10 Family Friendly Places to Visit on a Day Trip to McLaren Vale | Review
A family day trip to the McLaren Vale wine region in South Australia.
Visiting a wine region with your kids? Surely that’s no fun, right? Wrong!
Visiting a wine region isn’t about consuming as much wine as you can. When you dig beneath the surface, visiting a wine region can be about agriculture, produce, flavours, scenery, history, fresh air, or simply time together away from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life. Once you move on from your memories of debaucherous wine tours in your younger years and accept that with a bit of knowledge and planning the whole family can enjoy a wine region, you’re all set for a great day out!
There are so many family-friendly places and activities to choose from in South Australia’s McLaren Vale. But for the purpose of this article, I’ve picked a few firm favourites.
I should highlight that the proposed itinerary below is fairly ‘food intensive’ and I’m not sure totally realistic time-wise with kids in tow, but hopefully it gives you a few ideas for your day trip!
Summary of 10 places visited:
- Jubilee Park in Port Noarlunga
- Golden Fleece or Green Room
- Willunga Farmers Market
- Woodstock Wines
- Beach Road Wines
- Lazy Ballerina
- McCarthy’s Orchard
- d’Arenberg Cube at d’Arenberg Winery
- Maxwell Wines
- Salopian Inn
Itinerary for the day:
8am: Load your kids into the car and head for the Southern Expressway! Take the Noarlunga exit and head to Jubilee Park for a pre-breakfast run around at the very popular ‘fort’ playground.
9.30am: If your day trip takes place on a Saturday, head to the Golden Fleece or Green Room which both have great kids breakfast menus and then take a wander through the food stalls at Willunga Farmers Market. We love getting a Lavender Brownie and a kid-size chocolate or strawberry milk from the Fleurieu Milk stall.
11.30am: Head to Woodstock Wines where you can feed their resident kangaroos (daily at 11.30am, meet at cellar door). If you fancy a quick taste of some wines, they have a playground as well as a toy box in the cellar door.
12.30pm: Time for lunch at Beach Road Wines (I did warn you that this itinerary was food intensive) where they offer a kids meal deal consisting of delicious wood-fired pizza, a soft drink and ice-cream. Whilst this cellar door is very kid-friendly, we love it because it’s also incredibly adult-friendly with great food, delicious wines and stunning views.
2pm: Head to Lazy Ballerina cellar door where you can all relax in their beautiful gardens and even have a game of Bocce. In the warmer months they stock Sunshine Ice Blocks (just in case you’re still hearing ‘Mummmm, I’m still hungry!”).
If fresh fruit is more your thing, drop in at McCarthy’s Orchard on Sand Road to make a purchase from their cool room via an honesty box. The kids love it and you can stock up for school lunches!
If you haven’t checked out the quirky, amazing d’Arenberg Cube at d’Arenberg Winery, it is well worth a visit. Kids and adults will love the Alternate Realities Museum, located on the ground floor, while adults will be able to enjoy fabulous views and wine tasting.
3.30pm: If your kids still have energy to burn, head to Maxwell Wines where you can not only taste some delicious wine but afterwards you can take the kids down to a giant conifer maze to get lost!
5pm: They can’t still be hungry, surely? But if they are, discerning well-behaved kids may enjoy an early dinner treat at one of our favourite haunts, the Salopian Inn. Whilst they are a fine dining restaurant, they do welcome families (just let them know when booking), and have a delicious kids menu. There’s a simple bar menu available between lunch and dinner service.
6.30pm: Pile everyone back in the car for the journey home in time for bed, with great memories of a happy family day together!
MORE TO EXPLORE IN MCLAREN VALE
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
Guest Post by Becky Hirst. As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go.
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