9 national parks in Adelaide with accessible facilities

Ade­laide is Australia’s first and only Nation­al Park City. It’s no won­der, giv­en there is access for all to enjoy nature close to the state’s capital.

Know before you go by check­ing out this list of Ade­laide parks that have acces­si­ble features.

1. Anstey Hill Recre­ation Park

Head­ing to Anstey Hill Recre­ation Park in Adelaide’s north-east? You can find acces­si­ble park­ing spaces at Gate 1 near Ellis Cot­tage, and the toi­lets are right next door – one is acces­si­ble (suit­able for right-hand trans­fer) and the oth­er is an ambu­lant toilet.

As you make your way fur­ther into the park, the 650 m Lit­tle Quar­ry Loop fea­tures a hard packed grav­el sur­face which is most­ly lev­el. The trail begins near the main car park in the for­mer quar­ry. Fan­cy a pic­nic along the way? 

There are 3 acces­si­ble pic­nic areas on the loop.

2. Belair Nation­al Park

Adelaide’s old­est park – Belair Nation­al Park – has lots of acces­si­ble park­ing spaces and toi­lets.

If you’re look­ing for acces­si­ble trails, there’s a cou­ple that have hard packed grav­el and bitu­men surfaces.

There’s the 1 km Wood Duck Walk trail, which starts at the carpark and cir­cum­nav­i­gates Play­ford Lake, and is a per­fect set­ting to enjoy the area’s open-air, all-access pic­nic ground. 

The 3 km Lori­keet Loop Walk starts at Old Gov­ern­ment House and trav­els in an anti-clock­wise direction.

You may need assis­tance on the climb back to Old Gov­ern­ment House from the adven­ture play­ground. New acces­si­ble toi­lets opened at Old Gov­ern­ment House ear­li­er this year.

Pine Pic­nic Area One is also acces­si­ble, and has an acces­si­ble park­ing space and acces­si­ble toi­let (suit­able for left-hand transfer).

If you’re keen for a bit of car­dio, ten­nis courts 1, 2, 32 and 33 are acces­si­ble. Book and pay for your ten­nis court and vehi­cle entry online before you arrive.

3. Cle­land Nation­al Park

Cle­land Nation­al Park in the Ade­laide Hills is a great park to vis­it, as there’s so much to see.

Try start­ing at Water­fall Gul­ly, where there are 2 acces­si­ble park­ing spaces. Right next to the car park, you’ll find the toi­lets which include one acces­si­ble toi­let (left-hand trans­fer) and an ambu­lant toi­let.

Take the 300 m bitu­men trail that climbs from the car park to the first falls pool and back. You might need some assis­tance because of the gradient.

No vis­it to Cle­land is com­plete with­out a vis­it to Cle­land Wildlife Park. As well as being home to some very cute fur­ry crea­tures, there are many acces­si­ble facil­i­ties. Check out the park’s mobil­i­ty map.

You should also head to the look­out at Mount Lofty Sum­mit to enjoy the sweep­ing views across Ade­laide. There’s acces­si­ble park­ing spaces and acces­si­ble toi­lets there too.

4. Cob­bler Creek Recre­ation Park

You’ll find 2 toi­lets and 2 acces­si­ble park­ing spaces at the main entrance to Cob­bler Creek on the cor­ner of Bridge and Smith Roads, Sal­is­bury East. One toi­let is acces­si­ble (right-hand trans­fer) and the oth­er is an ambu­lant toilet.

If you’re plan­ning to stay for lunch, there’s an acces­si­ble pic­nic area next to the Kites and Kestrels adven­ture play­ground. Shel­ters, seat­ing, and a bar­be­cue are available.

5. Hal­lett Cove Con­ser­va­tion Park

Head­ing beach­side? There are 2 acces­si­ble park­ing spaces at the south end of Hal­lett Cove Con­ser­va­tion Park and an acces­si­ble toi­let (left-hand trans­fer) next to the car park of the Boat­shed Café.

A bitu­men path leads from the café towards Black Cliff Look­out where the trail steep­ens con­sid­er­ably (up to 12%). Assis­tance will be required on this sec­tion to the look­out. Check out the below video of the access trails at Hal­lett Cove Con­ser­va­tion Park.

What’s on at Hal­lett Cove Con­ser­va­tion Park: new access trails 

6. Mori­al­ta Con­ser­va­tion Park

There’s plen­ty of acces­si­ble park­ing spaces in Mori­al­ta Con­ser­va­tion Park, in Adelaide’s east­ern suburbs. 

You’ll find one acces­si­ble park at the resource cen­tre, 3 at the Strad­broke Road carpark and pic­nic area, and anoth­er 3 at the First Falls carpark.

The Mukan­thi Play­space is a huge attrac­tion at Mori­al­ta. There are acces­si­ble toi­lets locat­ed here, as well as acces­si­ble park­ing and bar­be­cue facil­i­ties. There are also acces­si­ble toi­lets at the First Falls carpark.

To explore the park, try the 1.6 km Mori­al­ta Falls Val­ley Walk. The trail ris­es gen­tly on a wide, hard packed grav­el trail to just below the First Falls. The last sec­tion goes below the falls via a boardwalk.

You can also try the Fourth Creek Trail. The first half of the trail is com­pact­ed grav­el, and the sec­ond half is bitu­men, both about 1 m wide. The trail is suit­able for prams, although there is a short incline near the start, just beyond the Mukan­thi Play­space and after the footbridge.

7. Onka­paringa Riv­er Recre­ation Park

If you go to Onka­paringa Riv­er Recre­ation Park in the south­ern sub­urbs, you’ll find an acces­si­ble park­ing space and an acces­si­ble toi­let at Per­rys Bend. You can also enjoy the pic­nic area which has a BBQ and pic­nic tables.

To explore the park, try the 3 km Wet­lands Loop Trail. This flat trail is a mix­ture of board­walk and grav­el paths. The trail isn’t con­sid­ered wheel­chair acces­si­ble, how­ev­er, a blog post by Push Adven­tures describes how it can be accessed by wheel­chair users. 

8. Onka­paringa Riv­er Nation­al Park

Across at Onka­paringa Riv­er Nation­al Park, you’ll find one acces­si­ble park­ing space at the Pig­gott Range Road entrance.

You might like to check out the 2 km Punch­bowl Look­out Trail. Descend the wide, hard packed trail to the look­out where there are a num­ber of pic­nic bench­es. Return via the same trail which climbs 50 m over a 1 km distance.

If you plan to stay overnight, camp at one of Pink Gum Campground’s acces­si­ble sites, locat­ed at the east­ern end of the park. 

The camp­sites are on flat ground with a com­pact­ed grav­el sur­face. The road slopes down to the toi­lets but is acces­si­ble by car. You’ll find an acces­si­ble toi­let here. Don’t for­get to book and pay online before you go.

Top tip: Check out our guide to camp­ing at Onka­paringa Riv­er Nation­al Park for use­ful insid­er tips and inspiration. 

9. Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park

At Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park north of the city, you’ll find acces­si­ble toi­lets at Gawler View Pic­nic Area, Wirra Camp­ground Pic­nic area and Para Wirra Cen­tral Pic­nic Area.

The 1 km Lake Dis­cov­ery Loop Trail is our pick – we rec­om­mend you start from the East Lake carpark and fol­low the well-sign­post­ed trail in a clock­wise direc­tion. The trail loops around the lake on a hard packed grav­el trail with a few slight ris­es that may require some assistance.

Don’t for­get to book and pay online for your vehi­cle entry fee before you go.

Assis­tance dogs

Assis­tance dogs are allowed in most pub­lic places which includes South Australia’s nation­al parks. They must be appro­pri­ate­ly restrained on a lead and remain under your effec­tive con­trol at all times.

Want to explore fur­ther afield? Check out our sto­ry: 7 region­al parks with acces­si­ble fea­tures. Or for more infor­ma­tion about acces­si­bil­i­ty in parks, head to Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice’s web­site.

This sto­ry was orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in April 2018 and has been updat­ed with new information.