If you’re looking for a staycation in Adelaide or a caravan park as close to the city as you can get, look no further than the Adelaide Showgrounds Caravan Park.

You’ll find this park on Goodwood Road at Wayville, with the entry on Leader Street, and checking in couldn’t be made any easier. When you book online or by phone you are emailed all the details soon afterwards and everything is simply explained.

With a flat rate of $55 per night year round this is an excellent price for a city stay. The email you receive for confirmation of your booking, has the dates and site number you’ve been allocated as well as an access code to use to enter a boom gate into the showgrounds.

We arrived on a very busy Sunday with the regular farmers market and another makers market on, but entry was easy with a dedicated lane for caravan park users to use and drive through to the caravan sites.

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The park has only been established for around 18 months so as you’d expect the facilities are excellent, with two ablution blocks, laundry, camp kitchens, outdoor BBQ areas and even a campfire area to use at certain times of the year. There is free Wi-Fi, it is pet friendly and your booking also gives you discounts to use at business nearby, including the Goodwood Hotel which is conveniently across the road.

A pedestrian access gate is on the Goodwood Road side of the park and your code gets you back in by using the keypad at the gate. There is no on site office, but there is a phone number to contact during office hours and an after hours Venue Management number to call if needed.

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The map of the roads and sites in the caravan park make it easy to find your spot and there are one way arrows to direct you around. As the park is set up where old horse stables used to sit, the streets are named after horse breeds and there is some colourful themed art on the buildings too.

Because the park is quite new the trees planted so far haven’t had long to grow so it does look and feel a bit concrete and hard around the park, but there are a few grassed areas and given time it will become a more shaded and cooler place to stay. The sites are mostly on pavers so you can’t use tent pegs, but weights are provided to tie your awning to.

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It’s main drawcard though is its convenience to the city, only a short bus, taxi, or uber ride and close enough even to walk into the city.

It is a perfect and cheap option for city accommodation when you BYO caravan, tent or swag, and if you time your stay for a weekend you can visit the regular farmers market held at the showgrounds on a Sunday and the Gilles at the Grounds Markets. These fashion, food, art and design markets are held in the dairy building and the dates for the rest of this year are November 7 & 21, and December 4, 5 & 19.

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After browsing the huge indoor market you can then pull up a seat or patch of grass outside and enjoy food and drinks from one of the many food caravans and stalls outdoors.

Enjoy a stay in the city!

Glenys