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Town in South Australia
Photo: Alan and Flora Botting, CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
McLaren Vale is in the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia, only 45 min south of the Adelaide CBD. McLaren Vale is one of South Australia's world renowned wine regions, and boasts excellent wineries, gourmet restaurants and many boutique stores.
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A five-level Rubik's Cube plopped atop a hill, the d'Arenberg Cube is McLaren Vale's signature building, hosting a tasting room and the bizarre Alternate Realities Museum. The highlight here is the Salvador Dali exhibition scheduled to run until 2028 ($10 extra), featuring 24 works by the Surrealist maestro. D'Arrys restaurant, next door, is also well regarded.
Go on one of their Cheese and Wine trails. The Cheese and Wine trail provides you with a cooler-bag of cheeses and instructions on which wines to taste whilst trying the cheese. A wonderful experience for those who are wanting to become more familiar with the wineries in the region.
A reasonably new national park with several mountain bike trails.
Cycle along the 37km long rail trail. It starts in Marino Rocks and ends in Willunga. The last 8km section between McLaren Vale and Willunga is the Shiraz Trail and passes many cellar doors.
This beach has both your classic expanse of sand as well as the remnants of a jetty and crumbling cliff face dotted with manmade caves once used to store boats. Plenty of interesting bits and bobs like shark eggs to be found in the rock pools at low tide. The Star of Greece clipper was wrecked nearby in 1888 and the wreck is easily accessible to scuba divers.
Local wine store.
Curtis Family Vineyards
Curtis Winery is established just west of the McLaren Vale township. Its vineyards have flourished, and now its sought-after McLaren Vale wines are available on the Australian and export markets. 100% Family-owned and Operated
Italian wines and olives on a lovely hilltop spot, with a restaurant and snack bar. The Nero d'Avola is particularly tasty.
Beautiful hilltop winery that makes a fine Syrah. Their casual on-site restaurant Cucina di Strada, literally "street food" in Italian, offers tasty pinsa (Roman-style pizza), appetizers and tasting platters, which you can wash down with a glass or two of vino from the bar.
Fresh food just outside of McLaren Vale.
By public transport
From Adelaide, take a train to Seaford, then connect to bus 751 to McLaren Vale. The journey takes about 1.5 hours.
McLaren Vale is hilly and spread out, meaning you need some wheels to get around.
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