The historic and booming South Australian capital is a destination that rewards leisurely exploration, travel editor Winsor Dobbin reports.
Whether you are walking along the banks of the River Torrens or strolling around one of Adelaide’s many parks and squares, the city has a lot to offer.
There’s a beguiling mix of old, new and green, easily traversed because of the city’s grid system. Getting around is easy thanks to the city’s compact layout. Most of the main attractions in the CBD are within easy walking distance.
And if you don’t feel like walking there is an excellent public transport system including trains, trams and buses. The free Adelaide City Connector bus travels to many popular destinations and attractions.
Among them: Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Adelaide Festival Plaza, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Zoo, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the National Wine Centre, Rundle Mall and the temptations of Adelaide Central Market.
Trams run all the way to Glenelg Beach, while you can catch a bus to Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills.
Adelaide is full of wine bars and restaurants: Africola, Arkhe, Soi 38 and Madame Hanoi are all reliably good.
For nightlife, Peel Street and Leigh Street are home to plenty of bars and pubs.
My recent stay was at slick and modern Eos by SkyCity – part of the casino complex.
There are 120 smartly designed rooms and suites here; very comfortable with helpful staff. As a collab with Adelaide’s art and design community, the complex has 900 commissioned artworks on display.
BODHI Spa at Eos, a heated outdoor swimming pool, spa pool and expansive leisure deck are all on site, and the breakfasts at ITL are excellent.
Wine lovers can check out Penfolds’ historic Magill Estate in the suburbs, or head to the Adelaide Hills, with several wineries and cellar doors within a few kilometres. Hahndorf, originally settled by Lutheran migrants from Prussia in 1839, is Australia’s oldest German settlement.
The main street of Hahndorf is lined with elm and plane trees and many original brick and timber cottages remain intact. The town is dotted with restaurants, cafes and providores.
For those who have wined and dined enough, the National Motor Museum is at Birdwood, while Mount Lofty is home to the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens and the Mount Lofty Summit, which offers stunning views to Adelaide and beyond.
Check out www.skycityadelaide.com.au and www.cityofadelaide.com.au
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Winter Treats
A few hours’ drive from Adelaide is Coonawarra, and winter is when Coonawarra comes out to party.
This month, Coonawarra’s annual Cellar Dwellers celebration returns with a month-long program of rare museum wines, intimate cellar door experiences and a collection of fireside, after-dark and seasonal experiences designed to showcase the South Australian region.
Running throughout July, Cellar Dwellers invites visitors to slow down, rug up and experience a different side of Coonawarra, where crackling fires, hearty regional fare, warm hospitality and aged wines combine.
From vertical tastings and museum wine releases to long-table dinners, stargazing beneath some of Australia’s clearest night skies, mulled wine by the fire and family-friendly experiences, the 2026 program offers more than 40 reasons to visit.
While Coonawarra is internationally recognised for producing classic cabernets, Cellar Dwellers celebrates the ageing potential of the region’s full range of red and white wines.
Coonawarra Vignerons events and marketing officer, Heidi Guyett, said Cellar Dwellers continues to evolve while remaining true to its original purpose – celebrating wines that reward patience.
“Cellar Dwellers has always been about championing wines from the cellar and inviting guests to experience and discover just how well Coonawarra’s wines age, when given the time,” she said.
“This year we’ve expanded that concept with Winter Embrace – inviting guests not only to discover beautifully aged wines, but to immerse themselves in everything that makes winter in Coonawarra so memorable.”
One of the program’s signature events remains the Cellar Dwellers Back Vintage Tasting, returning to Parker Coonawarra Estate on Friday, July 17.
The walk-around tasting brings together a dozen Coonawarra producers under one roof, offering event attendees the opportunity to compare museum and back-vintage wines from across the region in a single evening.
“What makes this event so appealing is the diversity – it’s not just about one wine variety or one winery,” said Guyett.
“You’ll experience the collective story of Coonawarra’s winemaking talent and the remarkable ageing potential of our wines, not limited to its reds. Plus, the warmth and hospitality of the region shine through in every conversation and every pour.”
Another of the events with potential to turn heads (skyward) this year is Constellations and Cluny presented by Zema Estate.
The full program, event bookings and downloadable guide are available at:
https://coonawarra.org/cellar-dwellers-2026/
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Robot Hospitality
The future is now.
In China, Pudu Robotics, a leader in commercial service robotics, and Shenzhen Culture & Tourism Industry Development Co. Ltd have officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop the world’s first full-scenario robot-serviced hotel on the West Artificial Island of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link.
The island is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in China.
The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is widely recognised as one of the world’s most complex cross-sea transportation systems, combining bridges, tunnels, artificial islands, and underwater interchanges into a single engineering marvel.
The plan is to transform West Artificial Island showcase for artificial intelligence, robotics and smart tourism.
As a strategic gateway connecting key cities across the Greater Bay Area, the West Artificial Island provides a platform to showcase next-generation technologies to visitors from around the world.
Unlike hotels where robots simply assist employees, the project aims to automate virtually every guest-facing and operational task.
Service robots already deliver amenities in many hotels across Shenzhen and other major cities, while some properties have introduced humanoid robots at reception desks. This, however, will be the world’s first hotel designed from the outset to operate entirely without human staff.
The 44-room hotel is scheduled to open in 2027, although visitors will be able to experience the concept earlier. Pilot operations are expected to begin in late 2026, with a limited number of rooms available for public testing.
Designed as a next-generation hospitality destination, the hotel will integrate robots across every major service scenario, including guest reception, room delivery, cleaning, food service, and guest support.
Powered by embodied AI and multi-robot collaboration, the project represents one of the industry’s most comprehensive deployments of robotics in a real-world hospitality environment.
Different robot models will perform specialised tasks while communicating with one another.
Among them, FlashBot will deliver drinks and snacks ordered via smartphone, the T300 robot will transport luggage to guest rooms, while the CC1 Pro and MT1 autonomous cleaning robots will maintain the property using AI-powered waste detection and adaptive cleaning technology.
The hotel itself will be the first phase of a broader smart tourism initiative.
Over the coming four years, robotics and AI services are expected to expand across West Artificial Island, supporting attractions, restaurants and visitor facilities.
It will be fascinating to see guest reactions.
See more of Winsor’s travel tips and news at www.gourmetontheroad.com.