maps.
Most hostels in Adelaide are in the southern half of the city (below North Terrace) and that's where backpackers on foot tend to concentrate their efforts. Although the whole of the southern half of the city takes less than about 20 minutes to cross, it's still full of things to do.
Start in the South
Built on a grid, Adelaide could hardly be easier to find your way around. A good place to take as a starting point for a walking tour of the city is Victoria Square, right at the center of the city. From here, you should set off southwards down King William Street, the city's main artery.
Both halves of the city - north and south - are almost totally surrounded by green spaces. Walk east along South Terrace and you pass Adelaide Reserve, while at the end of South Terrace, if you turn north up West Terrace, you soon come to Kingston Garden.
A little further north, it's worth making a diversion from the gridded streets of southern Adelaide, and pad up to the Old Adelaide Gaol on Gaol Road (with some great views of the city). A sullen old place, you can still see the place where prisoners used to be hanged!
Shop till you drop
Leaving the jailhouse behind, the next port of call is the lively Rundle Street - Adelaide's beating heart. (To get there stroll eastwards down Northern Terrace, and turn right onto King William Street, and then a left into Rundle Mall).
Both Rundle Street and Rundle Mall are the perfect place to do a bit of shopping. Rundle Mall tends err more towards the high street clothing stores and shoe shops, while Rundle Street itself has more independent offerings, including a couple of excellent secondhand shops.
Having had a good wander around Rundle Street, the next logical step to take is to turn into Hindley Street. A pleasantly seedy affair, here scruffy balustraded 19th century buildings rub shoulders with more modern office blocks, bookshops and the odd strip club.
To the north of Rundle Street, North Terrace is home to the State Parliament. To the west of King William St, meanwhile, are a couple of the city's best public buildings - the Art Gallery of South Australia, the South Australian Museum (both of which should be visited, time allowing) and the University.
Then it's up to the Northern Parklands to catch your breath and relax in the evening sunshine.
Moving On
This, ultimately, is where the walking should end: sitting back over an early evening picnic. The whole city taken covered and not a bus used. A little footsore, perhaps, but otherwise none the worse for wear.!
But strange as it may sound, Adelaide doesn't end with Adelaide: South Australia has a wealth of natural resources to explore as beaches like Glenelg mix with the wine valleys of Clare Valley, McClaren Vale and Barossa Valley. In many ways, the fun's only just started!
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Keywords: Adelaide hostel, map, Adelaide, Australia, Guide
View Count: 87
Date Submitted: 6/18/2008
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