Adelaide to Cobar road trip: Distance, drive time & best stops

The best stops on the Adelaide to Cobar road trip are the Barossa Valley, Burra and Broken Hill. The distance from Adelaide to Cobar is 973km, with a driving time of around 10h21m.

An Adelaide to Cobar road trip takes you from the capital of South Australia to a surprisingly arty New South Wales copper mining town. For most travellers, this journey will be part of a longer road trip from Adelaide to Townsville or Adelaide to Cairns.

Adelaide brings food tours of the fabulous Central Market, Torrens River cruises, swimming with dolphins and the chance to walk across the roof of the Adelaide Oval. To book Adelaide accommodation, step this way. For a full range of Adelaide tours and experiences, explore here.

Pick your perfect Adelaide day trips

Barossa Valley tours: 1. Wine-tasting with lunch 🍷. 2. Food and wine tour. 3. Small group wine tour with exclusive VIP tastings.
Kangaroo Island in a day – including sea lions 🦭, koalas 🐨and national parks.
Adelaide Hills tours: 1. Sights plus Murray River lunch cruise combo. 2. Small group cheese, chocolate & wine tour with Hahndorf German village.
McLaren Vale tours: 1. Small group wine tour with lunch. 2. Hop-on hop-off wineries tour 🍷. 3. Food and wine indulgence tour, including the gloriously weird d’Arenberg Cube.
Victor Harbor and southern highlights tour – including the Granite Island horse-drawn tram.

To secure the best Cobar accommodation deals, head here.

This guide should help you plan your perfect Adelaide to Cobar road trip itinerary.

Click through on the individual places and attractions for more detailed, specific information.

If you need to hire a car, find the best rental deals. And don’t forget to do all your pre-road trip shopping.

Adelaide to Cobar distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Adelaide to Cobar is 973km. This makes for a driving time of around 10 hours and 21 minutes.

For most drivers, this road trip is going to require at least one overnight stop.

Good road trip stops on the quickest Adelaide to Cobar route include Burra and Broken Hill.

**15 fabulous Adelaide experiences to supercharge your visit**

DOLPHINS 🐬: Swim with wild dolphins, kayak with the resident bottlenose pod or watch them on a dolphin cruise.
FOOD AND WINE 🍷: Indulge on Adelaide food tour including Adelaide Central Market. Or try a wine discovery tour with tastings at the National Wine Centre. Or the ultimate Penfolds Magill Estate experience with full estate tour & Grange tasting.
WILDLIFE 🐨: Spot koalas on a guided Morialta nature hike. Or walk from Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty with entrance to Cleland Wildlife Park.
CRUISES ⛵: Watch the sun set on a twilight coastal cruise, get to know the city on a Torrens River cruise or take a high tea cruise aboard the Popeye.
SPORT 🏏: Dare to take on the Adelaide Oval Roofclimb or enter the fabled scoreboard on the behind-the-scenes stadium tour.
ACTION 🚵‍♂️: Descend Mount Lofty on a downhill mountain bike tour or kayak along the Torrens River.

Top Adelaide hotel recommendations

For the beach: Oaks Glenelg Plaza Pier Suites. For families: Big4 West Beach. Most fun: Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets. For setting: Oval Hotel. For heritage: Adina Apartment Hotel Adelaide Treasury.

Adelaide to Cobar road trip: Wine regions and Burra

The first leg of this Adelaide to Cobar road trip is the 517km leg from Adelaide to Broken Hill. The route initially grinds through suburban Adelaide before joining the Barrier Highway at Gawler.

However, if you’re treating this as a holiday, rather than a mission from A to B, the Barossa Valley and Clare Valley wine regions are close by and incredibly tempting.

8 unusual Barossa Valley experiences to book in advance

Half day Mustang convertible tour.
Two hour kayaking experience.
Half day trike tour with commentary via headsets.
Wine-tasting tour in a bright red London cab.
Winery hopping by e-bike.
Gin-making workshop with lunch.
Behind the scenes VIP tour at Seppeltsfield.
Learn about barrel-making at the Yalumba Cooperage.

Otherwise, your first good stop is Burra. Here you can learn about copper mining heritage at the Monster Mine or discover what happened to ancient giant wombats at the Red Banks Conservation Park.

Burra accommodation picks

The best Burra accommodation options are:

For plenty of space and homeliness: Paxton Square Cottages.
For heritage and charm: Burra Railway Station Bed and Breakfast.
For decent rooms and relatively cheap rates: Burra Motor Inn.

Adelaide to Cobar drive: Burra to Broken Hill

After Burra, the Barrier Highway enters the outback and crosses the border from South Australia to New South Wales. The Yunta Roadhouse is the only realistic fuel and refreshment stop before reaching the archetypal outback city of Broken Hill.

Top Broken Hill attractions include the Living Desert State Park, the Big Picture at the Silver City Mint and Art Centre and the underground mine tours in neighbouring Silverton.

Broken Hill accommodation picks

Australia specialist accommodation booking site Wotif offers stays in Broken Hill for from $105 a night. Check out the best deals page here.

To narrow it down a little, you should probably look at the following Broken Hill accommodation choices first.

For families: Broken Hill Tourist Park.
For good value on a budget: Lodge Outback Motel.
For art deco glamour near the train station: Royal Exchange Hotel.
For central location with a pool: Ibis Styles.
For character: Astra Hotel.

Adelaide to Cobar road trip: NSW Outback

The last stretch of the Adelaide to Cobar journey, from Broken Hill to Cobar, is 457km long. Somewhat bleak Wilcannia is the only imitation of a town along the way. You might, though, wish to factor in detours for a Menindee Lakes cruise or an opal mine tour in White Cliffs.

Things to do in Cobar include absorbing mining history at the Great Cobar Museum and seeing massively important Aboriginal rock art in Mount Grenfell National Park.