Arts & Culture
Galleries & Makers
The best arts & culture in Fleurieu Peninsula
The Fleurieu has long drawn painters, sculptors and ceramicists. Today it is dotted with galleries, open studios, public sculpture trails and annual art prizes.
For a string of small coastal and country towns, the Fleurieu Peninsula has a deep creative streak. Artists and makers have long been drawn to the quality of the light and the landscape, and you'll find galleries, working studios and craft spaces scattered through Port Elliot, Goolwa, Willunga and McLaren Vale.
The region mixes the contemporary with the historic. The striking d'Arenberg Cube has become an icon of art-meets-wine in the McLaren Vale vineyards, while heritage galleries, public sculpture and regular exhibitions fill the old stone buildings of the river and coastal towns. Live music, festivals and open-studio weekends bring the calendar to life, especially through the warmer months.
Just as importantly, this is Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna country, and there are growing opportunities to learn about the peninsula's deep Aboriginal cultural heritage through guided walks, cultural tours and interpretive sites. Whether you're hunting for an original piece to take home, watching a maker at work, or simply wandering a gallery on a slow afternoon, the Fleurieu's arts scene rewards the curious. Many galleries and studios are free to visit, though hours can vary, so it's worth checking before you set out.
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33 places
Armfield Slip and Boatshed
A 1926 boatshed where wooden hulls are still saved
A working heritage boatshed on Riverside Drive where volunteers restore and build traditional wooden Murray River boats using century-old slipway equipment. Drop in on open days to watch the craft in action.
Art Works at Normanville
A gallery on Normanville's main road dedicated to the work of painters Judith Sweetman and Gilbert Dashorst - coastal landscape work in oils and watercolour.
Artworx Gallery
Goolwa's leading contemporary art gallery on Cadell Street, representing a wide stable of Fleurieu and South Australian artists across paintings, sculpture, ceramics and jewellery.
Bella Cosa Sculpture Park & Gallery
A sculpture park, gallery and tapas bar set among vines and forest at McLaren Flat - walk the sculpture trail, drink local wine, and stay in the cottage on the property.
Big Easy Radio
$$Wine, music and a heritage stone cottage
A wine, music and lifestyle destination built around an 1875 stone cottage on Malpas Road, combining craft McLaren Vale wines with live music.
Coral Street Art Space
An artist-run gallery and community arts hub in central Victor Harbor, with rotating exhibitions, artist talks, classes and workshops.
d'Arenberg Cube
Chester Osborn's five-storey glass cube rising out of the d'Arenberg vineyards - part wine tasting room, part fine-dining restaurant, part art gallery, part Salvador Dali museum.
Delamere Art Wall
An outdoor community art project beside the Delamere General Store with rotating works by local Fleurieu artists.
Fleurieu Arthouse
A working artisan hub inside the historic Hardys Tintara winery - a gallery, retail space and eight resident artist studios where you can watch metal sculptors, painters and ceramicists at work.
Fleurieu Food & Wine Cooking School
Hands-on cooking classes at McLaren Vale wineries - pasta, cheese, spice masterclasses and native food, suited to beginners and confident cooks.
Gilbert's Motor Museum
Classic cars and motoring memorabilia
A family-run motor museum in the heart of Strathalbyn housing a rotating collection of classic cars, motoring memorabilia and vintage advertising.
Kool Tours (Mark Koolmatrie)
Hall-of-Fame Ngarrindjeri cultural tours led by elder Mark Koolmatrie - Coorong cruises, dune walks, smoke ceremonies and Nurrunderi Creation Story storytelling.
Magpie Springs
$$Boutique wines and paintings on Willunga Hill
A boutique cellar door and working art gallery on the Willunga scarp, showcasing estate wines alongside paintings by Adelaide artist Avril Thomas in a garden setting with valley views.
Magpie Springs Paint and Sip
Three-hour beginner paint-and-sip art classes with artist Kerry Mart at Magpie Springs gallery and vineyard in the Willunga hinterland - wine included.
Myponga Market
A converted art-deco former butter factory in the centre of Myponga, now home to the Valley of Yore cafe, the post office, gallery spaces, market stalls and the local arts scene.
Nan Hai Pu Tuo Buddhist Temple
An unexpected Buddhist temple complex with meditation gardens hidden in the hills above Sellicks Beach - one of the most surprising spiritual destinations on the Fleurieu.
Narnu Aboriginal Cultural Tours
Family-friendly Aboriginal walking tours from Narnu Farm covering bush food, traditional tools and Ngarrindjeri culture along the Coorong fringe.
Off the Slate Gallery & Willunga Glass Studio
An 18-artist cooperative gallery sharing space with Willunga Glass Studio on Willunga's High Street, with paintings, sculpture, slumped glass, jewellery and woodcraft.
Ortus Wines
A mother-daughter-owned winery with a warehouse-style cellar door on Willunga's main road, paired with a contemporary art programme curated by Praxis Artspace.
Red Dot Gallery at Penny's Hill
A constantly-changing contemporary art gallery built into the historic 'Ingleburne' cellar door at Penny's Hill, alongside the wine tasting room and The Kitchen Door restaurant.
Red Poles
$$Cafe, gallery and B&B on McMurtrie Road
Long-running McMurtrie Road cafe, restaurant, art gallery and B&B hidden in the bush behind Wirra Wirra - a McLaren Vale institution since the 1990s.
Red Poles Bed & Breakfast
$$Three-room B&B behind the Red Poles cafe
A three-room, pet-friendly B&B built around a central courtyard at Red Poles on McMurtrie Road, McLaren Vale - with the cafe, gallery and gardens on the doorstep.
Shrine of Our Lady of Yankalilla
A 19th-century stone Anglican church in Yankalilla that became a Marian pilgrimage site after an image of the Virgin Mary appeared on the wall behind the altar in 1994.
Signal Point Gallery
Contemporary gallery on the Goolwa Wharf
A contemporary and touring exhibition gallery housed in a landmark building on the Goolwa Wharf, looking out over the Murray River.