I fell in love on the weekend. It was like I was twenty-one again, with a stomach full of butterflies and a body full of excited energy. Rather than skipping town these holidays, my husband and I decided to fall in love again… not with each other, but with our own city!
And so, like a couple of excited tourists, we booked a family weekend away in the heart of our CBD, at InterContinental Adelaide.
This was our Family Itinerary:
HOTEL: INTERCONTINENTAL ADELAIDE
In every photo of the gorgeous River Torrens, stands a rather tall, pinkish, extremely fancy-looking hotel. InterContinental Adelaide has become part of our skyline, accommodating some of the biggest stars to have visited our rad town. I’m just going to assume I slept in the same bed Rhianna did — SQUEAL! It’s also walking distance to Rundle Mall. Convenient and dangerous (for your credit card) at the same time.
As stunning as InterContinental Adelaide is, it’s also super family-friendly and the staff are BEYOND lovely. As for food, the summer dinner menu and buffet breakfast at Riverside Restaurant are absolutely delicious! And you can tell how good they are, by the huge trail of food my one-year-old left on the ground behind us after every meal!
My husband is a massive coffee snob and has told me to say, their coffee is ON POINT! He’d drive into the city JUST for the coffee at InterContinental Adelaide.
ADELAIDE ZOO
Well, this was definitely the highlight of my kids’ year so far and it wasn’t just the animals that put a permanent smile on their faces. The new Adelaide Zoo Nature’s Playground is every child’s dream! I may or may not have gone down the slide a few times too.
JAMIE’S ITALIAN
The thing I adore about Jamie Oliver, is his lisp. Oh and also the fact that his restaurants cater for the whole family and every dish I’ve tried has been exactly what I expected from him — delicious! Make sure you book or head there early; we had dinner at 5pm — living the dream!
CHEAP MEAL IN CHINATOWN
When you’re a tourist in your own city, you don’t need a car. You can walk everywhere. We walked to Chinatown for a cheap lunch and did what all good parents do — tire our kids out so they could have a killer afternoon sleep.
SUNSET PICNIC ON THE TORRENS
InterContinental Adelaide is located on the best spot along the River Torrens, overlooking the ‘babe’ that is our new Adelaide Oval and the amazing footbridge. And if you’ve always wanted to go on those paddle boats, this is the time to do it. It’s way more fun that it looks — especially when you almost capsize!
Wow, what a stunner the Torrens is at sunset! We got a picnic rug and planted our bums on the riverbank. It was romantic… in a “kids are with us, so we can’t be romantic” kind of way. I found myself taking so many photos, like I’d never seen the Torrens before — it was true love.
LANEWAY TOUR
You’re not “cool” if you don’t hang out in Adelaide’s revamped laneways. If you didn’t already know, there are pop-up bars and funky little coffee shops scattered throughout the west end. And the street art is superb! My fave gem was the one we stumbled across on Leigh Street — Pink Moon Saloon. So cute, I just wanted to hug it!
It was only two nights away, but it felt like we’d been away for about a week. I still don’t even know what day it is — isn’t that the BEST feeling?
Do your family and yourself a favour by falling in love with our spectacular city, all over again!
Hayley xx
If you’d like take your family to the Adelaide Hills, check out my Hahndorf Itinerary.
InterContinental Adelaide have a special holiday package that lets you save up to 30% off your next stay in January, 2016. This applies for a room or room and breakfast deal. Also, for an additional $80, guests will receive valet parking and dinner for two.