Rundle Mall, Adelaide, Bezoekersgids & wat te doen in de buurt

Rundle Mall is the pedestrian shopping street at the heart of Adelaide, South Australia, running between King William Street and Pulteney Street. It is the city's busiest retail strip, and it is also a short outdoor gallery of public sculpture, street performers and Victorian-era arcades.

The story behind it

The street takes its name from Rundle Street, which was laid out in Adelaide's original 1830s city plan and named after John Rundle, an English investor linked to the early colony. For well over a century it was an ordinary road with traffic and trams. In the 1970s the central stretch was closed to vehicles and turned into a mall, and it has been Adelaide's main shopping address ever since.

Many of the buildings along it date from the late 1800s, when the street was growing into the commercial centre of the colony. Adelaide Arcade, which opened in the 1880s, is one of the best preserved examples, with its mosaic floors and glass roof. Beehive Corner, at the King William Street end, is another well-known Victorian building and a favourite meeting spot.

What to look for

• The Spheres, a cluster of shiny stainless steel balls by sculptor Bert Flugelman, which locals call the Mall's Balls and use as a meeting point.
• The bronze pigs near the middle of the mall, a playful sculpture of a group of pigs that people love to pose with.
• Beehive Corner, where the decorative Victorian architecture still stands out among the modern shopfronts.
• The Adelaide Arcade entrance, where the tiled floor and ornate ceiling are worth a look even if you are not shopping.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 30 to 60 minutes if you just want to walk its length and see the sculptures, longer if you plan to shop or stop for coffee.
• Go in the morning for a calmer stroll, or later in the day when the street is lively with buskers and crowds.
• The mall itself is open air and free to walk through, but check current opening hours for individual shops and arcades.
• North Terrace, with its grand cultural buildings, is only a short walk away, so the mall pairs well with a wider city centre wander.

See it on a quest

Adelaide Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society. is a detective-themed route through the city centre. You reach the mall on foot as one stop of a longer walk, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in North Terrace, Adelaide is a good pick if you want to combine the mall with the grand streets around North Terrace. You walk between stops at your own pace, hear the story of each place, and solve a puzzle in front of what you see. One ticket covers the whole group.

Kid Quest: Solve the case of the lost senses in Adelaide is made for families with children. It turns a walk past the city's landmarks into a game, with the app telling you about each place and a puzzle to solve at each one. One ticket covers the whole group.