Willunga
Historic slate-mining town in the heart of McLaren Vale wine country, famous for its Saturday farmers market and vibrant maker community.
A heritage town with a foodie heart
Willunga grew up around the slate quarries that once supplied roofs across Adelaide. Its High Street of old slate buildings now houses boutique shops, galleries, cafés and one of Australia's best farmers markets.
Willunga Farmers Market
Every Saturday morning, producers from across the Fleurieu gather in the Willunga Recreation Park to sell seasonal produce, bread, cheese, wine, flowers and prepared foods. It is widely considered one of the country's standout regional markets.
Almond Blossom & Tour Down Under
In July, the surrounding almond orchards burst into white blossom. Each January, Willunga Hill hosts one of the most famous mountain stages of the Santos Tour Down Under cycling race.
Places in Willunga
27 places
3 Monkeys Fine Foods
An expansive Willunga providore on the High Street stocking local artisan goods for picnic hampers, with a courtyard cafe out the back.
Alma Hotel
$$Willunga's 1856 corner pub, still pouring
Built in 1856 on the corner of Hill and Aldinga Road, the Alma is the unpretentious locals' pub of historic Willunga - hearty meals, cold beer and a cheerful front verandah ideal for a post-market pint.
Chook's Little Winery Tours
Multi-award-winning small-group minibus wine tours visiting boutique McLaren Vale cellar doors - Adelaide and Glenelg pickup, up to six wineries per day.
Coast to Vines Rail Trail
Thirty-seven flat kilometres from sea to slate
A 37-kilometre sealed rail trail along the old Willunga railway corridor, running from Marino on the coast through the McLaren Vale vineyards and ending on the edge of historic Willunga township.
Diana Olive Oil
A third-generation family olive grove and oil maker in Willunga, producing award-winning estate-grown extra virgin olive oil in the Mediterranean climate of the Willunga Scarp.
Fino Vino
A stylish small wine bar from the original Fino team serving Mediterranean share plates and natural wines in a Willunga sandstone shopfront.
Four Winds Chocolate
A small Willunga chocolatier and patisserie on the High Street, hand-painting eggs and turning out fresh weekly patisserie alongside a tight chocolate range.
Jungle in Willunga
A small tropical jungle boardwalk experience on Willunga's main road with an animal hunt, climbing web and Fairy Fern Garden - $2 entry, perfect for younger kids.
Magpie Springs
$$Boutique wines and paintings on Willunga Hill
A boutique cellar door and working art gallery on the Willunga scarp, showcasing estate wines alongside paintings by Adelaide artist Avril Thomas in a garden setting with valley views.
Magpie Springs Paint and Sip
Three-hour beginner paint-and-sip art classes with artist Kerry Mart at Magpie Springs gallery and vineyard in the Willunga hinterland - wine included.
Minko Wines & Providore
A Mount Compass cool-climate winery pouring its wines from a heritage cottage providore on Willunga's High Street, alongside local artisan produce.
Off the Slate Gallery & Willunga Glass Studio
An 18-artist cooperative gallery sharing space with Willunga Glass Studio on Willunga's High Street, with paintings, sculpture, slumped glass, jewellery and woodcraft.
Old Bush Inn
Willunga's oldest pub - a heritage 1839 bluestone hotel on the High Street serving hearty meals, with regular live music and a beer garden.
Old Willunga Hill
The Tour Down Under's most famous climb
The 3-kilometre winding ascent out of Willunga onto the Willunga Scarp is South Australia's most famous cycling climb, with panoramic Gulf views from the top.
Ortus Wines
A mother-daughter-owned winery with a warehouse-style cellar door on Willunga's main road, paired with a contemporary art programme curated by Praxis Artspace.
Shifty Lizard Brewing Co
A tiny, much-loved craft brewery and taphouse on Willunga's High Street, brewing experimental small-batch beers a few barrels at a time.
The Farm Willunga
An organic farm cafe and providore set among biodynamic vineyards and olive groves above Willunga, with a paddock-to-plate menu that changes by the day.
Willunga Courthouse Museum
Step into an 1855 courtroom and police lock-up
The 1855 Willunga Courthouse and adjoining police cells have been preserved as a pocket museum by the National Trust, complete with magistrate's bench, dock, cells and stables.
Willunga Creek Wines
A family-run boutique cellar door on the Willunga foothills (also known as Black Duck), open weekends for tastings, platters and winter curries.
Willunga Skate Park & Nature Play
A destination skate park and nature playground at the southern end of the Shiraz Trail in Willunga, with grass for picnics and shade trees.
Willunga Slate Museum
Tools and tales from a slate-roofing empire
A small National Trust museum on Willunga's historic High Street dedicated to the 19th-century slate quarries that roofed half of South Australia. Entry is free and the galleries are packed with original tools, photographs and local stories.
Zimmermann Wine
An Austrian-Australian family winery in Willunga, with by-appointment tastings and a focus on European-style structured reds.
Russell's Pizza
$$Woodfired pizza in a heritage yard
A Friday and Saturday night institution - Russell Jeavons' woodfired pizzas served under the stars in a walled garden behind a Willunga stone cottage.
Vigna Bottin Cellar Door & Osteria
A slice of Italy on Main Road, Willunga
A Calabrian family cellar door and osteria on the main road into Willunga, specialising in Italian varietals and traditional homestyle cooking.
Kuitpo Forest
A working pine and native forest with trails, picnic spots and treetop adventure
A 3,600-hectare ForestrySA reserve of softwood plantations and remnant native bushland in the South Mount Lofty Ranges, criss-crossed by walking, mountain bike and horse trails 45 minutes from Adelaide.
Willunga Farmers Market
$Every Saturday morning, rain or shine
One of Australia's most celebrated farmers markets, running every Saturday morning in the grounds of Willunga High School.
Hither & Yon
$$Boutique Willunga cellar door
Small family winery by brothers Richard and Malcolm Leask, with a stripped-back cellar door in an 1850s stone cottage on Willunga's High Street.
Stories from Willunga
The Tin Pot Tramway: McLaren Vale's forgotten horse railway
For half a century before the first motor truck rolled into McLaren Vale, a horse-drawn tramway ran from the vineyards down to the jetty at Port Willunga. Locals called it the Tin Pot. Its cuttings, sleepers and earthworks are still in the ground under what is now the Coast to Vines Rail Trail.
April 2026 · 8 min read
The Fleurieu in July: almond blossom, whales and winter fires
Mid-winter is the Fleurieu Peninsula's quietest month and also, quietly, its best. Almond blossom at Willunga, southern right whales in Encounter Bay, cellar-door fires lit from lunchtime, waterfalls at full flow and almost nobody on the roads. Here is the July case.
April 2026 · 8 min read
A short white window: 170 years of Willunga almonds
Willunga's almond-growing tradition stretches back to the 1850s. For most of the 20th century it was Australia's largest almond region. The famous Almond Blossom Festival has run since 1970.
March 2026 · 5 min read
The Cornish slate miners of Willunga
Slate was discovered at Willunga in 1840. For the next eighty years it built the town and roofed half of South Australia. The miners were Cornish, the village they founded was named after a slate town in Cornwall, and the legacy is still visible in the streets today.
February 2026 · 6 min read
Sources
- Willunga - Wikipedia article - Wikipedia (accessed April 2026)
Image credits
- View of Willunga by State Library of South Australia , CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons