Visit the Adelaide Hills

Food experiences in the Adelaide Hills

Visit Lenswood Orchard in the Adelaide Hills. Photo: South Australian Tourism Commission
 

When you visit the Adelaide Hills, you get to eat some of the best home-grown food in the world.

• From November to April, you can pick your own strawberries at Beerenberg Farm in Hahndorf. They also have a shop selling jams, sauces and condiments. Pick fresh cherries at various orchards between mid-November to mid-January.  Cherries SA Cherry Map.

• It’s fig time between February to April Willabrand fig orchard at Glen Ewin Estate in Houghton from.

• Meet the apple growers and pick your fruit at the Pick a Pink Lady Weekend in early May.

• Head to Magarey Orchard for pear picking.

• Buy fresh fruit and veg from roadside stalls and farm gates or visit the local markets. Everything you buy is full of flavour because it's in season. If you’re after freshly picked berries, try Walkers International farm shed, Green Valley Strawberries, or Nirvana Organic Farm (October to May).
   

Take a walking tour around the historic town of Hahndorf. Photo:  South Australian Tourism Commission
 

• Tour and taste test the local cheese factories including:

  • Udder Delights (in Hahndorf) has hand-made milk and goat cow cheeses. If you’re a blue-cheese fan, try their 'King Saul' made from raw cow’s milk.

  • Woodside Cheese Wrights (in Woodside) makes raw milk cheeses and buffalo milk cheese from local buffalos.

  • Why not book in for a cheese-making class at either Udder Delights or Woodside Cheese Wrights. Otherwise, get your hands dirty with a cooking class at Sticky Rice Cooking School. 

• Meet the local chocolatiers and devour their sweet work. You know the Adelaide Hills chocolate is going to be great – it has German beginnings. Visit Melba's Chocolates & Confectionery, Red Cacao, and Chocolate @ No. 5. Try the local delicacy - balls of peach and apricot covered in chocolate at FruChocs shop in Hahndorf.

• Treat your tastebuds with a ChocoVino. This is where you get to pair gourmet chocolate with wine at the Hahndorf Hill Winery.

Wine, beer & spirit tasting

Adelaide Hills is full of magic for you to explore. Photo: Tourism Australia
 

• Pace yourself, there’s an incredible selection of cellar doors to choose from and all are equally as delicious as the last. A few winery suggestions are Artwine that creates new styles of wines, The Lane Vineyard,  Ashton Hills, and CRFT wines that create small-batch, single-vineyard wines.

• All things beer, cider and distilleries. Based on its strong German heritage, it’s hardly surprising that the Adelaide Hills knows how to brew a great beer. A few breweries to check out include Lobethal Bierhaus (a small all-grain craft brewery), Prancing Pony Brewery with its traditional German brews, and Gulf Brewery (microbrewery) which is known for its handcrafted boutique beers.

• Considering you're surrounded by apple and pear orchards, you’re in for a real treat with some cider tasting. Visit The Hills Cider Co. which only uses Adelaide Hills fruit and Sidewood in Hahndorf that makes handcrafted apple and pear ciders.

• Check out a few of the local distilleries.  Take a behind-the-scenes tour at Applewood Distillery and see how they make their whiskey and gin. Have a tasting paddle at Ambleside Distillers or blend your own gin at their Gin Blending Masterclass.

Non-food & wine things to do in the Adelaide Hills

Meet these cute koalas at Cleland Park. Photo: Adam Bruzzone, South Australian Tourism Commission
 

• Cleland Park wildlife park where you can hand-feed the animals and cuddle koalas.

• Visit the Cedars which is a historic home and garden in Adelaide Hills. This was the home of landscape painter Hans Heysen and his family. Tour this beautiful home, gardens, and his studio where around 200 original paintings are on display.

• The National Motor Museum has over 300 vintage, modern and classic cars and motorcycles. A must-see for car lovers.

• Take a walk through Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens and enjoy the green space and lakes.

• Go for a hike up Mount Lofty. There’s a few different tracks to choose from depending on how much of a challenge you want.