Adelaide to Port Lincoln road trip: Distance, drive time & stops
Due to going round the Spencer Gulf, the drive from Adelaide to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula takes much longer than a flight. Expect an Adelaide to Port Lincoln driving time of nearly seven hours.
An Adelaide to Port Lincoln road trip shows off much of what is good about South Australia.
Port Lincoln on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula is one of the richest towns in Australia. This is largely due to its tuna-fishing industry, but Port Lincoln is carving out a role as a niche tourism hub, too.
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.
Need to rent a car in Adelaide? – Then compare the best deals.
The headline act at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula is cage diving with great white sharks. The Neptune Islands are the only place in Australia where it is possible to do these shark cage dives. Specialist tour operators depart from Port Lincoln and Calypso Star Charters also runs swimming with sea lions tours.
The food of the Eyre Peninsula is also a selling point – Coffin Bay is widely regarded to produce the finest oysters in Australia.
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.
Then there’s the wildlife. Aside from the sharks and sealions, you can see koalas up close at the Mikkira Station and wild emus roaming around Coffin Bay. The Glen-Forest Tourist Park is worth a visit for wine-tasting and animal encounters, too.
Adelaide to Port Lincoln: fly or drive?
The problem, however, is that Port Lincoln is an absolute pig of a place to get to. As the crow flies, Port Lincoln is pretty close to South Australian capital Adelaide. A domestic flight from Adelaide to Port Lincoln with Rex or Qantas lasts around 50 minutes.
That means that flying to Port Lincoln and hiring a car at the airport is by far the quickest way to explore the Eyre Peninsula. Several flights depart each day, while Europcar, Hertz, Budget and Avis all offer car rental at Port Lincoln Airport.
Port Lincoln experiences to book in advance
- Coffin Bay day tour, with oyster tasting.
- Eyre Peninsula scenery, food and wine-tasting trip.
- Sunset sand dunes photography tour.
- Electric mountain bike rental.
- Wildlife-focused full day tour.
Adelaide to Port Lincoln driving time
Getting by Port Lincoln by car is not so simple. The drive from Adelaide to Port Lincoln requires detouring all the way round the Spencer Gulf. That means going via unattractive South Australian towns such as Port Pirie, Port Augusta and steel city Whyalla, home of the new circular Whyalla Jetty. That’s unless you add more time to the Adelaide to Port Augusta leg of the journey by detouring through the Barossa Valley and Clare Valley wine regions, or Mount Remarkable National Park.
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.
The shortest, most direct drive from Adelaide to Port Lincoln is 651km. That means the Adelaide to Port Lincoln driving time is a pretty hideous six hours and 52 minutes.
If, of course, you stick to the speed limits and don’t stop for comfort breaks. Good spots for the latter on the Whyalla to Port Lincoln leg of the journey include Tumby Bay and Cowell, where there’s some impressive grain silo art to see. Cowell is also where the ferry from Wallaroo on the Yorke Peninsula pulls in. Alas, taking the ferry saves barely any time on the drive.
Eyre Peninsula locals think nothing of taking this on. Visitors might be more inclined to shell out for the flight.
Port Lincoln accommodation picks
Port Lincoln is a wealthy town, and the accommodation options here are perhaps surprisingly strong. Top choices include…
- For waterfront location: Marina Hotel.
- For low prices and decent quality: Grand Tasman Hotel.
- For central convenience and high quality: Port Lincoln Hotel.
- For families: Port Lincoln Cabin Park.
More Port Lincoln driving times
- Whyalla to Port Lincoln: Distance 267km, driving time 2h47m.
- Port Augusta to Port Lincoln: Distance 342km, driving time 3h41m.
- Ceduna to Port Lincoln: Distance 404km, driving time 4h12m.
- Streaky Bay to Port Lincoln: Distance 294km, driving time 3h2m.
- Melbourne to Port Lincoln: Distance 1,361km, driving time 15h7m.
- Tumby Bay to Port Lincoln: Distance 50km, driving time 36m.
- Cowell to Port Lincoln: Distance 161km, driving time 1h41m.
- Sydney to Port Lincoln: Distance 1,891km, driving time 19h58m.