City guide: Adelaide

Many of Adelaide's buildings hark back to its colonial past

When it comes to sophistication and elegance, Adelaide has bucketloads.

In fact, one might even say wine buckets as the region is famous for being one of Australia's primary wine centres.

More than 60% of Australian wine is produced within three hours of the city.

But the area's cultural finesse also owes a lot to the Adelaide's colonial past.

Offices are just as likely to reside in gracious Victorian or Edwardian structures as in modern skyscrapers, while cafes and designer boutiques are housed in grand old buildings of a bygone era.

  Adelaide factfile

Population: 1.02m

Location: On the south coast in South Australia state

Climate: Hot dry summers and cool to mild winters

Geography: Spread out on either side of the Torrens River, between Gulf St Vincent (west) and the Mount Lofty Ranges (east)

Interesting fact: Adelaide is often called "the city of churches"

Barmy Army guide

A quick tour around the city reveals plenty of colonial-era homes as well, lovingly preserved with their verandas and Adelaide lace ironwork still intact.

Even Adelaide's familiar grid pattern of streets is a constant reminder of its colonial heritage, having been designed in 1836 by Colonel William Light.

Light also chose the site for the city and named it after Queen Adelaide, wife of the British King William IV.

Situated on a flat corridor between Gulf St Vincent on the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges to the east, the capital of South Australia also offers some great countryside and beaches to explore.

Just 20 minutes drive from the city, the Mt Lofty and Light's Vision Lookouts offer nice views, while the hills and Fleurieu Peninsula are the great garden and orchard areas of the region.

It is the area's scenic elegance and hot climate that, many say, gives Adelaide its distinctly Mediterranean feel.

The city is often referred to as the "Festival City" and celebrates this fact by putting on the Adelaide Festival of Arts and the Festival Fringe every two years.