Adelaide is South Australia's elegant, easy-living capital, where the people will make you feel at home and you'll get all the buzz of big city living without big city bills. From here it's less than an hour to 200-odd cellar doors, the house-boating heaven of the Murray River and the sparkling beaches and cliff-top restaurants of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Take a morning dip with dolphins just 20 minutes from your hotel in Adelaide's city centre. Drink wines loved the world over in Barossa, Coonawarra and the Clare Valley. Journey to the heart of the Outback, just a few hours north of Adelaide, or fly south to Kangaroo Island to get up close and personal with sea lions, kangaroos and koalas.

Adelaide

The capital of South Australia, Adelaide nestles between sea and hills. The wine and festival capital of Australia, Adelaide is one of the most vibrant, stylish and innovative cities you'll ever visit. It is a graceful city of wide streets, elegant buildings and parkland. Cultural pursuits, good food and wine are high on the agenda. Adelaide is compact and easy to walk around. It is known for its refinement and has a charm and grace that shows in sophisticated wining and dining, and beautiful architecture that has been well-preserved. North Terrace is home to many of the state's historical treasures, famous collections and cultural institutions. Most of the museums and galleries charge no admission and have programs of exhibitions, tours and lectures. There is also a host of fine commercial art galleries in Adelaide contemporary South Australian and Australian art. Adelaide has a great reputation for its art and culture. The Festival Centre on King William Road is the hub of opera, theatre and orchestra. For visual arts visit the Art Gallery of South Australia. The State's flagship performing arts companies are the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Australian String Quartet, the State Theatre of South Australia, the State Opera of South Australia and the major performance venue is the Adelaide Festival Centre on the banks of the River Torrens. Port Adelaide is the maritime heart of the state, and its historic centre has been preserved and restored. Of the many museums here, the South Australian Maritime Museum is the highlight.

Adelaide has a reputation for innovative, affordable cuisine which, when combined with local wines, is a memorable experience. New Yorker magazine once described Adelaide as "possibly the last well planned and contented metropolis on earth". It's easy to see why, for here is a city of great visual harmony and a classical elegant style, superbly set beside the River Torrens between the Adelaide Hills and waters of Gulf St Vincent.

• Swim with dolphins just 20 minutes from the city centre on a Temptation Sailing cruise.

• Pay homage to Australia's cricketing icon, Sir Donald Bradman, at the State Library of South Australia. The Bradman Collection features more than 140 items, from trophies and bats to oral recordings and 52 scrapbooks on The Don's brilliant career.

• Take a tour of Adelaide Oval, widely regarded as the most picturesque cricket ground in the world.

• Ride Adelaide's historic tram from Victoria Square in the city to the beachside suburb of Glenelg.

• Lear the mysteries of Great White Sharks at the Rodney Fox Shark Experience.

• Discover South Australia's settlement history at the Bay Discovery Centre and see where the colony's first government was proclaimed under the Old Gum Tree.

• Delight in the seaside village atmosphere of Semaphore, with its majestic Palais right on the water and a long boulevard of antique shops, cafes, bakeries and pubs.

• Marvel at native and exotic flora displays and 5000 roses at the International Rose Garden. Explore the world's largest collection of indigenous artefacts in the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery, an award-winning exhibition in the South Australian Museum.

• Delve into the life of Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson, or find the opalised skeleton of a six-metre-long plesiosaur.

• See one of the best Australian colonial art collections in the world, renowned dot paintings of the Western Desert, landscapes by Sir Hans Heysen and the works of Australia's much-loved impressionists including Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin.

• The Art Gallery of South Australia is housed in one of Adelaide's most beautiful buildings - and you can't leave without coffee and cake in the café out back.

• At the corner of Botanic and Hackney Roads test your skill at virtual wine making; meet the winemakers on the interactive Wine Discovery Journey; and delight in great Australian architecture at the National Wine Centre of Australia.