Sitting pretty on the outskirts of Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills bring a touch of nature to city life. While the nearby Adelaide plains are a flurry of cracked sands and endless desert scenery during the summer months, the Adelaide Hills promise a cooler climate with fresh woodland and crisp, mountainous air.
Snaking through the region you’ll find crisscrossing valleys lined with lush galleries and jutting mountain peaks – also known as the Mount Lofty Ranges. The region was founded by early colonists who used it as a summer stomping ground, building stately houses in the country that they could flee to when the weather reached its peak. Small towns pepper the valleys, including Germanic-inspired settlements like Stirling and Aldgate. Here, you can get a taste for traditional German life, where Gothic architecture reigns strong and bratwurst is always on the menu.
The Hills make the perfect day trip destination from Adelaide, where you can hop from cute town to cute town and admire the woodland scenery.