Ararat to Adelaide road trip: Distance, driving time & best stops
The best stops on an Ararat to Adelaide road trip itinerary are the Grampians, Little Desert National Park and the Adelaide Hills. By car, the distance from Ararat to Adelaide is 522km, with a driving time of around 5h51m.
The drive from Ararat to Adelaide takes you from the Victorian Goldfields to the capital of South Australia. Make it into a road trip, and there’s plenty to see along the way.
Ararat is most famous for its ghost tours. For Ararat accommodation picks, head here.
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 is aimed at helping travellers plan their perfect Ararat to Adelaide road trip itinerary.
Click through on the links for more detailed links about individual towns and attractions – and remember to stock up on your road trip essentials before setting off.
Ararat to Ararat distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Ararat to Ararat is 522km. You can expect a driving time of around five hours and 51 minutes.
The best stops to add to an Ararat to Adelaide road trip itinerary are the Grampians, Little Desert National Park and the Adelaide Hills.
In Ararat, the highlight is the J Ward Museum – a former lunatic asylum that hosts ghost tours.
Road trip essentials that many travellers forget
Search on the web, and you’ll find ludicrously long lists of equipment to take on a road trip. Australia Travel Questions isn’t going to do that to you. But it is worth buying the following road trip items before setting off. Click through for a good range of options.
- Charging cables – yes, you’ll probably need a spare at some point.
- Car charger adaptor – in case your rental car has the old-fashioned cigarette lighter rather than a USB.
- Multi USB charger – for those hotel rooms that don’t have enough power sockets.
- Fold-up chairs – to make anywhere a picnic spot.
- A really good water bottle – go for a bigger one than usual to last the longer drives.
- Packing cubes – save space but, more importantly, avoid unpacking everything every night.
Ararat to Adelaide road trip: Ararat to Stawell
On the way to Stawell, there are several wineries. The Grampians Estate, Seppelt Cellar Door and Grampians Estate are all worth a look.
You’ll also pass the Ararat Hills Regional Park, which has several walking trails. The one to the One Tree Hill Lookout is arguably the best.
Stawell is where you can turn off for Halls Gap, the kangaroo-heavy gateway village to many of the key attractions in the Grampians.
The Grand Canyon, the Balconies, Silverband Falls, Lake Bellfield, the Pinnacle Lookout and the Boroka Lookout are all close to Halls Gap.
The town also offers a series of handsome churches and parks. The Big Hill Lookout is the best photo stop.
Ararat to Adelaide drive: Stawell to Dimboola
Carrying on towards Horsham, you’ll go past popular camping spot Lake Lonsdale and the Giant Koala in Dadswell Bridge.
The drive along the Western Highway then skirts north of the Grampians National Park. The Mt Stapylton Loop Walk is a highlight in this section. For Aboriginal rock art, go to the Gulgurn Manja shelter.
Before reaching Horsham, the road trip route passes a series of lakes. The Green Lake Recreation Area is the most pleasant place to stop.
Horsham offers silo art, a pleasant botanic gardens, the Horsham Regional Art Gallery and strolls through the parks by the Wimmera River.
Top Horsham accommodation choices
The best places to stay in Horsham are:
- For central location: Comfort Inn Capital Horsham.
- For cabins by the Wimmera River: Horsham Riverside Caravan Park.
- For a solid, cheap motel: Best Westlander Motor Inn.
The next town along is Dimboola, which is best used as a gateway to Little Desert National Park. The 1km Pomponderoo Hill Nature Hill Walk is a good journey-breaking stretch, while you can see lots of native wildlife in the Snape Reserve.
Go when the conditions are right, and the Dimboola Pink Lake to the north of town turns pink courtesy of the micro-organisms living in it.
Click through to the next section: Dimboola to Bordertown.