Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla | Play & Picnic in the City | Review

Located between Adelaide Botanic Garden and the Adelaide Zoo is the beautiful Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla, a 34-hectare, green oasis just a short walk from the CBD.

If you’re looking for a glorious spot to throw down a blanket and simply watch the kids run around, kick a ball and climb trees, this is the perfect place.  With manicured lawns to stretch out on and only a short walk from the city, Botanic Park can be a relaxing spot to simply enjoy the outdoors, relax with family and friends or host a special celebration.  There are no entry fees and it is completely free to use.

Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla is not only a popular spot for picnics, it’s also the venue for numerous major events through out the year including WOMADelaide, outdoor concerts and the Wallis Moonlight Cinema (all or some sections of the park will be closed during events).

Adding to our review from 2012, we recently revisited Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla with the next generation of kids, and it was amazing to see how they gravitated towards the same trees, over ten years later! 

The lush green grass is ideal for laying out a picnic with family and friends and simple enjoying each others company.  There is plenty of room to bring a bat and ball or the footy for the kids to kick around.  On a lazy day spend time reading books, creating images in the clouds or simply staring up into the canopy of the century-old Moreton Bay Fig trees.  

Kids love the good old fashioned fun of climbing over the tree’s huge roots, collecting twigs and leaves or playing hide n seek. If you have little Bluey fans, the large trees and canopies make for great games of ‘Shadowlands’. 

These trees in the park are just incredible – with their huge trunks and gnarled buttress roots the kids are drawn to them, and they make for a gorgeous backdrop if you’re looking for a family photo shoot location. 

There is plenty of birdlife around, and our littlest bird lover spotted Magpies, Galah’s and Cockatoos in the treetops and feeding in the grasses. 

We revisited in October and some of the trees were still dropping leaves, leaving large piles to kick and throw around. The kids also enjoyed chasing down and trying to catch the leaves as they fell with the breeze. 

History of Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla

Adelaide Botanic Garden purchased the land for the park in 1866 and from 1890 onwards, lively public debate was to be had at Speaker’s Corner on a Sunday. This gave Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla a reputation as Adelaide’s version of Hyde Park, the celebrated locale for free speech in London.

Public holidays such as Australia Day sees dozens of families bring their chairs, rugs, esky’s and bbq’s for a day of family fun.  

Location

Botanic Park sits alongside the Adelaide Botanic Garden on one side and the Adelaide Zoo and River Torrens on the other.  Accessed via beautiful Plane Tree Drive which showcases an avenue of Plane Trees planted back in 1874, there is usually ample parking during the week, but on extremely busy weekends and public holidays it can get a little hard to find a park without a bit of a walk.

If you are visiting with young kids, we recommend parking or setting up nearby the Friend’s Gate at the Botanic Garden for close public toilet access. The nearby toilet block offers family rooms with smaller sized toilets as well as change facilities. 

If catching the bus it’s Stop 2, Hackney Road (North East side).

See our Top Parks & Playgrounds around Adelaide

City of Adelaide Attractions for Kids & Families

For more information and all enquiries please visit the Botanic Gardens of SA website.

Image Source: All photos by Play & Go 2012 & 2025

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.

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 Adelaide.

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