Must-see hotels in South Australia

  • Southern Ocean Lodge

    Kangaroo Island

    Looking for a place to your woo your sweetheart? The shining star in the SA tourism galaxy is Southern Ocean Lodge, a sexy, low-profile snake tracing the…

  • Largs Pier Hotel

    Largs Pier Hotel

    Adelaide

    Surprise! In the snoozy beach 'burb of Largs Bay, 5km north of Port Adelaide, is this gorgeous, 130-year-old, three-storey wedding-cake hotel with sky…

  • Prairie Hotel

    Flinders Ranges

    The Prairie Hotel (1905) has slick suites out the back, plus camping and basic cabins across the street. Don’t miss a pub meal (mains breakfast $8 to $28,…

  • Lush Pastures

    Fleurieu Peninsula

    Esteemed South Australian architect Max Pritchard has done it again! This time he's concocted a neat sequence of three private, contemporary villas on a…

  • Mt Lofty House

    Adelaide Hills

    Proprietorially poised above Mt Lofty Botanic Garden (awesome views), this 1852 stone baronial mansion has lavish heritage rooms and garden suites, plus…

  • Mayfair Hotel

    Adelaide

    The gargoyles on Adelaide's 1934 Colonial Mutual Life insurance building guarded a whole lot of empty rooms for decades (has the money gone out of…

  • Kings Beach Retreats

    Fleurieu Peninsula

    On a spectacular rocky promontory 10km south of Victor Harbor, these three cottages – from one to five bedrooms – are sublimely positioned. A sense of…

  • Port Lincoln YHA

    Eyre Peninsula & the West Coast

    Run by a high-energy couple who have spent a fortune renovating the place, this impressive 84-bed hostel occupies a former squash court complex…

  • Soho Hotel

    Adelaide

    Attempting to conjure up the vibe of London’s Soho district, these plush suites in Adelaide's East End (some with spas, most with balconies) are…

  • Tanonga

    Eyre Peninsula & the West Coast

    Two plush, solar-powered, architect-designed ecolodges stand in stark-white modernist isolation in the hills behind Port Lincoln. They're both super…

  • Caledonian Inn

    Limestone Coast

    This historic inn (1859) has a half-dozen bright and cosy upstairs pub rooms: shared bathrooms and no air-con, but they are great value. Out the back are…

  • Yondah Beach House

    Yorke Peninsula

    One of the stars of the SA tourism scene, Yondah is a gorgeous, architect-designed, three-bedroom beach house, way over yonder in the southern dunes east…

  • Port Elliot Beach House YHA

    Fleurieu Peninsula

    Built in 1910 (the old Arcadia Hotel), this sandstone beauty has sweeping views across the Port Elliot coastline. Drag your eyes away from the scenery and…

  • Down to Erth B&B

    Outback South Australia

    A real dugout gem about 3km from town: your own subterranean two-bedroom bunker (sleeps two adults and three kids – perfect for wandering families) with a…

  • Stirling Hotel

    Adelaide Hills

    The owners spent so much money tarting up this gorgeous old dame, it's a wonder they can pay the staff. Upstairs are five guest suites: plush,…

  • Hahndorf Resort

    Adelaide Hills

    It may feel a bit odd camping this close to Adelaide – not really in it, not really out of it – but if the sun is setting and you want to park your van,…

  • Great Northern Lodge

    Flinders Ranges

    This impressive operation comprises six buildings, with all kinds of accommodation configurations: private motel-style doubles, double bedrooms off a…

  • Rawnsley Park Station

    Flinders Ranges

    This rangy homestead 35km from Hawker on the southern fringes of Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park offers everything from tent sites to luxe eco-villas,…

  • Bonnies of Beachport

    Limestone Coast

    Looking like the prow of some vast yacht heading out into Rivoli Bay, Bonnies is a two-storey complex of six apartments – all timber slats, mast-like…

  • CABN

    Adelaide Hills

    This snappy-looking bush eco-cabin is in an undisclosed locale behind Stirling (you'll find out the exact address when you book). But until then, we can…

  • Quorn Caravan Park

    Flinders Ranges

    Fully keyed-in to climate change, this passionately run park on Pinkerton Creek is hell-bent on reducing emissions and restoring native habitat. Features…

  • Dalton on the Lake

    Limestone Coast

    Generous in spirit and unfailingly clean, this two-bedroom lakeside B&B (parts of which date back to the 1890s) goes to great lengths to ensure your stay…

  • SupaShak

    Kangaroo Island

    Oh look, a lunar landing pod has touched down in the Vivonne Bay dunes… This angular architectural spacecraft is future-fantastic, responding to the…

  • The Kirche @ Charles Melton

    Barossa Valley

    Knocked together in 1964, this old stone Lutheran church – the Zum Kripplein Christi church, in fact – is now a fabulous boutique B&B. It's a few minutes'…

  • Waikerie Hotel Motel

    Murray River

    Much of this huge pub burnt down in 2012, two days shy of its 100th birthday. The 19 rebuilt en suite pub rooms upstairs are awesome: fancy linen, glowing…

  • Australasian

    Fleurieu Peninsula

    This gorgeous 1858 stone hotel at the head of Goolwa's main street has been reborn as a sassy B&B, with a sequence of Japanese-inspired decks and glazed…

  • Marree Hotel

    Outback South Australia

    The big, stone 1883 Marree Hotel – built from ballast stones from a ship, lugged here from waaay south – has decent pub rooms (shared bathrooms), smart en…

  • North Star Hotel

    Flinders Ranges

    As welcome as summer rain: the North Star is a noble 1854 pub renovated in city-meets-woolshed style. Sit under spinning ceiling fans at the bistro (mains…

  • Mud Hut Motel

    Outback South Australia

    The rustic-looking walls here are made from rammed earth, and despite the grubby name this is one of the cleanest (and newest) places in town (and indeed,…

  • Colhurst House

    Limestone Coast

    Most locals don't know about Colhurst − it's up a laneway off a side street (Wyatt St), and you can't really see it from central Mount G. It's an 1878…

  • Coorong Cabins

    Limestone Coast

    Two mod, self-contained rental houses – Pelican and Wren, sleeping four and two respectively – are about 14km south of town, but right on the waterfront…

  • Wigley Retreat

    Murray River

    Some 27km east of Waikerie and a couple of kilometres off the Sturt Hwy, Wigley Retreat is a simple but stylish stone cottage right on the riverbank. It's…

  • Cameron's Cottage

    Limestone Coast

    Surrounded by rampant blooms, this original whitewashed timber settler's cottage (1863) has seen some history. Inside it's cottagey without being twee,…

  • Avenue Inn

    Limestone Coast

    A surprising find in the Narcoorte backstreets, a pleasant distance from the highway, this old L-shaped motel has been thoroughly revitalised, with fancy…

  • Point Turton Caravan Park

    Yorke Peninsula

    Down on the shore, backed by a scrubby escarpment, this superfriendly caravan park has grassy sites and tidy cabins overlooking the sea. The deluxe two-…

  • Minima Hotel

    Adelaide

    The mural-clad Minima offers compact but stylish rooms, each decorated by a different SA artist, in a prize-winning Melbourne St location (wake up and…

  • Antechamber Bay South Campground

    Kangaroo Island

    Within Lashmar Conservation Park where the Chapman River runs into Antechamber Bay, these dozen marvellously low-key campsites are right on the riverbank,…

  • Marion Bay Motel

    Yorke Peninsula

    A highlight of tiny Marion Bay is this wing of five spiffy motel rooms (white walls, new TVs, nice linen) – a welcome surprise if you've been camping or…

  • Mill Apartments

    Clare Valley

    At the northern end of Clare's long main street, the Mill Apartments are six high-end hideaways, elevated on stilts (park your car underneath) and…

  • Cape du Couedic Lodges

    Kangaroo Island

    These three three-bedroom limestone cottages near the Cape du Couedic lighthouse each sleep seven. Inside they're decked out in simple, rather masculine…