City Lights – Illuminate Adelaide 2022 | Review

By Claire Davill

Rug up and go for a night walk in the city, because there’s plenty of amazing, interactive and FREE light installations around to discover during Illuminate Adelaide.

The City Lights are a series of free art installations that are worth a trip into the city for. There’s lots to see, interact with and even play on, including light-up stepping stones, seesaws and even a playable light harp.

The lights are switched on at 6pm every night and available to view until 11pm, until the end of July 2022. Most of the family-friendly and interactive lights are spread along North Terrace and the Festival Plaza, but there are also lots of lights along Rundle Street, a few down King William Street, and a cluster surrounding Light Square in the Western part of the city.

Walk along North Terrace from Lot 14, past the Universities, Art Gallery and Museum, towards the Festival Plaza, then loop back along Rundle Street to see the most lights for distance walked. North Terrace is where you will see bouncing lights, a giant snow globe, light-up stepping stones, dangling strings of lights to walk through, and much, much more.

The Festival Plaza is where you will find light-up seesaws – make sure you stop to have a play.

If you are more adventurous, or your kids can manage the extra distance, head down King William Street and along Waymouth Street to Light Square, and the Queens Theatre. King William Street sees a few buildings lit up in colour, with a moon projected onto a building next to the Mayfair Hotel.

There is a fantastic avenue of lights in the middle of Light Square to wander along, and two installations in the nearby Queens Theatre – a playable light harp and a huge, flashing cube that you can interact with to change the light patterns. There is also a curved screen showing Ocean Data on the first floor of the building at 63 Light Square (follow the signs to locate this installation).

Rundle Street is closed off to traffic on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights during Illuminate Adelaide, and fire pits are placed along the street for people to warm up. There are plenty of buildings lit up here, including some illuminated laundry hanging on a couple of balconies. There is also a collaborative photo booth, where your face will be merged with every other face from the project – you will receive a print out of your face merged with lots of other South Australians!

Tips for seeing the city lights:

• If you don’t want to walk a long distance, concentrate on the east end of North Terrace and Rundle Street. This is where the greatest concentrations of light installations are located
• The large cube, light harp and ocean data installations around Light Square can be quite loud and dark and might not be suitable for some young children
• Plan ahead using the City Lights map, available HERE
• If you are visiting on  Friday, Saturday or Sunday you may be lucky enough to catch an Eco Caddy to ride between the different areas and save on some walking.
• Friday, Saturdays and Sundays are when the eastern end of Rundle Street is closed to traffic and fire pits are available. Make sure you stop to warm up, and make use of the multiple restaurants, cafes and convenience stores along here for dinner or a snack.
• At this time of year it is dark enough to experience the lights as soon as they open at 6pm, so head out early before the little ones get too tired
• There is plenty of parking around the east end of the city with affordable night rates. Select Wilsons Car Parks have a discount if you book online as part of Illuminate Adelaide, see details HERE

SEE THE FULL PROGRAM & INTERACTIVE MAP HERE

DOWNLOAD THE 2022 CITY LIGHTS PDF MAP HERE

For more information and all enquiries please visit the Illuminate Adelaide Website

What:   City Lights, as part of Illuminate Adelaide

When:    Nightly from 6pm-11pm, 15-31 July 2022

Where:   North Terrace, Rundle Street, King William Street and Light Square in the Adelaide CBD

Who:   Everyone

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.

Image Source: Play & Go Adelaide

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