Trip Guides
Ready-made day trips and weekend itineraries through the Fleurieu Peninsula. Follow one of these stop-by-stop, or save it to your own itinerary and adapt it.
The Perfect Wine Day in McLaren Vale
Six cellar doors, one long lunch and a beach sunset
A one-day cellar-door route through the heart of McLaren Vale, from a historic winery stop to a long vineyard lunch and a Port Willunga sunset.
Best for: Couples and first-timers
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Family Weekend on the South Coast
A two-day family weekend itinerary along the south coast - wildlife, hand-feeding kangaroos, riding a steam train and an afternoon at the beach.
Best for: Families with kids
The Fleurieu Coastal Drive
A two-day driving loop covering the full Fleurieu coastline - down the western Gulf St Vincent shore, around Cape Jervis, along the wild south coast to Goolwa, and back to Adelaide via Strathalbyn and the Mount Lofty hills.
Best for: Couples and first-timers
McLaren Vale to Cape Jervis: a one-day drive
A one-day drive that strings together the western Fleurieu coast - starting with a McLaren Vale cellar door, picking up the cliffs and beaches of the southern run, and finishing at the Cape Jervis lighthouse just before the Kangaroo Island ferry leaves.
Best for: Couples and day trippers
Goolwa to Victor Harbor scenic loop
A relaxed one-day loop along the Encounter Coast - from the historic wharf at Goolwa through Hindmarsh Island, Middleton, Port Elliot and Encounter Bay to Victor Harbor and back, with the Cockle Train doing some of the work.
Best for: Families and first-timers
Whale Season Day Trip from Adelaide
A winter day trip from Adelaide to spot southern right whales, with the best viewpoints along the south coast from Rosetta Head to Waitpinga.
Best for: Couples and whale fans
Grenache vs Shiraz: a McLaren Vale tasting trail
McLaren Vale is one of the only places in the world where Grenache and Shiraz live as equals. This trail puts them head-to-head at five cellar doors so you can finally taste the difference for yourself.
Best for: Wine learners and curious drinkers
Second Valley to Rapid Bay: the half-day nobody plans
A four to five hour loop between two of the most photogenic beaches on the Fleurieu coast - Second Valley and Rapid Bay - with the Leonards Mill ruin, a general store coffee stop and the kind of small-road scenery that never ends up in the brochures.
Best for: Day trippers and photographers
The Fleurieu cheese trail
A one-day drive from the McLaren Vale flats up into the Inman Valley hinterland and back, built around the Fleurieu's working dairies, cheese shops and the cellar doors that pour the perfect wine to drink with them.
Best for: Foodies and slow travellers
A non-drinker's day in McLaren Vale
McLaren Vale is famous for wine, but the same producers who run the cellar doors also press olive oil, make chocolate, distil zero-proof spirits and grow lavender. Here is a day in the Vale built entirely without a glass of wine.
Best for: Designated drivers, sober visitors, pregnant travellers
Surfing the Fleurieu: which break on which wind
Five Fleurieu beach breaks, five different wind and swell scripts. This is the decision guide for the day you wake up, check the forecast, and need to know whether to drive south at all — and where to point the car if you do.
Best for: Improver surfers and Adelaide locals
Fleurieu rock pools: a tide-by-tide guide
When the tide drops on the Fleurieu it leaves behind reef pools full of sea stars, hermit crabs, anemones and the occasional small octopus. Here is the route for a low-tide day with curious kids, plus the safety basics every family needs.
Best for: Families with curious kids
Victor Harbor with kids under five
A practical, pram-friendly day in Victor Harbor for parents of toddlers — the playgrounds with shade, the cafes that welcome a small mess, the foreshore walk that finishes near a baby change, and the only horse-drawn tram in the country.
Best for: Parents of 0-5 year olds
Christmas Day on the Fleurieu: who's open, where to swim, what to do
Christmas Day on the Fleurieu can feel like a hot, slow, oddly-quiet version of the rest of the year. Here is the plan — which beaches are best, which drives are open, which lookouts catch the evening light, and the things that work no matter what year it is.
Best for: Locals and visitors stuck on December 25
Inman Valley's hidden corners: dairy farms, fossils and Glacier Rock
The Inman Valley is the green, wet, hidden inland of the Fleurieu — small dairy farms, ancient glacial striations, swimming holes in the river and a country pub at the centre. This is the slow-traveller's loop through the back country.
Best for: Slow travellers and the geology curious