The hills start twenty minutes from the Adelaide CBD and feel like another state. It is cooler up here, which in an Adelaide summer is the whole argument, and the playgrounds are built into bushland rather than dropped onto flat suburban grass.
A full day works best: Cleland in the morning while everyone is fresh, lunch in Hahndorf or Stirling, and a playground on the way down. Take a jumper even in January.
Cleland, and the view from the top
Cleland Wildlife Park is the one where you walk among the kangaroos rather than look at them through glass, and it is a few minutes from the Mount Lofty Summit lookout. Parking is free, there is a cafe on site, and prams and wheelchairs can be hired.
Steamroller Park in Stirling has an actual steamroller in it and is one of the few genuinely fenced playgrounds in the hills. Morialta's Mukanthi nature playspace sits at the foot of the waterfall walks, so you can combine a short bushwalk with somewhere for them to climb afterwards.
About twenty to thirty minutes by car from the Adelaide CBD. Cleland Wildlife Park and Mount Lofty Summit are roughly twenty minutes, Hahndorf closer to thirty.
Is Cleland Wildlife Park worth it with young children?
It is the one most families rate above the zoo for under-sevens, because the kangaroos and wallabies are in open enclosures you walk through rather than behind glass. Check current hours and entry fees on their website before you go.
What else is there to do in the Adelaide Hills with kids?
Hahndorf is a short, walkable main street with bakeries and room for a wander. Several hills playgrounds are built into bushland, and Morialta combines short waterfall walks with a large nature playspace at the bottom.
