The Best Picnic Spots in the Barossa
Nine places to spread a rug in the valley - lookouts, riverbanks, village greens and one very famous dam.
The Barossa may be the easiest picnic country in Australia: world-class provisions every few kilometres and an endless supply of views to eat them in front of. Stock the basket at the Barossa Farmers Market or one of the valley's great bakeries, add a bottle from whichever cellar door you passed last, and pick your spot from the list below. All are free to enter except Para Wirra, which charges a vehicle entry fee.
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1
WilliamstownBarossa Reservoir Reserve
Picnic beside the famous Whispering Wall, then send someone 140 metres across the dam to test the acoustics. Lawns, shade and a genuine engineering marvel.
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2
TanundaMengler Hill Lookout
The Barossa's postcard panorama. Come late in the day, eat while the valley turns gold, and walk it off among the sculptures below the summit.
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3
BethanyBethany Reserve
A creekside green in the Barossa's first German village, with stone cottages, the 1883 church and 180 years of history within strolling distance.
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4
NuriootpaCoulthard Reserve
Broad riverside lawns on Nuriootpa's North Para River, complete with an open-air bush chapel under the gums. Quietly one of the loveliest spots in the valley.
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5
NuriootpaBarossa Bushgardens
Spread out among labelled native plantings on Nuriootpa's edge - part picnic ground, part botanical cheat sheet for the region's flora.
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6
Mount Pleasant
Talunga Recreation Park
Mount Pleasant's green heart. On Saturday mornings the farmers market is fifty metres from your rug - picnics don't come fresher.
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7
WilliamstownPara Wirra Conservation Park
Multiple picnic grounds with lawns, barbecues and resident kangaroos and emus. The lakeside spots fill first on spring weekends.
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8
WilliamstownWarren Reservoir
A quiet shoreline picnic among the gums south of Williamstown, with waterbirds for company and barely another soul midweek.
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9
TanundaJacob's Creek Visitor Centre
Lawns running down toward the actual Jacob's Creek - buy a glass inside, claim a table outside, and picnic where the world's best-known creek got its name.
Pack a rubbish bag and a picnic rug with a waterproof back - winter lawns in the Barossa are greener than they look. Most reserves have tables, but the best spots rarely do.
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Image credits
- ADB Williamstown Barossa Res whispering wall 2.jpg by User:Orderinchaos , CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons