We hit the ground walking in search of native wildlife, breathtaking landscapes, ghosts, chocolate and much more on 5 of our favourite tours to tread in SA.
Best of all? RAA members save up to 10% on most of these walking tour adventures. Get more details on each experience by reading on, plus press play on the videos to watch us explore a couple of them.
1. Choco-latte tour
Where: Starts at the Adelaide Central Markets
Ideal for: Those with a sweet tooth
When: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
Duration: 3 hours
Chocolate, coffee and cupcakes – if that doesn’t sum up this 3-hour dessert bar-hopping tour around Adelaide’s CBD, we don’t know what will.
With a sugar-fix at every corner, local guides from Adelaide’s Top Food & Wine lead chocoholics to various sweets shops and cafes to gorge guilt-free.
Stops include a customary Haigh’s visit in the Central Markets for a bag (or two) of choccy frogs, and a trip to the Willy Wonka-inspired Blackebys Old Sweet Shop in James Place for hard-boiled lollies.
If the sugar rush isn’t enough to keep you on your toes, numerous caffeine hits will – and BTS Café on Pirie Street is the perfect rest stop.
They’re best known for creating different cupcake flavours every day of the week. So if you’re booking this tour for a Tuesday, try the Belgian chocolate coffee cupcake with a mascarpone cheese centre. On Thursdays, bite into a choc-chip banana cake cupcake with creamy peanut butter frosting, and our Friday pick would be the red velvet buttermilk cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting.
The itinerary isn’t set in stone so you might visit different chocolate shops and cafés, but our top tip for anyone about to book is simple – skip dessert at least a week in advance!
2. Strudel and Stroll
Where: Hahndorf, Adelaide Hills
Ideal for: History buffs
When: Weekdays at 10am
Duration: 60 minutes
While sausages, sauerkraut and steins of beer sound pretty good to us, this charming little Adelaide Hills town has a lot more to offer.
With a history dating back to 1839, this tour led by Hahndorf Walking Tours tells tales about the village’s early German settlers, reveals how the humble pretzel came to be and takes a glimpse inside quaint stone cottages built in the 1800s.
Before you set out on foot, learn how to make a yummy apfelstrudel (apple strudel) from the chef at Hahndorf Inn and, in the hour it takes to bake puff pastry to perfection, wander the village’s Main St lined with century-old trees and other historic spots around town.
What better way to end a big walk than being greeted with the aroma of baked goods? You can devour your strudel for morning tea at the inn, or take it home for dessert.
3. Adelaide Central Markets tour
Where: Adelaide Central Markets
Ideal for: Foodies
When: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings
Duration: 1.5 hours
How does spending the morning sampling fresh produce and other treats at one of SA’s largest food hubs sound?
From raw desserts to cured kangaroo, there’s something deliciously different for each palate as you weave your way through the maze of market stall holders during an Adelaide Central Markets Discovery tour.
But with more than 70 traders under the one roof, the central market’s just as much about the people as the food. That’s what we loved most about this tour – in between yummy tastings you can meet traders who’ve called the markets home (some for more than 30 years), like Stephan from Central Organic and Marco from the Mushroom Man’s Mushroom Shop.
Depending on the day you book, there are different tastings but our advice try to taste absolutely everything you can.
And while we won’t give too much away, if you’re offered a crushed-up concoction that looks similar to black pepper, sprinkle some on your tongue.
RAA member exclusive: Book here to save on a tour around the Adelaide Central Markets.
4. A 3-day guided outback walking tour
Where: Flinders Ranges
Ideal for: Adventurers
When: All year
Duration: 3 days
Up for a challenge? Pack a bag and set out on a 3-day adventure treading the Flinders Ranges’ red dirt.
Led by local guides at Rawnsley Park Station, you’ll cover up to 12km each day – which isn’t too ambitious given there are plenty of stops to rest your legs in this stunning natural amphitheatre.
The itinerary is packed with everything you’d expect an outback odyssey to entail – wandering the rugged wilderness, spying native wildlife like wedge-tailed eagles and red kangaroos, and more walking.
Your reward at the end of each day will be watching the sky turn vibrant hues of pink and purple from the deck of a secluded eco-villa.
On the last night, feast on dinner under the stars before getting some shut-eye in a luxury swag. That sounds like our kind of camping trip!
RAA member exclusive: Save on this outback walking adventure in the Flinders by clicking here.
5. Adelaide’s Haunted Horizons’ Old Tailem Town Ghost Tour
Where: Old Tailem Town (near Tailem Bend)
Ideal for: People aged 18+ who love a scare
When: Most Saturday nights. Other nights can be arranged if minimum numbers are reached.
Duration: 2 or 4 hours
Marvelling at SA’s breathtaking landscapes is one way to get shivers down your spine – wandering around one of the state’s most ‘haunted’ towns at night is another.
On this walking tour of a different kind, paranormal researchers lead the daring on a ghost tour around Old Tailem Town – a river town in the state’s south-east.
Many of the eerie buildings you’ll visit were people’s homes some 100 years ago or more. With a torch in hand to guide your way, you’ll hear the tragic history of families who lived there and stories about the land.
If you’re harder to scare, go on the 4-hour tour to watch real-life footage of a creepy event which reportedly occurred in the town’s church. *insert spooky piano music here*
