8 best camping spots in South Australia
15 MAY 2026
The engine cuts out and the silence moves in. You step from the car and stretch your legs, scanning the ground for the flattest patch of dirt to call home for the next few days.
That patch can look different across South Australia. It might be red earth in the shadow of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges, where clear days give way to cold nights by the fire. It might be sand tracked back through a coastal campsite on the Fleurieu, or a forest camp in Barossa where pine needles soften the ground and the trails disappear into the trees. But wherever you roll out the swag or peg down the tent, the feeling is often the same: the world shrinks down to what’s right in front of you.
To help you find your own patch of ground, here is your guide to the best camping spots in South Australia.
1 / 8
Kuitpo Forest, Fleurieu Peninsula
Less than an hour from Adelaide, Kuitpo Forest is one of those places that feels further away than it is. The road slips past vineyards and paddocks before the trees start to gather, and soon you’re beneath a canopy of plantation pines and native bushland, looking for the right place to unroll the swag. The forest’s main campground, Chookarloo, makes an easy base for families, walkers and anyone following the Heysen or Chookarloo walking trails. There are shelters, rainwater, a pit toilet and picnic areas, so you can keep things simple without feeling too far from the essentials.
Where to find it: Kuitpo Forest is on the Fleurieu Peninsula, about 45 minutes south of Adelaide. It’s one of the easiest forest camping options close to the city.
2 / 8
Rawnsley Park, Flinders Ranges
At Rawnsley Park Station, the day gets pulled apart around the fire. Behind you, the ridgelines of Ikara/Wilpena Pound hold the last of the light like coals, rust at first, then purple, then almost gone. You scuff red dirt from your boots, draw the walking track into the dust with a stick and admit, now you’re finally sitting down, that the climb looked a lot easier on the map. Above the ranges, the first stars start needling through the dark.
Set on the south-eastern edge of Ikara/Wilpena Pound, this working sheep station gives you the scale of the Flinders without losing the small comforts. Keep it simple at a bush camping site or settle into a powered spot. When the camp stove feels like too much effort, let the Woolshed Restaurant handle the cooking.
Where to find it: Rawnsley Park Station sits on the south-eastern edge of Ikara/Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges, about five hours north of Adelaide.
3 / 8
Rocky Paddock Campground, Barossa
Rocky Paddock is a maze of twisted gums and trails that pull you deeper into Mount Crawford Forest. Granite outcrops break up the campground, creating little pockets to set up camp and a natural obstacle course for the kids.
The air carries that sharp, clean hit of eucalyptus and damp earth, and every laugh or call seems to bounce off the stone before disappearing into the trees. By afternoon, the light begins to slip through the pines as the rocks radiate the warmth they’ve collected all day. By evening, the fire gets going and the campground falls quiet under the trees.
Where to find it: Rocky Paddock Campground is in Mount Crawford Forest, about an hour north-east of Adelaide and a short 8km drive from Williamstown, one of the closest Barossa towns.
4 / 8
Bellwether Wines Glamping, Limestone Coast
It’s morning at Bellwether Wines. You unzip the tent under red gums, pull on boots damp from the grass and follow the smell of coffee towards the old Glen Roy Shearing Shed. Built in 1868, the shed now holds the cellar door, winery and community kitchen, so the day can wander easily from a tasting to a platter, then back outside with a glass still in hand.
Bellwether has four permanent bell tents built on decks, plus well-spaced campsites for travellers with their own gear. The good stuff is woven into the stay: herbs picked from the garden, breakfast carried to your tent, a prepared camp oven warming over the fire while someone pours the red. If you catch it on a night with live music, even better. The melody carries from the shed, the fire burns low and the walk back to bed is just through the gums.
Where to find it: Bellwether Wines is seven kilometres north of Coonawarra township on the Limestone Coast, around four hours south-east of Adelaide.
5 / 8
Daly Head Campground, Yorke Peninsula
At Daly Head, you don’t need to leave camp to check the surf. Perched on the cliff edge above Blue Bay, the campground gives you a front-row seat to the swell rolling in below, where surfers and dolphins take turns riding the waves. If there’s a rod in the car, someone will end up down by the surf gutters, hoping for salmon or mulloway with dinner on their mind. Back at the campsite, salt-stiffened towels and wetsuits drape from car doors, drying in the Yorke Peninsula breeze. Everyone drifts back to the cliff edge by late afternoon. Blue Bay catches the last of the sun and the day ends the same way it began: watching the water.
Where to find it: Daly Head Bush Campground is on the southern Yorke Peninsula, near White Hut. Allow around 3.5 to 4 hours’ drive from Adelaide.
6 / 8
Ocean Beach, Coorong National Park
You ease the 4WD onto the sand and choose a spot between the dunes and the Southern Ocean, with the Coorong stretching behind you.
This is one for self-sufficient campers with a 4WD and a good read on the weather. There’s no neat little site waiting with a picnic table, which really is the whole point. You pitch low against the wind, weigh down what needs weighing down and make coffee with cold hands while pelicans work the lagoon behind you and shorebirds pick their way through the shallows.
By morning, everything has a fine layer of salt and sand: the tent, the mugs, the towels… and probably you.
Where to find it: Ocean Beach is in Coorong National Park, around 2.5 to 3 hours south-east of Adelaide, with designated beach campsites between Tea Tree Crossing and 42 Mile Crossing. Access is by 4WD only, and conditions can change.
7 / 8
Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo Island
At Vivonne Bay, the colour pulls you down to the beach before you’ve properly unpacked. Clear water runs over pale sand, turning the bay a blue that makes people stop halfway down the track and fall quiet for a moment. The campground is tucked into the scrub just behind the dunes, a huddle of sites where the ground is a mix of grey sand and crushed shells. You’ll find a patch of shade under a paperbark and unroll the swag while the wind whistles through the coastal gums.
Lunch is a barefoot wander to the General Store for a whiting sandwich. It’s a local legend for a reason: thick, soft white bread and golden-battered fish, best eaten with sandy hands on the shop steps. Spend the rest of the afternoon out on the jetty, watching stingrays move through the shadows beneath the pylons, or floating in the clear, still pools of the bay.
Where to find it: Vivonne Bay is on Kangaroo Island’s south coast. From Adelaide, you can reach the island by ferry via Cape Jervis or take a short flight to Kingscote, followed by around 45 minutes’ drive to the beach.
8 / 8
Perlubie Beach Campground, Eyre Peninsula
At Perlubie Beach Campground, you don’t have to pack for a family beach day. You unzip the tent and you’re already in it: white sand at the door, calm water just beyond camp and small footprints heading for the shallows before breakfast has made it out of the esky.
Set along 600 metres of designated beachfront campsites, just 20 minutes north of Streaky Bay, Perlubie keeps everything within reach. Kids wander back from the water with buckets sloshing against their legs, shells cupped carefully in both hands and stories that need your full attention immediately. Towels slowly claim the camp chairs. The paddleboard gets dragged down to the bay, left in the sand, then dragged back in again when someone decides they’re ready for another go.
It’s simple, self-sufficient camping with a 4WD, a close eye on the tide and a very good reason to stay put.
Where to find it: Perlubie Beach Campground is on the Eyre Peninsula, around 20 minutes north of Streaky Bay via Perlubie Landing Road. From Adelaide, allow around 7.5 to 8 hours, making it best suited to a longer Eyre Peninsula road trip.
