Arts & Culture
Galleries & Makers
The best arts & culture in McLaren Vale
The Fleurieu has long drawn painters, sculptors and ceramicists. Today it is dotted with galleries, open studios, public sculpture trails and annual art prizes.
For a string of small coastal and country towns, the Fleurieu Peninsula has a deep creative streak. Artists and makers have long been drawn to the quality of the light and the landscape, and you'll find galleries, working studios and craft spaces scattered through Port Elliot, Goolwa, Willunga and McLaren Vale.
The region mixes the contemporary with the historic. The striking d'Arenberg Cube has become an icon of art-meets-wine in the McLaren Vale vineyards, while heritage galleries, public sculpture and regular exhibitions fill the old stone buildings of the river and coastal towns. Live music, festivals and open-studio weekends bring the calendar to life, especially through the warmer months.
Just as importantly, this is Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna country, and there are growing opportunities to learn about the peninsula's deep Aboriginal cultural heritage through guided walks, cultural tours and interpretive sites. Whether you're hunting for an original piece to take home, watching a maker at work, or simply wandering a gallery on a slow afternoon, the Fleurieu's arts scene rewards the curious. Many galleries and studios are free to visit, though hours can vary, so it's worth checking before you set out.
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9 places
Bella Cosa Sculpture Park & Gallery
A sculpture park, gallery and tapas bar set among vines and forest at McLaren Flat - walk the sculpture trail, drink local wine, and stay in the cottage on the property.
Big Easy Radio
$$Wine, music and a heritage stone cottage
A wine, music and lifestyle destination built around an 1875 stone cottage on Malpas Road, combining craft McLaren Vale wines with live music.
Fleurieu Arthouse
A working artisan hub inside the historic Hardys Tintara winery - a gallery, retail space and eight resident artist studios where you can watch metal sculptors, painters and ceramicists at work.
Fleurieu Food & Wine Cooking School
Hands-on cooking classes at McLaren Vale wineries - pasta, cheese, spice masterclasses and native food, suited to beginners and confident cooks.
Red Dot Gallery at Penny's Hill
A constantly-changing contemporary art gallery built into the historic 'Ingleburne' cellar door at Penny's Hill, alongside the wine tasting room and The Kitchen Door restaurant.
Red Poles
$$Cafe, gallery and B&B on McMurtrie Road
Long-running McMurtrie Road cafe, restaurant, art gallery and B&B hidden in the bush behind Wirra Wirra - a McLaren Vale institution since the 1990s.
Red Poles Bed & Breakfast
$$Three-room B&B behind the Red Poles cafe
A three-room, pet-friendly B&B built around a central courtyard at Red Poles on McMurtrie Road, McLaren Vale - with the cafe, gallery and gardens on the doorstep.
The Gallery at McLaren Vale Visitor Centre
A contemporary art gallery built into the rammed-earth Visitor Centre at the entrance to McLaren Vale, with rotating exhibitions and sweeping views over the vineyards.
d'Arenberg Cube
Chester Osborn's five-storey glass cube rising out of the d'Arenberg vineyards - part wine tasting room, part fine-dining restaurant, part art gallery, part Salvador Dali museum.