Adelaide’s quiet, calm and leafy Inner South is the perfect escape from the bustling CBD, with its art deco cinemas, funky boutiques and cute cafés.
Highlights
The Inner South is a green, suburban area of Adelaide, with beautiful heritage-listed houses. It’s an excellent choice for accommodation, with its ease of accessibility to the city and southern campuses, including Flinders University and the University of Adelaide Waite campus. Plus, there are a number of popular dining/shopping hubs, especially along King William, Unley and Goodwood Roads.
For great food, start your day at one of the Inner South’s many excellent cafés. Both Pickle in the Middle and Whistle and Flute have an incredible weekend brunch menu, while A Mother’s Milk sells fresh juices and amazing coffee. In the evening, there’s funky Villa 77, with Spanish tapas and regular flamenco nights; classic Australian pub fare and competitive quiz nights at the Earl of Leicester Hotel; or head to Quetzalcoatl Mexican Restaurant – the second location for the New York Times Critics’ Pick, Taco Quetzalcoatl. Finish your night at one of the many latenight dessert bars in the area. There’s Eggless, a specialty vegan dessert café with dishes made from locally sourced ingredients; Lukoumades – The Greek Donut; and Spats Coffee Lounge, with its Victorian décor, intimate private booths and delicious dessert creations. For drinks, look no further than Nook Nosh, a bar showcasing local suppliers, with a menu perfect for sharing and live music.
If you want to take in a movie, Goodwood’s art deco Capri Theatre offers both current and cult film screenings. This includes sing-a-long movie sessions, film premieres and regular midnight screenings. The Adelaide Showground, with its own train stop, hosts an incredible variety of festivals and markets, from the Royal Adelaide Show in September – a celebration of South Australia’s agriculture, complete with a petting zoo and theme park rides; music festivals like Spin Off and Groovin the Moo, which feature huge international acts; to the annual Beer and BBQ festival, which has plenty of food tastings and live music.
There are plenty of opportunities for retail therapy throughout the Inner South, whatever your budget. Adelaide-based icon, Tiff Manuell, has her studio store in Unley – her colourful, hand-painted accessories are the perfect gift for someone back home (or for a treat-yourself moment!). You can also grab locally designed clothes at Frock Me Out and prints for your new home at EttieInk. There is also an excellent range of specialty supermarkets, including Everything Vegan, Bangla Dokan for Bangladeshi, Indian, Nepalese and Pakistani groceries, and Goodwood Fresh, where you can shop online for fruit and vegetables and have them delivered to your door.
Community facilities
There are a number of community centres throughout the Inner South that offer a variety of services. You’ll find the Clarence Park Food Co-op, where you can pick up selected cheap groceries, plus English language classes at Fullarton Park Community Centre. Once a month, the Community Centre also hosts the Fullarton Market, with stalls selling food, plants and crafts.
For a quiet study spot, head to the Goodwood and Unley Civic Libraries. Both offer a wide collection of fiction and non-fiction books and free wifi. The Unley Museum allows you to delve into the history of the area, plus there are old films to watch and a contemporary art display. The Unley Swimming Centre is open seasonally from September to May and casual entry is just $6 for students, with coaching sessions offered to swimmers of all levels. Goodwood Community Centre hosts No Lights No Lycra sessions every week, where participants dance in a pitch-black room with music blasting. With no one to see you, get as crazy as you like with the dance moves!
There are several medical centres in the area, with the Hughes Clinic offering minor surgical procedures, counselling and pre-employment medicals, and the Kings Park Clinic covering all your general medical needs.
Unique experiences
The Adelaide Showground is the city’s largest multipurpose venue. There is something for everyone here: on a weekly basis, you’ll find the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market, where local farmers and producers sell their fresh, seasonal produce. There are also food stalls with free tasters scattered around, so you can eat as you walk around the market.
There is also the semi-regular Gilles at the Grounds, a creative, vintage, indoor market complete with food. While artisans come here to sell their crafts, you can also book a space with friends and sell your used goods if you need to do a clear-out. The market is dog-friendly, so there will be lots of furry pups to pat along the way.
Finally, the Showground also hosts enormous annual events. For example, Supanova Comic Con & Gaming is a pop-culture fan convention that brings in some of the biggest international stars for Q&As, meet-and-greet sessions, and autographs. In recent years, stars of the Harry Potter films, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural have been in attendance.
