Hahndorf, Adelaide

It's a quaint little town founded by German Lutheran settlers in the late 1830s in the highlands just outside of Adelaide. There are a few good cafes and restaurants here. Do bring a jacket along as the weather can get quite unpredictable even in the summer.

While staying in Adelaide, we decided to take a day trip out to a unique little place called Hahndorf. It's a well preserved township with strong German origins. Hahndorf is situated in the picturesque Adelaide Hills and is renowned as the premier tourist town for the region.

The town's main street has many historic buildings some of which have been restored to their former character, while the 100-year-old elm and plane trees which line main street provide shade for the many craft shops, galleries and restaurants that now call this area home.

There are few places in Australia where you can drive through typically Australian countryside and, quite suddenly, enter a world which seems to have been lifted from Central Europe.

Directions:
To get there from Adelaide, take the South Eastern Freeway from the city of Adelaide, and turn off at the Hahndorf exit, a drive from Adelaide of about 20 minutes.

Hahndorf is the most visited hills town and one of the earliest settlements founded by an industrious group of German Lutherans. Hahndorf, which is 28 km east of Adelaide is the oldest surviving German settlement in Australia and it has managed to retain its nineteenth century Germanic identity with many buildings restored for local use.

You can buy modern and traditional handcrafted arts and crafts, and sample German breads and meats. An unusual attraction is the Hahndorf Antique Clock Museum, the most unique collection of its kind in Australia and features the world's largest cuckoo clock. There is also a German Folk Museum, Model Train Land and a German-style restaurant in the Old Mill which was originally a flour mill built in the 1850s.

Location: 28 km east of Adelaide