The winding Gorge Road is more than a route into the Hills — it's a journey through gorge, forest and orchard country in the space of an hour.
There are faster ways into the Adelaide Hills than the Gorge Road. None are more beautiful.
The road peels off Adelaide's eastern fringe and almost immediately surrenders to the River Torrens, hugging the water as it carves through the gorge. The bends come thick and fast, the valley walls rise steep and forested, and at Pulpit Rock the whole scene opens beneath you in a single dizzying sweep.
Into the gorge
This is country to take slowly. Motorcyclists love the corners, but the lookouts reward those who pull over — the river glinting far below, sulphur-crested cockatoos wheeling between the cliffs.
The valley beyond
Climb high enough and the gorge gives way to the gentler Torrens Valley: orchards, pine forest and the quiet villages of Cudlee Creek, Gumeracha and Birdwood. By the time you reach the National Motor Museum, the city feels a world away. That's the magic of the Gorge Road — an hour's drive that delivers you somewhere genuinely wild.
