What’s On In Adelaide This Week, Month And Beyond
Travel and Entertainment Editor | Urban List, WA
Benjamin Fitzgerald
Contributor | Urban List Adelaide
Spring has officially sprung. And, with the easing of the cold and rain comes a slew of fresh events to showcase the best of Adelaide. Australia's most Euro-feeling city is looking cooler than ever in terms of tours and international visitors this year (check out our complete guide here), plus it seems every week there's a new festival, gigging artist in town, rooftop dinner or completely charming market popping up, much to our delight.
So let's jump straight into the good stuff, here's Urban List's picks for the best things to do this week, month and beyond in Adelaide.
What's On In Adelaide October 2026
Twilight Tour & Tastings
National Wine Centre | Friday evenings
Fancy a night of tasting Australia’s best wines without leaving the city? As the weather warms up, the National Wine Centre is hosting its Twilight Tour and Tasting experiences every Friday evening, where you discover the best of Australian wine, all to the backdrop of a gorgeous sun set. Come take a hosted tour with an expert sommelier, before embarking on a self-guided wine tasting in Australia’s largest tasting room, or up the ante with a set degustation dinner at the Wined Bar, packed full of contemporary Australian cuisine with, of course, optional matched wines. Date night sorted. Book tickets here.
Carmen
Her Majesty’s Theatre | October 17 - 24
Seducer and villainess, Carmen, is coming to Adelaide’s Her Majesty Theatre, and she’s bringing all the scandal. Performed in French with English subtitles, Bizet’s famous operatic tale of a dangerous heroine has been reimagined by up-and-coming director, Laura Hansford. But, it isn’t without its key themes of jealousy, lust and freedom, as well as unforgettable overture bookended by the final devastating moments of this classic performance. Book tickets here.
Mannat Installation
Samstag Museum of Art | October 9 - December 4
Image Credit: Photograph by Naina Sen. Courtesy the artists.
Make its world debut in Adelaide, منّت mannat is an immersive moving image work created in collaboration with artists Naina Sen, Naveed Farro, and Harrison Hall. Part of the Adelaide Film Festival’s Expand Lab, the exhibit recreates the cultural connections between West and South Asia, inspired by the courtyard of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah in Delhi – one of the most historically significant Sufi sites in the Indian subcontinent. The new exhibition is also part of the Samstag Museum of Art Wirltuti season opening, alongside exhibitions from Robert Fielding and Keith Piper. No need to book, and entry is free.
In Her Glass
Admirals’ Quarters | October 14
Curious women, this one’s for you. Hains & Co.’s newly opened Admirals’ Quarters is hosting its In Her Glass tasting series, giving the lovely ladies of Adelaide something to explore and “cheers” about. The first edition is all things tequila with a series of tastings shedding light on the important questions: Why does one tequila taste completely different from another? And what does aging actually do? If you don’t know your blanco from your reposado, or your añejo from your extra añejo, then this night’s for you. Book tix here.
Wave of Light
Adelaide CBD | October 15
Image Credit: Wave Of Light | Supplied
We love to walk for a good cause. The Red Tree Foundation, a charity which supports those affected by the sudden or unexpected loss of a pregnancy, baby, child or teen, is hosting its second Wave of Light walk. Taking place on International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, the walk kicks off in Veale Gardens and will pass some of Adelaide’s most iconic landmarks – Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Railway Station, Adelaide Town Hall, and Parliament House – which will all be lit up in a vibrant red symbolising a city-wide support for those lives taken too early. To take part in this free event, register here.
Meet the Maker: Botanic Rosé
National Wine Centre | October 16
What’s better than one birthday celebration? Two. The National Wine Centre's 25th birthday and the 10th anniversary edition of the Botanic Rosé are joining up for a mega rose party, putting the latter centre stage as part of the centre's Meet the Maker program. Come taste the freshly released field blend Rosé, whipped up by Adelaide University's Waite Campus students, under the assuring hand of head winemaker Paul Grbin, from grapes harvested from the National Wine Centre's onsite vineyard, with the option to purchase this special-edition rose to take home and add to your collection. On the night, you’ll get the chance to try some of local beauty giant Jurlique’s skincare, who will be offering complimentary samples of their botanical products at a pop-up misting station, with the chance to grab a Jurlique X Botanic Rosé product pack to take home. Wine and skincare? Quick, call the girls. Book tickets here.
CheeseFest
Rundle Park | October 17 - 18
Image credit: Courtesy
CheeseFest is turning 21 this year, and it's gonna be bite-ier than ever.
The cheesy weekend will kick off with an Australian first – a cheese chariot hosting a 45kg wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano DOP being led through Rundle Park by CheeseFest’s very own minstrels, before completing a ceremonial lap of honour through the festival.
The procession will then arrive at the main stage, where cheese expert, Johann Bach, and celebrity chef and television personality, Miguel Maestre, will open the wheel in the traditional Italian way, officially marking the opening of CheeseFest 2026. Better yet, you’ll also get the chance to taste the King of Cheeses.
Featuring more than 100 cheese, food, wine, beer, spirit, and beverage producers, including both established favourites and exciting new makers from across South Australia and beyond, CheeseFest 2026 will also see the return of South Australian MasterChef 2025 winner, chef and restaurateur, Laura Sharrad, as well as interactive masterclasses, cheese and beverage experiences, live music, premium lounges and opportunities to taste and purchase directly from producers.
The fromage festival has also tapped local artist and illustrator Billie Justice Thomson to create a new body of artwork for the event, serving as an important part of its visual identity across its marketing, merchandise and festival experience. Book tickets here.
Adelaide Film Festival
Various locations | October 14 - 25
The Adelaide Film Festival is back for another year, promising 12 blockbuster days across cinema locations throughout the city. With 122 films from 52 countries set to screen, there’s plenty to get excited about: 27 titles will make their Australian premiere, while another 10 will make their world debut at AFF 2026. Program headliners include Wild Horse Nine, Jim Queen, Coward, Fatherland, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, Josephine, Minotaur and Rose alongside the festival’s special presentation segment starring Paper Tiger, Pressure, Wicker, and Shine. Grab your popcorn and frozen coke and settle in for hours of on-screen entertainment that doesn’t normally screen at your local theatre. Book tickets here.
Aziza
Her Majesty’s Theatre | October 29
Jazz supergroup Aziza are making their Adelaide debut at Her Majesty's Theatre this month. Made up of bassist Dave Holland, saxophonist Chris Potter, guitarist Lionel Loueke and drummer Eric Harland, collectively the quartet have performed alongside legends including Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, Joe Henderson, Charles Lloyd and John Scofield, making them of today’s best jazz ensembles. Book tickets here.
OzAsia Festival
Elder Park/Tarntanya Wam | October 9 - November 1
Image Credit: Courtesy
The OzAsia Festival is having one last hurrah. The festival, known for showcasing the best in Asian and Asian Australian art, literature and music, will hold its 20th, and final, edition this October, and it promises to go out with a bang. There’ll be free concerts by Australian rockers, Regurgitator, and Japanese-Australian electronic duo, Lastlings, alongside the festival’s signature Moon Lanterns, which will be on display for an extended four-week season as part of Lucky Dumpling Market – a huge food market offering all the goodies like dumplings and bao buns that Asian cuisine has to offer.
A series of visual arts will also be on display including Damien Shen’s Entombed in Joy, in the Adelaide Railway Station Historic Phone Booths. In Artspace, Jake Yang’s installation Fire Horse will evolve throughout the festival and in Festival Theatre foyer, The Galleries will feature Naina Sen’s large scale video work Shundori. The festival’s Weekend of Words, curated by Sami Shah, will return starring Antoinette Lattouf, Benjamin Law, Durkhanai Ayubi, Michael Hing, Yumi Stynes and more.
Lucky Dumpling Market
Elder Park/Tarntanya Wam | October 9 - Nov 1
Image Credit: Courtesy
Adelaide Asian food festival, Lucky Dumpling Market, is back for its whopping tenth season, where you can try some of the city’s best Asian food and drinks.
Bringing together 27 food vendors, including 6 new ones (including a legendary collab between Shobosho and ShoSho) and 21 returning favourites, the market – which forms part of OzFest – will serve up a feast of dumplings, bao, noodles, curries, satay, desserts and more, alongside bars, live entertainment and family-friendly fun such as karaoke.
Family Affair
Latteria | Ongoing
Image Credit: Latteria
Calling all families, and friendship groups that feel just as close – Latteria is kicking off a new weekly Sunday lunch experience that focuses on good company, great connection, and even greater food. Much like the classic, yet chaotic, Italian lunch with la famiglia, think plates of Italian favourites like lasagne shared among your nearest and dearest, as the wine and conversation flows. And with the first week coinciding with Father’s Day, consider this your cue to book a table to celebrate dad too. Book here.
Skitsofrenis Mural Series
95 Currie Street | Ongoing
Adelaide just got a whole lot more artsy, thanks to the unveiling of a new mural series by Greek artist Kostas Louzis, also known as Skitsofrenis, in an Australia-first project from the internationally celebrated creative.
In partnership with local independent tertiary education provider and advocate, EQUALS – whose founder Katina Jones connected with Skitsofrenis’ on a recent visit to Louzis’ local Kalamata, the major large-scale public artworks brighten up the usually bleak Currie Street walls via three distinct mural works exploring themes of humanity, identity, diversity, resilience and community in an array of colours and formations. Banksy, eat your heart out.
Biggest Mob
Adelaide Festival Centre | July – October
Image credit: Biggest Mob
In celebration of an incredible 20 years of Our Mob, Adelaide Festival Centre is putting on its biggest First Nations arts program ever, stacked with theatre performances, literary programs, exhibitions and more, over three huge months.
Duly named Biggest Mob, must-see exhibitions in the program include collaborative exhibit Connected by Wilay Designs, As Long As We Weave by Carly Tarkari Dodd in the Adelaide Railway Station Historic Phone Booths, and UV Songlines: Illuminating Young Stories by Colleen Strangways.
There’s also the return of literary programs Our Words, and Our Young Words along with poetry exhibition, defi-Nations, while the State Theatre Company’s Logan St will take the stage in Space Theatre.
In September, the festivities ramp up with a free Family Day event, headlined by First Nations band Mulga Bore Hard Rock, alongside local teen DJ Angel on the decks, with handmade goods from local First Nations artists and makers at the Next Gen Mob Market up for grabs, plus plenty of workshops to attend, face painting, and more. Book tickets here.
Champagne Tray Fridays
2KW Bar | Fridays All Winter
Image credit: 2KW Bar
Forget the meat tray, 2KW Bar is busting out the champagne for its new winter promotion - Champagne Tray Fridays.
On Fridays throughout winter, simply purchase a drink at the rooftop venue’s Terrace Bar between 5pm and 7pm to receive a raffle ticket for the chance to win a champagne tray featuring three top shelf bottles of champagne. Now, that’s the classic pub raffle with a sparkling twist.
Double your winnings with the bar's scrumptuous food menu, including Southern rock lobster or lamb shoulder, and you've got yourself a great start to the weekend.
The Olive Hours
Paloma Bar & Pantry | Thursdays All Winter
Image credit: Alexander van de Loo
Paloma Bar’s new weekly winter activation, The Olive Hours, is all about the martini. Created in partnership with Never Never Distilling Co, this CBD hotspot’s new Thursday night ritual brings together James Bond’s drink of choice (shaken, not stirred, remember?) with a European twist.
Martini connoisseurs can switch between a Classic Gin or Vodka Martini, Oyster Gin Martini or Vesper Martini, each paired with a classic gilda, a small Spanish snack served on a skewer, featuring an anchovie, pickled pepper, and of course, an olive.
Whether you prefer it dirty or dry, The Olive Hours is the perfect opp for after-work drinks or a sophisticated kickstart to an early weekend celebration.
After Light
Exchange Lane, The Marriott Hotel Adelaide | Thursdays in Winter
Image credit: Charlie Conybeare
As the June sun starts to set earlier and the mercury begins to drop, Adelaide Marriott Hotel’s Exchange Lane is heating things up with After Light - a new night-time winter dining experience that makes going out worth it.
Taking place every Thursday from 4 - 7 p.m., the cozy, yet sophisticated intimate dining experience is whipping up seasonal cocktails and the very-best South Aussie wine, accompanied by bespoke food offerings, all within the warmth of outdoor heating. When the social bug bits, After Light at Exchange Lane is your versatile winter go-to for after-work drinks, catch ups with the gang, or a cute date night with someone special.
Nightcha
Yakisan | Friday & Saturday nights
Image credit: Yakisan
You've heard of yum cha, but now there's Nightcha: Yakisan's new late-night supper club that serves up delish bites of Asian fusion delights (with bubbles, if that's your poison) from 10pm to midnight, on both Friday and Saturday nights.
With a menu starring champagne, caviar, nigiri, and hand rolls, alongside a high-end cheeseburger and juicy fried chicken, it's the perfect feast for the more stylish night owls among us (or those looking for something other than regretful fast-food beyond 10pm). Praise be.
Mount Lofty House
Adelaide Hills | All Winter
Image credit: Mount Lofty House | Instagram
Ditch city life for a hot minute and turn those winter blues into a weekend of (very well deserved) five-star luxury at the decadent Mount Lofty House. Just a speedy thirty minutes from the CBD and set on thirty acres of lush, immaculate grounds, a stay at this cosy, completely charming vineyard escape is the antidote to those cold, dreary winter morns. Better still, if you book through Hotel Tonight, you'll a) grab a cheeky discount and b) score yourself 10% credit back into your Airbnb account too. A total win win.
What's On In Adelaide November 2026
Neil Perry X Arkhé
Arkhé | November 22
Two of Australia’s top five steak restaurants are coming together for one night only. Inside the aesthetic walls of one of Adelaide’s best restaurants, Margaret’s chef extraordinaire, Neil Perry, is setting up shop to cook alongside Jake Kellie at Arkhé for the restaurant's fifth birthday (Hip hip, hooray!) Come along for a four-course feast (and a glass of Grand Cru on arrival) starring mud crab on toast, Ferguson rock lobster and, of course, a delicious side-by-side tasting of dry-aged Blackmore sirloin and 60-day dry-aged Mayura Station OP rib (*licks lips*). Tickets for the momentous food party are selling fast, so book tix here.
Monet to Matisse: Defying Tradition
Art Gallery of South Australia | July 11 - November 8
Image credit: : Supplied | Toldeo Museum of Art | 'Water Lilies' by Claude Monet c.1922
Fancy seeing a Monet on a Saturday morning in Adelaide? Or a Matisse during the holidays with the kids? Now, you can, thanks to the upcoming Monet to Matisse: Defying Tradition exhibition taking place at the Art Gallery of South Australia (ASGA) from this July. Expect to get up close with some of the world's most famous artworks created by the most influential European and American artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. The line-up is a big one: Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Helen Frankenthaler, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot and Vincent van Gogh, from the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, United States. And, their arrival at ASGA mark an Australia-first for most of these works, making the exhibit an even more must-see.
There's somethings for music lovers too, with the preview night on July 10 featuring a live performance by Australian musician Alexander Flood. Hosted in the Monet to Matisse lounge, expect a high‑energy live show, blending dynamic rhythms with driving bass from the world-class drummer.
To celebrate the exhibit, from July 24 AGSA will kick-start weekly Monet to Matisse Friday Nights events, with each evening featuring a curated line-up of live performances from local musicians, after-hours access to the exhibition, a Taittinger champagne bar, and French-inspired snacks (bon appetit, mes amis). Already on the schedule are performances from DJ duo Ebonyplusdylan, and Adelaide-based beat producer Oisima. Then from August, Friday Nights will link up with Creative Original Music Adelaide, for four nights of weekly musical acts including trumpet and piano duo After Words, ambient electronica musician Georgia Oatley, former ABC Jazz artist-in-residence Ciara Ferguson, and flute and piano virtuosos Fleur Green and Melanie Walters Duo.
Finally, South Australian artists Arlon Hall and Billie Justice Thomson will present a new installation in AGSA’s free activity space The Studio, where visitors are taken on an explorative journey of light, colour, line and shape. From fans of art to music, and French food, there's something here for everyone. Book tickerts here.
French at Five
2KW | Last Thursday of every month 2026
Image Credit: 2KW
2KW is turning Thursday evenings into a little slice of rooftop joie de vivre with French at Five — a once‑a‑month wine hour where the ties loosen, the corks fly and French drops take centre stage. Guided by Jono Hersey from The French Wine Centre, guests can dive into a fast‑paced, high‑energy tasting of 4–5 French wines from rotating regions and styles. No lectures, no pretence — just seriously good wine poured with enthusiasm, all against that signature 2KW skyline. Drop in between 5 and 6pm on the last Thursday of each month and let a little French flair lift your week. No need to book.
What's On In Adelaide December 2026
Dîner en Blanc
TBC | December 5
The all-white, pop-up dinner party with a secret location is coming back to Adelaide after a seven-year hiatus. Originating in Paris, the Dîner en Blanc brings together the world’s best dressed – entirely in white – to a secret location (revealed only moments before you arrive) for a dinner party that’s sure to blow up your social feed. So, dust off your white threads and get ready for a night of great food in a stunning location that you’d never be able to dine at until now. Book tickets here.
The Christmasettes
Capri Theatre | December 6
As Mariah Carey starts to defrost, it’s time to start thinking about and planning your Christmas event scheduling. This year, The Christmasettes are taking over the iconic Capri Theatre for two shows only for an extravagance of sequins, sass and, of course, Christmas spirit. Come along and watch more than 25 performers dance to classic tunes alongside a very special guest, Hans, for a Chrissy production that injects some modern fun into holiday favourites with high-energy dancing, tap, chorus lines washed in comedy family fun. Book tickets here.
What's On In Adelaide January 2027
Sidebyside Festival
Helen Mayo Park | January 30
Adelaide indie electronic festival, Sidebyside Festival, is back for its seventh year in 2027, and it's gonna be the festival's biggest line-up yet. Organisers Company Works have confirmed Australian artists Bella Claxton, Juicy Romance and Notwithoutfriends will hit the dancefloor with you in 2027, alongside global producer Silverlining, and Liquid Earth, who will both make their Sidebyside debut this edition. Adding to the mystery, a special guest artist will be announced in January, and word on the street is, they are no stranger to a Company Works dancefloor (any ideas?) While music remains the heartbeat of the eventl, the festival’s Sanctuary art program also returns, as well as a new space that allows you to step away from the dancefloor and explore the festival’s creative world in between sets. Tickets go on sale October 1 from 12PM.
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