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Goolwa's premier riverside park features an award-winning nature playspace built around a 10-metre restored wooden fishing boat, right on the Murray River with BBQs, shelters and a shallow swimming beach.

Guided kayak tours from Hindmarsh Island into the Coorong National Park - a Ramsar-listed wetland system of lagoons, sand dunes and waterbirds.

A historic township once considered by William Light as the capital of South Australia, with a Lions Park picnic area beside the spring-fed creek and an 1913 Institute building.

Electric bike rental along the 31km Encounter Bikeway with pickup at Goolwa, Middleton or Port Elliot - self-guided coastal cycling.

Beaches

Goolwa Beach

Goolwa

Goolwa Beach is the southern end of an 18-kilometre stretch of wave-pounded Southern Ocean sand running all the way to the Murray Mouth, with a patrolled swimming area and a legendary (and legal) 4WD beach drive.

A 170 m timber boardwalk over the Goolwa dunes to a lookout with panoramas of Sir Richard Peninsula, the Hindmarsh Island Bridge and the Coorong.

A State Heritage Area covering 19 historic sites along the Goolwa wharf - paddle steamer, railway, goods sheds, hotels and Little Scotland - the best-preserved 19th-century river port in Australia.

A community market on the Goolwa Wharf with over 80 stalls of fresh produce, crafts, food and music - held on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month.

A Goolwa-based surf school running lessons across the Fleurieu - Goolwa Beach, Middleton, Port Elliot and Victor Harbor - run by experienced surf coach Kingo with private and group options year-round.

Hall-of-Fame Ngarrindjeri cultural tours led by elder Mark Koolmatrie - Coorong cruises, dune walks, smoke ceremonies and Nurrunderi Creation Story storytelling.

Family-friendly Aboriginal walking tours from Narnu Farm covering bush food, traditional tools and Ngarrindjeri culture along the Coorong fringe.

A heritage Hindmarsh Island farm with twice-daily animal feeding (deer, pigs, emu, lambs, chicks), a nature playspace, sports arena and farm-stay cottages.

Family Activities

PS Oscar W

Goolwa

One of only a handful of original Murray River paddle steamers still in regular operation, the wood-fired PS Oscar W offers one-hour heritage cruises from Goolwa Wharf on weekends.

A contemporary and touring exhibition gallery housed in a landmark building on the Goolwa Wharf, looking out over the Murray River.

Daily 2, 3.5 and 6-hour cruises from Goolwa Wharf through the barrage and into the Coorong - the only operator running scheduled cruises through the Murray Mouth.

Family Activities

SteamRanger Cockle Train

Goolwa

The historic Cockle Train follows the coast from Goolwa to Victor Harbor on tracks laid in 1887, run by SteamRanger Heritage Railway.

Guided forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku) sessions in pristine riverine bush at Yundi - less than an hour from Adelaide.

A dark-sky astronomy site run by the Astronomical Society of South Australia, with public observing nights in the rural Tooperang hamlet.

A guided walk with a Ngarrindjeri or Kaurna Tribal Elder through Yundi bushland, with a meal of local produce afterward.