South Australia Travel Guide

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International Travel

Getting There By Air

International carriers operating to Adelaide include Cathay Pacific (CX), Malaysia Airlines (MH), Qantas (QF), Pacific Blue (DJ) and Singapore Airlines (SQ). Flights from Europe stop off in the Far East, usually Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong or Bangkok. Adelaide is also linked to every other Australian state capital city. For more flight details, see the main Australia section.

There is an excellent system of internal flights serving all regional towns, and the majority of flights are run by Rex - Regional Express (ZL) (flights to Kangaroo Island) (www.regionalexpress.com.au), Qantas (QF) (www.qantas.com.au), Virgin Blue (DJ) (www.virginblue.com.au) and Tiger Airways (TR) (www.tigerairways.com.au).

Departure Tax

None.

Main Airports

Adelaide Airport (ADL) (www.aal.com.au) is 6km (4 miles) from the city center (journey time - 15 minutes). To/from the airport: Public buses take 30 minutes to the city center. Facilities: Banks, bureau de change, left luggage, restaurants, bars, shops and car hire.

Getting There By Water

Main ports: Adelaide (www.flindersports.com.au) is an international port, with regular visits from international cruise lines.

SeaLink (tel: (08) 8202 8688; www.sealink.com.au) runs regular car-ferry services from Cape Jervis to Kangaroo Island (journey time - 1 hour).

Getting There By Rail

Adelaide, where The Ghan train calls en route to Darwin (a scenic rail journey through a desert landscape), is a major terminal on the national rail network.

The Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth also stops in Adelaide, while The Overland travels between Melbourne and Adelaide. See Getting Around By Rail in the main Australia guide for details.

Other tourist services are the Cockle Train (tel: (08) 8552 2782; www.steamranger.org.au), a scenic trip on vintage steam locomotives between Goolwa and Victor Harbour on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Pichi Richi Steam Train (tel: (08) 8648 6598; www.prr.org.au) which leaves Quorn in the Flinders Ranges on a two-and-a-half-hour round trip.

Adelaide's rail terminal is located at Keswick, a few kilometers from the city center.

Adelaide Metro (tel: 1300 311 108; www.adelaidemetro.com.au) offers comprehensive suburban rail services across the city.

Getting There By Road

The main highways north are the Stuart Highway to Darwin via Coober Pedy and Alice Springs, and the Birdsville Track to Queensland. The other main state highways are the Eyre Highway west to Perth, the Prince's Highway along the coast to Melbourne and the Stuart Highway east to Canberra and Sydney.

Coach: The southern states are fully connected to the national system of coach lines that cross Australia from all the state capitals. Typical coach journey times are as follows: from Adelaide to Melbourne is 11 hours, to Alice Springs is 19 hours 30 minutes, to Sydney is 23 hours and to Brisbane is 33 hours. Greyhound (tel: 1300 473 946; www.greyhound.com.au) is the main operator.

Car hire: Services are available at all the main hotels, the railway station and the airport.