Festivals and fireworks in Adelaide: let your hair down in ​South Australia's capital

Despite the ring of parkland enclosing the city centre, Adelaide's strength has always been what it has on its doorstep

Adelaide Central Market (Josie Withers/SATC)

Adelaide is not somewhere you go expecting fireworks. It is comfortable in its role as the most traditional of Australia's big cities; a place content with a slightly slower pace of life, and happy not to gallop after trends that may be consuming Sydney or Melbourne.

This changes on Australia Day, of course. On 26 January, fireworks provide the finale to a crammed day of celebrations (australiadayinthecity.com.au). This includes a grand parade of vintage cars, marching bands, heavily dolled-up floats, and giant artistic interpretations of native animals, before a massive open air, family-friendly concert in Elder Park.

Adelaide isn't shy of a big event or two. The WOMADelaide (womadelaide.com.au) world music festival kicks off in March, preceded by the multi-arts, city-spanning Adelaide Festival (adelaidefestival .com.au) at the end of February.

For the rest of the year, though, Adelaide settles into an easy-going rhythm, fuelled by the meaty reds of the nearby Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale wine regions. And despite the generous ring of parkland enclosing the city centre, Adelaide's strength has always been what it has on its doorstep.

This includes the Cleland Conservation Park, just under 10sq km of mostly wild bushland to the south-east. It contains Mt Lofty, the 727m peak that local masochists like to jog up. But perhaps more interestingly, it also contains a network of unpaved tracks, theoretically used by four-wheel-drive vehicles and walkers, but the mildly corrugated, koala-lined tracks recently opened up to mountain bikers too. Escape Goat Adventures (00 61 422 916 289; escapegoat.com.au), runs half-day biking tours that start at the top of Mt Lofty and descend through Chambers Gully, eventually ending up on the cusp of the city centre.

Bar at the Mayfair hotel

An opening up to new ideas has also seen the redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval (00 61 8 8211 1100; adelaideoval.com.au), the beloved cricket ground often regarded as the most beautiful in the world. It has been redeveloped to expand capacity greatly, and allow Australian Rules Football to be play there. The white scallopine roofs, sense of space and remnants of the old ground mean they've just about pulled off the sensitive evolution. Adelaide has done what it does best – gently ushering in a new era while maintaining the traditions that shape its character.

Unpack

Opened last year, the Mayfair (00 61 8 8210 8888; mayfairhotel.com.au) is a welcome new addition to Adelaide's slightly staid hotel scene. Inside the heritage-listed Colonial Mutual Life building, and right in the heart of the city centre, this 170-room joint isn't quite as boutique and individual as it pretends to be, but purpose-picked artwork, local products in the mini bars, and the rooftop champagne bar give it a character that extends beyond snazzy business bland. Double rooms cost from A$199 (£91).

Think local

In the foothills of the Mt Lofty Ranges, the Morialta Conservation Park essentially wraps a befuddling network of hiking trails around the bushland that surrounds a canyon. Like the Cleland Conservation Park, there are concerted attempts under way to open up an undeniably scenic spot to more people. The $65 (£30) half-day hiking tours run by Pure SA (00 61 8 7226 9011; puresa.com.au) are part of this. They go beyond simply showing the way to the waterfalls by mixing in plenty of information about the flora and fauna, and time for wildlife spotting. Koalas, spectacularly ugly lizards and kingfishers are all found among the trees.

Eat

The city centre is developing a bit of a Melbourne-style laneway scene, with several likeably inventive restaurants opening up on Peel and Leigh Streets in particular. Bread and Bone (00 61 8 8231 8535; facebook.com/breadandbone) sums up the vibe nicely, with split levels and some tables inside a converted tunnel. Craft beers are served alongside a menu that leans towards comfort food, where the emphasis is on burgers. But the wood grill section offers the most intriguing options – such as the A$26 (£12) harissa-rubbed lamb chops or the gloriously sticky and messy black pepper quail for A$28 (£13).

Drink

Beer is taking on wine country; a few microbreweries have sprung up around Adelaide, but the Lady Burra Brewhouse (00 61 8 8410 7608; ladyburrabrewhouse.com.au) is perhaps the most interesting and accessible. Right in the city centre, it's an open-plan joint with a fire escape-style staircase outside and exposed brick walls inside.

The food offerings are a weird combo of Portuguese dishes and gourmet pizzas, while the in-house brews cover several bases. The American pale ale is arguably the highlight, but the pilsner, Irish red ale and Burra Burra white beer are worth a sip too.

Spend

There's no finer South Australian tradition than the Adelaide Central Market, which has been pulling together the state's best food and drink producers since 1870. Central Market Tour (00 61 0402 165 800; centralmarkettour.com.au) offers a three-hour, A$80 (£37) walk around some of the more interesting stalls, along the way tasting such rarities as gins from Kangaroo Island, mettwurst from the Adelaide Hills, and goat cheeses from the Barossa Valley. Come back later to snaffle up gifts to take home.

Don't miss

The A$22 (£10) tours of the Adelaide Oval are worth it purely because they allow you inside the century-old, and defiantly out of time, wooden scoreboard, which was retained in the new stadium design. It's like a mad scientist's invention – all pulleys, levers and light boxes.

In March, a new perspective will open up – the Roofclimb (00 61 8 8331 5222; roofclimb.com.au) will allow cricket tragics to explore the Oval by clambering across the rooftops for A$99 (£45).

Getting there

Emirates flies to Adelaide from six UK airports via Dubai; Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines fly from Heathrow and Manchester via their hubs in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively. Qatar Airways (0333 320 2454; qatarairways.com) will start flying from Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh via Doha from May from £745 return.

More information

southaustralia.com