Top things not to miss on the Yorke Peninsula

Life slows down on the Yorke Peninsula — where doing less somehow gives you more. With 700 kilometres of coastline, the sea is never far away: sometimes calm and glassy, sometimes wild enough to rattle the windows. Explore the national parks, heritage towns and coastal trails, and meet locals turning their craft into art, beer and spirits. Find the best things to do on the Yorke Peninsula and use your southaustralia.com account to save favourites and plan attractions, tours, experiences, hires and more.

Two kids walking on a rocky coastal landscape nearby the ocean showing in the background.
Dhilba Guuranda Innes National Park

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A preserved peninsula

Here, the land feels untouched. Yorke Peninsula beaches stretch just minutes from every town, where the tide laps at your toes and surfboards slice the swell. Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park blankets the southern tip, a sanctuary of cliffs, bays and mallee scrub. Emus mark the sand with their distinctive footprints, while kangaroos bound between dunes. Bushwalking along trails lead to lookouts where the ocean spills out to meet the horizon. You spot fishing charters heading out to sea, and dolphins riding the swell nearby. Further inland, salt lakes shimmer in shifting shades of pink and white. A pristine coast to lose yourself in, even if only for a little while.

Mark your coastal stops
Historic railway track passing through a stone and timber tunnel at Moonta Mines on the Yorke Peninsula
Moonta Mines

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Mining & historical heritage

Beneath the Yorke Peninsula’s golden fields, lies a rich history. Once a centre for copper mining, heritage towns like Moonta, Wallaroo and Kadina still carry reminders of their industrious past — old chimneys, stone walls and cottages that have seen generations come and go. Walk into Moonta Mines and you can almost hear the clang of picks and the chatter of Cornish miners who made this place hum back in 1859. Follow a walking trail or duck into a museum, where plaques mark old shafts and rusted gears remain untouched from days past – as though their operators just stepped away for a cuppa. Down quiet streets you’ll find heritage churches, town halls and school buildings from yesteryear, while along the coast, shipwrecks rest just offshore like a steady sentinel.

Tour, walk & learn
Two people enjoying cocktails outdoors at Sunny Hill Distillery — a pink gin drink and a mojito.
Sunny Hill Distillery

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Breweries & Distilleries

On the Yorke Peninsula, what’s poured and plated comes straight from the land around you. Farming shapes daily life here, across broad golden fields where barley and wheat ripen under the sun. Grown just down the road from local breweries and distilleries, these grains are malted into crisp beers and hand-crafted spirits — each glass a true taste of this patch of coast. Wander into a taproom to sample straight from the barrel or pull up a stool in a beer garden – just be sure to dust off your sandy feet. While you’re on the peninsula, get a taste of farm life through a hands-on tour, before heading seaside, where seafood is served almost as soon as it’s caught.

Sip your reward
Two hikers with backpacks walking along a grassy trail surrounded by coastal trees, overlooking calm blue waters with a sailboat in the distance.

Planning a Trip?

Torn between a cruise around Yorke Peninsula’s national park or exploring the relics of old copper mines? Save your highlights for later by creating a free southaustralia.com account. You can save all your favourite attractions, tours, landmarks and suggestions as you research and build your trip in the Trip Planner.

 

 

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'Community' Artwork by Gabriel Stengle

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