Port Elliot

Port Elliot combines coastal scenery with a history shaped by its seaport and railway. The Ratalang Basham Beach Conservation Reserve extends to Commodore Point and encompasses dunes, heathland, rocky coastline, headlands and bays. If you’d like to combine nature, outdoor activities and discoveries in town, this mix gives you a concrete reason to consider Port Elliot as a destination for your stay.

Coastal trails, views and water

From Horseshoe Bay, a coastal trail follows cliff paths and passes viewpoints. Continental Park offers views of Rocky Bay, Green Bay and Knights Beach, as well as access to walking trails. You can plan your outings around whether you’d rather explore a coastal trail or look out over the bays from a park.

Horseshoe Bay is a sheltered swimming area for people who don’t feel confident in the water. Knights Beach offers something different: a challenging experience for experienced surfers and bodyboarders. This lets you give different weight to quiet time by the water and sporting interests when choosing what to do, without treating the two beaches as the same.

From Port Elliot, you can look out for southern right whales on a coastal drive from May to October. This period gives the wildlife experience a seasonal timeframe; for planning your trip, it’s therefore important to note that the months mentioned are May to October.

Harbour and railway history

The Port Elliot Historic Railway & Seaport Centre is housed in the heritage-listed Port Elliot Railway Station and is run by the National Trust. The exhibition explains the history of the seaport from 1852 to 1864 and of the railway from 1854. If you enjoy tracing how harbour and railway connections shaped a place’s history, this is a fitting focus for your visit.

The Port Elliot Maritime Heritage Trail highlights Port Elliot’s role as the first seaport for trade on the River Murray. The trail also describes the railway connection between coastal Port Elliot and the Port of Goolwa on the Murray as Australia’s first public railway. These topics give today’s coastal town a maritime and transport-history dimension.

Individual traces also tell stories of the past: the heritage-listed well is the remnant of the gravity-fed water supply system completed in 1853. The four wrecked ships Harry, Josephine Loizeau, Lapwing and Flying Fish are often visible in the surf zone at Horseshoe Bay. Their names and location make these reminders of maritime history particularly vivid.

Town life and trails

The Strand brings together restored historic buildings and modern buildings that blend into the streetscape. Cafés, pubs, boutiques, galleries and other retail businesses characterise this part of Port Elliot. If, in addition to nature and history, you enjoy strolling through a town centre with a range of shops and places to eat, you can take this into account when deciding whether Port Elliot is right for you.

For cycling, the Encounter Bikeway runs through Port Elliot and along the coast; cyclists can also follow it through Ratalang (Bashams Beach Reserve). If you’d rather get around on foot, you can explore the historic walks of the Port Elliot branch of the National Trust. They start at Port Elliot Railway Station and offer another way to learn about the town’s history.

The Cockle Train connects Port Elliot with Goolwa or Victor Harbor. It runs year-round on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays; daily services operate during South Australian school holidays. A little culinary discovery is the “Donut of the Month” at Port Elliot Bakery.

More destination pages

Other places: Mccracken, Goolwa and Hindmarsh Valley.

Back to the main travel overview: Victor Harbor.