Adelaide Festival & Surrounds

Day 1 | Wednesday 11 March
Arrive Adelaide
The tour begins in our Adelaide hotel at 5.00pm, where we meet in the bar for introductions over a welcome drink, followed by dinner together in the hotel’s elegant Koomo Restaurant with Japanese-inspired food and panoramic views across the city. Overnight Adelaide (D)

Day 2 | Thursday 12 March
Gardens & Art | El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered
After a leisurely breakfast we make our way to the Adelaide Botanic Garden, an oasis in the cosmopolitan heart of the city. Here our guided tour takes us through the beautiful public gardens, home to a diverse range of plants from Australia and around the world. We also visit the beautiful 19th-century Palm House, imported from Germany in 1875 and reopened after painstaking restoration. After a break for lunch, we then make our way along North Terrace to the Art Gallery of South Australia, where we have the afternoon to enjoy the gallery’s extensive collection of Australian, European, North American and Asian works and one of the most important collections of Indigenous art. Returning to the hotel, there is time to freshen up before our first Festival performance – El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered, a chamber reimagining of John Adams’ monumental oratorio. Devised by Grammy Award-winning soprano Julia Bullock, this Australian exclusive centres the maternal voice within the Nativity story, blending music, poetry and activism in an intimate and affecting production featuring the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Chamber Singers and conductor Christian Reif. Overnight Adelaide (B)

Day 3 | Friday 13 March
Private Collections | Theatre of Dreams
Fermoy House, the former residence of unconventional Adelaide-based millionaire David Roche, will be our starting point today. This eccentric and elaborate estate, filled with an extraordinary private art collection, is highly unique and reflects Roche’s French/Irish ancestry. We then travel by
coach to the well preserved stately home of Carrick Hill estate, and its 40 hectares of gardens. After lunch at the onsite cafe, we enjoy a guided tour through the gardens – a tranquil blend of formal design, native plantings and shaded woodland walks that frame the historic house and its views across the plains. Returning to the hotel in the late afternoon, there is time to freshen up before this evening’s Festival performance by the acclaimed Hofesh Shechter Company. This Australian exclusive, Theatre of Dreams, immerses audiences in a hedonistic world of movement and music, where twelve dancers journey through darkness, emotion and desire in Shechter’s signature cinematic style. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 4 | Saturday 14 March
Kangaroo Island
After an early departure from our hotel we will head to Cape Jervis before ferrying across to unspoilt Kangaroo Island, famed for its rugged beauty and remarkable wildlife. Our full-day guided tour reveals the island’s natural and cultural highlights, beginning with Clifford’s Honey Farm, where we learn about the island’s Ligurian bees and taste their distinctive honey. We continue to Seal Bay for a guided beach walk among a colony of endangered Australian sea lions, followed by lunch at Vivonne Bay Bistro, with time to enjoy the island’s relaxed hospitality. In the afternoon we explore Flinders Chase National Park, home to the island’s most dramatic coastal scenery, including the Remarkable Rocks and the wave-carved Admirals Arch. After an unforgettable day of discovery, we board the evening ferry back to the mainland. A light dinner can be purchased on board before our late return to the hotel. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 5 | Sunday 15 March
The Adelaide Hills | The Chronicles
This morning we depart by coach and travel to the picturesque Adelaide Hills. After taking in the spectacular views at Mount Lofty, we continue to ‘The Cedars’ – the stunning home, garden and studios of renowned father and daughter artists Hans and Nora Heysen. Our tour of the estate takes in the over 200 artworks on display, with many appearing in their original setting, and concludes with an afternoon tea of freshly baked scones and a selection of wonderful in house-made cakes and sandwiches in the Cedars’ Kitchen. Returning to Adelaide in the late afternoon, we take our seats this evening at the Dunstan Playhouse for The Chronicles by the Stephanie Lake Company. Pulsing with energy, this new dance epic explores the cycles of life from the womb to the tomb, blending twelve exceptional dancers with Robin Fox’s electrifying electro-acoustic score and live vocals by Young Adelaide Voices
and baritone Oliver Mann. Overnight Adelaide (B, AT)

Day 6 | Monday 16 March
The Beautiful Barossa
Today we journey north to the Barossa Valley, one of Australia’s most celebrated wine regions. Our destination is the historic Seppeltsfield Estate, founded in 1851 and an enduring icon of the Barossa’s winemaking heritage. A guided heritage tour introduces the estate’s palm-lined grounds, the original Seppelt family homestead and the atmospheric underground Blending Cellar, culminating in a private fortified wine tasting in the famed 1878 Centennial Cellar. We then sit down to a leisurely lunch at FINO, the estate’s award-winning restaurant, where seasonal menus celebrate the best of Barossa produce. On our return to Adelaide, we pause at Langmeil Church in Tanunda – a picturesque Lutheran landmark that reflects the valley’s early German settlement. Overnight Adelaide (B, L)

Day 7 | Tuesday 17 March
Art & History
Our day begins at the South Australian Museum with a guided tour of the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery. Housing more than 3,000 artefacts from Central Australia and the Top End, this world-class collection offers a profound insight into the diversity and depth of Australia’s First Nations heritage, brought to life by our Indigenous guide. We then visit the nearby State Library of South Australia to admire the magnificent Mortlock Wing – a grand 19th-century reading room of wrought-iron balconies, polished timber, and a soaring glass-domed roof. In the afternoon, we return to the Art Gallery of South Australia to view the 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Yield Strength. This major survey exhibition – presented in association with the Adelaide Festival – features 24 contemporary Australian artists whose works probe how materials, selfhood and society are tested and transformed under pressure. We conclude our day with a farewell dinner at the prestigious Adelaide Club, founded in 1863. One of Adelaide’s most elegant heritage buildings, it has long been a meeting place for the city’s leading political, rural and business figures. Overnight Adelaide (B, D)

Day 8 | Wednesday 18 March
Depart Adelaide
The tour concludes after breakfast this morning. (B)