Adelaide to Woomera road trip: Best stops, distance & drive time
The best stops on an Adelaide to Woomera road trip are Port Wakefield, Lake Bumbunga and Mount Remarkable National Park. By car, the distance from Adelaide to Woomera is 489km, with a driving time of around 5h24m.
An Adelaide to Woomera road trip takes you from the South Australian capital to one of the quirkiest places in Australia – a once-secret outback military town. Many travellers will pass this way as part of a longer road trip from Adelaide to Uluru or Adelaide to Darwin.
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.
This guide should help you plan your perfect Adelaide to Woomera 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 Woomera distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Adelaide to Woomera is 489km. That makes for a driving time of roughly five hours and 24 minutes.
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 Woomera road trip: Adelaide to Port Wakefield
Leaving Adelaide via the northern suburbs, the drive from Adelaide to Woomera heads north along the Princes Highway (also known as the Port Wakefield Highway in these parts) towards Port Wakefield.
There are plausible, but eminently missable, detours available to the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary and Thompson Beach along the way.
The mangrove swamp of the Clinton Conservation Park is the highlight of Port Wakefield.
Adelaide to Woomera drive: Port Wakefield to Mambray Creek
The Wakefield Highway then becomes the Augusta Highway, and the next stop worth considering is Lochiel. Here, you can get great views over Lake Bumbunga, which often turns pink due to the micro-organisms living in it.
The Adelaide to Port Augusta leg of the Adelaide to Woomera journey continues north towards Port Pirie. However, for a more scenic route, swinging through the Clare Valley wine region only adds half an hour onto the drive.
Underwhelmingly industrial Port Pirie is a place best skipped, and the Augusta Highway continues north. Telowie Beach and the Port Germein Jetty are slightly more appealing diversions
Top Port Pirie accommodation options
The best places to stay in Port Pirie are:
- For the highest guest ratings: Ellen Hotel.
- For a solid motel with low rates: John Pirie Motor Inn.
- For a restaurant and outdoor pool: Comfort Inn Flinders On Main.
Mambray Creek is better, though, as it is the gateway to the rugged walking trails of Mount Remarkable National Park.
Adelaide to Woomera road trip: Port Augusta to Woomera
Otherwise, continue to Port Augusta, Australia’s ultimate junction town at the top of the Spencer Gulf.
The best things to do in Port Augusta include the Wadlata Outback Centre, which looks at Aboriginal and outback life, and the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden.
Port Augusta accommodation picks
Port Augusta accommodation tends towards the functional. Few people stay here more than one night. Booking site Wotif lists options for from $89, if you’d like to check what’s available.
However, these Port Augusta accommodation choices are particularly worth looking at:
- For heritage and character: Pampas Motel.
- For green credentials: Crossroads Ecomotel.
- For overall quality: Majestic Oasis Apartments.
- For cheap rates and a pool: Discovery Parks – Port Augusta.
Port Augusta is also where the Stuart Highway begins. Australia’s classic outback road heads all the way to Darwin, mostly through stark desert scenery.
The route north to Woomera starts by passing Lake Dempsey. Later on, the Kell Swamp lies to the east of the highway and the Ranges View Rest Area is a decent place to pull over to stretch the legs.
Further north, there are a series of ephemeral lakes, including Lake Dutton and the Pernatty Lagoon. The Ironstone Lagoon, however, is the one most easily seen from the highway.
Eventually, you’ll come to Pimba, home of Spud’s Roadhouse. Accommodation is available here, but it’s not particularly appealing. More importantly, Pimba is the only fuel stop between Port Augusta and Woomera.
Turn off along the Olympic Dam Highway at Pimba.
Woomera attractions
Woomera is deeply weird to wander around. The visitor centre doubles as a museum about the town’s space research and weapons testing. If it’s weapons you want to see, the Woomera Rocket Park showcases all manner of rockets and missiles.
There’s also a swimming pool and observatory in Woomera.
For Woomera accommodation, choose between the Eldo Hotel and the Woomera Travellers Village and Caravan Park.
More South Australia travel
Is there anywhere worth stopping on the Whyalla to Cowell drive?
What to see on the Port Augusta to Cowell drive.
Pay a visit to Point Lowly on the Port Pirie to Whyalla drive.
The best stops on an Ararat to Adelaide road trip.
Where to stop on the drive from Ceduna to Broken Hill.