Top 9 Campgrounds in South Australia

Famously clear water, a legendary whiting sandwich, and stingrays gliding under the jetty.

Vivonne Bay has a habit of pulling people straight down to the water before the car’s even properly unpacked. The water here is famously clear, running pale over white sand into a blue that stops people mid-step. Lunch is a short barefoot walk to the General Store for a whiting sandwich — soft white bread, golden battered fish, best eaten sitting on the shop steps with sandy hands.

• Sites tucked into coastal scrub, just back from the dunes
• Famous whiting sandwich at the Vivonne Bay General Store
• Jetty views of stingrays gliding beneath the pylons

Granite outcrops and crooked gums deep in Mount Crawford Forest, a short drive from the Barossa.

Rocky Paddock sits deep inside Mount Crawford Forest, threaded with trails that wind between crooked gums and granite boulders. Those outcrops break the campground into natural little pockets — handy for privacy, and handier still as an obstacle course for restless kids. Come late afternoon, sunlight filters low through the pine trunks while the granite gives back the heat it’s stored all day.

• Granite outcrops create naturally private camping pockets
• Surrounded by Mount Crawford Forest walking trails
• Just 8km from Williamstown, one of the closest Barossa towns

Beachfront on Encounter Bay, a short walk from Victor Harbor’s cafes, and the historic horse-drawn tram to Granite Island.

Set right on the beachfront where the Inman River meets Encounter Bay, NRMA Victor Harbor Beachfront Holiday Park is barely an hour south of Adelaide, but feels like a proper coastal reset. It’s a short stroll into town for cafes, restaurants and shops, and the horse-drawn tram — one of the last of its kind in the country — carries you across the causeway to Granite Island, where a colony of little penguins parades most evenings. Keen train lovers can also jump aboard the heritage Cockle Train, which follows the coast between Victor Harbor and Goolwa.

• Powered and unpowered sites right on the beach at Encounter Bay
• Walking distance to Victor Harbor’s town centre, cafes and shops
• Horse-drawn tram to Granite Island and its little penguin colony

A working vineyard with a historic shearing shed cellar door, and campsites for travellers with their own gear.

Waking up at Bellwether Wines means unzipping the tent under red gums and following your nose toward the coffee coming from the old Glen Roy Shearing Shed. Dating back to 1868, the shed now doubles as cellar door, winery and community kitchen, so a wine tasting drifts easily into a shared platter, then back outside without anyone putting their glass down.

• Well-spaced campsites for travellers bringing their own gear
• Cellar door and community kitchen in an 1868 shearing shed
• Occasional live music nights — worth timing a stay around

Walking distance to some of McLaren Vale’s best cellar doors, with friendly local know-how on tap.

Park the campervan right in the heart of McLaren Vale and you’ve got one of South Australia’s best wine regions on your doorstep. The on-site team are known for going well beyond check-in, happily pointing guests toward wine tours, restaurant bookings and things to do around the valley. It’s an easy stroll to Chalk Hill Wines for a long, lazy lunch, or to Maxwell Wines for a degustation worth clearing the whole afternoon for.

• Powered sites, central McLaren Vale location, walking distance to cellar doors
• Friendly on-site staff for wine tour and restaurant recommendations
• Walk to Chalk Hill Wines and Maxwell Wines

Forest camping barely 45 minutes from Adelaide, with walking trails right outside the tent.

Barely 45 minutes south of the city, Kuitpo Forest has a knack for feeling much further from Adelaide than it actually is. The drive winds past vineyard rows and open paddocks before the pines close in overhead, and before long you’re hunting for a clearing to pitch camp. Chookarloo, the forest’s main campground, is the pick for families and walkers, sitting right on the Heysen and Chookarloo trails.

• Shelters, rainwater tanks, a pit toilet and picnic areas — simple but sufficient
• Direct access to the Heysen and Chookarloo walking trails
• Easiest forest camp to reach from the city

Clifftop camping above Blue Bay, with the surf report visible from the tent flap.

Daly Head puts the surf report right outside the tent. Perched above Blue Bay, the campground looks straight down on the swell, where surfers and the occasional pod of dolphins share the break. Anyone travelling with a rod tends to end up down at the surf gutters chasing salmon or mulloway for dinner.

• Clifftop position overlooking the Blue Bay surf break
• Popular with anglers chasing salmon and mulloway
• Bush campground — come self-sufficient

600 metres of beachfront campsites, 20 minutes north of Streaky Bay.

At Perlubie, the beach day starts the second you open your door — white sand at the doorstep, calm water a few steps beyond, and small footprints heading for the shallows before anyone’s even opened the esky for breakfast. It’s low-key, self-sufficient camping — bring a 4WD, keep an eye on the tide, and there’s little reason to leave.

• 600 metres of designated beachfront campsites
• Just 20 minutes from Streaky Bay for supplies
• Self-sufficient camping — 4WD recommended

A working sheep station on the edge of Ikara/Wilpena Pound, with a fire and a view worth the drive.

There’s a particular kind of quiet that settles over Rawnsley Park Station once the sun drops behind Ikara/Wilpena Pound — burnt orange fading to violet before the stars take over. This working sheep station lets you pick your own comfort level: a simple bush site if you’re roughing it, or a powered site if you’re not. And if cooking over coals isn’t on the agenda, the Woolshed Restaurant is right there.

• Choice of unpowered bush sites or powered sites
• On-site Woolshed Restaurant for nights off cooking
• Front-row position on the south-eastern edge of Ikara/Wilpena Pound