I made that reference earlier. I said that there was 'some truth in it', but when it comes down to it, a lot not correct about it.

I believe the stereotype comes from the fact that on any typical weekend in Adelaide, there is not really that much to do (at least compared with Sydney or Melbourne, or particularly in relation to your average European city). We tend to be reasonably stay at home.

However, we are also very good at holding large special interest events, where Adelaide punches well above its weight. Take the Tour Down Under, which was last week announced as the only 'Pro Tour' event ever to be held outside of Europe.

I wouldn't live anywhere else. I personally like a smaller city, bigger cities are for visiting, to remind yourself why you are better off at home...

Adelaide is rated by many as the fourth best city to live in the world.

1. Vancouver
2. Melbourne
3. Zurich
4. Adelaide

The people who rate Adelaide as a "hole" are jealous

having stayed in sydney for extended periods of time for work, i couldnt live anywhere else but here cost of living is so cheap and you can get any where quickly took and hour in sydney to get to what would take me 15 mins here

i think its just the lack of development, at least that is the thing that frustrates me. Go to melbourne or sydney and something is always getting built, here it takes so long and everyone complains before something is done. Recently its getting better though ie: city building developments etc.

yep agree with that one josh

Having lived in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra but spending the majority of my time growing up in Adelaide I think it's a great place.

Sydney, great to visit for the weekend, but as far a living there, no thanks. Commuting is too hard, public transport bites the big one, renting a decent place is beyond the means of the normal person, and don't think about buying a house for less that $400k within an hours drive of the City.

Brisbane is nice, a bit bigger than Adelaide, and there are also some great holiday spots only a few hours drive from the city. Noosa, Sunshine Coast etc etc, plus better casino's. Brisbane has the Valley where this is always something going on. Not having daylight saving is a bit strange, but then so are the majority of northern queenslanders.

Adelaide is a place that whilst you live in it you seem to undervalue it as a place to reside, but once you go and live in another city your attitude changes. I've been living away since 1998 and in that time it has grown up a lot, both commercial and residential, but it's taken that time away to understand just how good Adelaide is. Before I left, the Bay still had the dirty pile of dogpoo on the beach, I was shocked when I last went there. The residential developments in the CBD area has been impressive, the pub scene is great. Live music scene is pretty sweet.

Now Canberra, there is a shithole. No pubs, everything is a damn RSL, no beach, but we do have a dirty man made lake in the middle, Parliament House, which all that does is minimise the number of taxi's when Parliament is sitting. War Memorial is pretty cool, along with the National Museum, but outside of that, Canberra has bugger all. The worst and most arrogant drivers in Australia.

I'm not sure how the employment situation is in Adelaide, but a work colleague told me that Adelaide is a place to retire to, make your money, name, reputation elsewhere, but come back to Adelaide to enjoy it and the easier lifestyle.

Want to live in a great city, and if I had a choice of one free transfer with work, then I'd be looking at Perth.

I love Adelaide, I've not lived there for about 4 and a half years but I definitely plan on moving back in the next few years. It's the perfect size, big enough to always meet new people, but small enough to always bump into someone you know on a night out. Whenever I meet a fellow Adelaidean on the other side of the world we can always find someone we both know within a few minutes, for a city of over 1 million people that's amazing.

Conclusion: Adelaide not a hole.

Not a hole.

I tend to agree with TR. I have lived all over the world and I don't think there is a better place than Adelaide.

Sydney:
Pros: (not the type you are thinking of TR!) Lots of people, many more things to do at nights and weekends, more job opportunities, wonderful beaches to the North, Paramatta (NRL side).
Cons: Over crowded, cost of living is too high, public transport sucks, traffic jams, expensive.

Melbourne:
Pros: Lots of people, many more things to do at nights and weekends, more job opportunities, more Basketball teams/venues, more variety in regard to Restaurants, more sporting events.
Cons: Crap weather, Melbourne Storm, Crap weather, Frankston, traffic jams, and did I mention the crap weather.

Brisvegas:
Pros: Beautiful one day perfect the next, Fantastic weather, beaches, shops are open 7 days a week, Fun Parks and attractions, great public transport.
Cons: During the summer period you cannot leave your house for the following reasons 1. Too freakin' hot 2. Too many tourists and everthing is so crowded 3. Traffic jams as a result of dickheads crashing on straight roads.

Adelaide:
Pros: Cost of living is lower, Coopers, Friendly people, Cleanish, Wineries, Just nice.
Cons: Small country town, limited things to do at night and on the weekends, limited sporting events and concerts and the like, bad drivers.

Give it time Sturty - you wont give a stuff about the heat eventually!

the Sun rising at 4am however is another argument entirely!

as for Adelaide being a hole......I normally find that people who say that have never actually been there for any length of time. Give the place a chance and all the positives mentioned above shine through.

That being said - Ill stay on the Gold Coast for now :)

Like many of the other posters above, i have spent significant time in other cities in Australia and around the world and at the end of the day it's Adelaide for me.

I giggle every morning during the traffic report - "No accidents or breakdowns this morning and its looking like another clear run to the office"

Have you ever heard the traffic reports in Melbourne or Sydney? It's usually longer then a season of Big Brother with an outcome about as exciting...

I'd rate Adelaide the number 1 city to live in Australia, closely followed by Perth.

Not a hole, but boring as bat dung. Theres nothing to do.....

That's the other thing wrong with Brisvegas no bloody Daylight Savings.........

I know it fades the curtains and the chooks go off the lay.......

As a Tasmanian now living in Adz via some years in Qld, sometimes work over in the West:

In Melbs, Vegas and Syd. everything comes at you so you dont have to do too much work to find activity but getting there and back is a hassle and expensive. If you need to budget, your on a hiding to nothing.
There's a fair bit of "care factor nil" going on in the cities. Rural Qld has care, cheap beer, hard knocks, lowly IQ and no infrastructure.

Adz has one of everything, possibly the best value for your buck food, wine and fair beer courtesy of Coopers. Good access to sport / venues. You have to be in the know for clubs and music, so forced to work a bit here. Shopping - Go to Melbs.

Adz is the capital of moan which promotes Laissez faire. There is a reason asto why it is a half hour behind. My workers tell me this is a throw back to free settlers - they were unhappy somewhere else so got on a boat to S.A. and continued to be unhappy here. Everyone has a voice, but the down side is by the time every petty voice is heard, the moment has passed.

When S.Aussies actually does something, they do it very well. Its getting to the doing thats the issue.Given the pop. base, I agree, sport wise,they fght above their weight.

Tas. is they most visually beautiful area in Oz. The only place in Oz where you can get 4 seasons. It is comparatively fiscally poor and provides little for entertainment and employment if your 18 - 40. Its education base is also slipping. If you enjoy scenery, food & wine, its heaven. locals are direct and friendly.Breed like rabbits and send their bunnies off to populate other areas of Oz.

A short word on Perth - The locals perceive change with the influx of big bucks into the town. they say tt is becoming a bit more impersonal as cost of living continues to climb. P.S. W.A. is full of Tasmanian & South African ex pats. Normally the friendly town with weather and surf.

I think the people that call Adelaide a "hole" are either of the following:

1. have not been here;
2. live in an eastern state capital city with an elitist mentality;
3. have been here, but did not experience it like it can be experienced by someone who lives here.

I say to people who I meet on my travels who are in category 1 or 3 above to make sure they get in touch with me when they come here. For example, for people who want to party, places like Electric Circuis, Rocket etc would not be known or experienced, but are very good clubs in their own right and add to the depth of nightclubs that Adelaide has (which can be viewed as lacking unless you know the options).

For people who want to experience a relaxed holiday, you have so many options. Victor, KI, Barossa, McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley, even glenelg on a nice summer day.

My last trip to Melbourne a month or so ago made me realise how great Adelaide really is for many of the reasons people have stated above (eg traffic, people, cost of living, weather etc).

And not to mention, I think we have quite possibly the best ratio of hot chicks to population in Australia. the depth of beautiful women in this city amazes me sometimes....

Adelaides Great, Ive lived in 4 different countries, and just keep comming back here.
The people need to stop whining about developement, thats our biggest problem, people hear that whining and think we must live in a backwater somewhere.

Sween You must not have spent much time in Vegas, Its bloody easy to get around. Highways running all around the city, public transport is good, slow moving on the strip but thats about all.

Anyone care to rate Broken Hill. I got a mate from there and all he does talk it up and say how much better it is than adelaide and how much of a hole SA is. Any ammo to shoot back at him would be much appreciated.

tell him his hill is broken

man I have to AGREE that adelaide IS a MAJOR HOLE !!! Who are those posters kidding when they say they have travelled the world and are so glad to be back in adelaide as the best place??!! I can't believe that. I know for a fact that adelaide is a hole, I have lived here for way too long cos my husand was born & raised here :( and this place blows big time - as a family we find there is nuthin to do and nowehere to go - and the mentality of most bozo's here is just freakin BOOORING & SLOOWW!!! Could go on & on about how all of adelaide's good attractions have closed down, about how customer service is so pathetic & ppl are so up themselves, and how the place is so insular & small-minded ... but frankly it's a waste of time.

As an outsider who lived in Adelaide for 3 years I often tell people who ask what it's like that it is much better than people from elsewhere say it is, but not nearly as good as people who live there think it is!

Relatively easy to get around, weather is ok, plenty of sport, decent restaurants and arts if you know where to look. Peaceful unless you live in some spots. A nice place without having anything unbelievable going for it. I enjoyed my time there.

It's not one of the best place in the world weather wise! The weather is nice more often than not, but that is probably the single biggest thing people from Adelaide overestimate about their city in my opinion.

Melbourne won a Most Liveable Award this year and I dont think that is true, those rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. How liveable a place is depends so much on where you live in the city, what your interests are, how much money you earn etc etc.

paul, that's fair. A reasonable part of the year is cold and another part is unbearably hot. Could definitely be worse though.

Single worst point for me is proximity to the rest of the world and thus cost of travel. If it weren't for that, I would be much happier settled here.

It depends on what you want out of life. To some people Adelaide isn't exciting enough, for others, it is just right.

South Australia has always been the most conservative of the states and so the typical SA approach is more measured than the "shoot before I think" approach you find in other states like Queensland. Unfortunately, this means that capital development works take longer to implement, if at all. Having said that, we are a more innovate state than others. The O'Bahn system is a novel approach, and when traffic flows are dominated by timetables, we put in a single laned, reversible expressway which means all lanes are always full rather than one side being 100% full, the other 5% full for most of the day.

Australia is the most urbanised western country and the culture of Australia is dominated by two cities. One is a patch of sandstone around 50 km in radius, where 1 in 4 Australians "live" and the other is a sprawling expanse of boggy farmland where houses are now getting planted. Unfortunately, Adelaide gets caught in the crossfire and gets a beating from the Melbourne dominated media. After all, a clown like Rove is unlikely to slag off Melbourne in front of a latte sipping Melbourne audience. It is a sad fact of life that bullies feel better about themselves when they put others down. It is the bully that in fact has the issue and suffers low self esteem.

Melbourne has always been the economic and political centre of Australia.

There are pros and cons with every city. If being "trendy and cool" means paying $20 for a slice of toast with a bit of cheese on it, paying $5 for an insipid cold coffee served in a crappy 1960's chipped mug, paying $1,800/week rent for a crappy fibroboard 2 bedroom house with a leaking roof you only see on weekends because you waste 3 hrs travelling to work each day, or paying $200 for the privilege of attending a concert where some 20 something female American dresses up like a $5 blowjob hooker and uses profanities to impress a teenage girl crowd, well maybe Adelaide is a hole, and a hole worth calling home.

Good one Jack

I was born and grew up in Sydney. Ive been living in London for the past three years, and have travelled extensively in that time. Before I left I also travelled around, and lived in may different parts in Australia. I know exactly where I want to live when i come back, and it aint Sydney!

Adelaide's a good ol' place
I ran away from it when I was 10, 12, 13, 15, 151/2, 17, an' 18
I been caught an' brought back all but once ...

I had to leave a comment here. I have lived in Adelaide for around 12 years but will soon be moving to Brisbane. All I want to say is that Adelaide has some major problems. Most other people will tell you that it is because Adelaide is a bit behind the eastern states, not as developed and not as much entertainment. For me it is the people here. All of the decent people I have met whilst living here have one by one exiled themselves from Adelaide. I don't know why but there are so many horrible people living here and they drive good people away. It seems as though you are stuck with either extremely arrogant snooty types or straight out feral types (sometimes this can even be merged IDK how into the same person). I will repeat that EVERY decent person I have met here has moved away. No joke. If you are thinking of moving here choose your suburb very carefully. I have seriously lost faith in humanity living here. I should have exiled myself and my family from this hell-hole a long time ago. I hope this helps someone out there.

Bye! Have fun discovering that people can be idiots everywhere!

Adelaide Escapee, I would be interested to hear of some examples of the actions of "horrible people" that have made it so hard for you to live in Adelaide.

Would you be so kind as to regale us with some funny tales?

Oops, let's have another go shall we...

I have visited Adelaide and its surrounds twice now and although I haven't lived extensively in other cities I have visited and stayed for some periods in Aussie capital size cities of Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and or course Melbourne often.

I found Adelaide kind of like a bigger version of Geelong which I am very familiar with and comparing Adelaide Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane isn't fair IMO as it is no where near the size of those massive cities.

Like Geelong, in some ways, Adelaide has its less exploited beaches and coastline, inland loaded with wine regions worth discovering and is not too bad to drive around in (no traffic issues like the big three I we seem to compare it with).

Sure, the city can be classed as boring to those who crave a little more crime, stress and in your face attitude from overcrowded & over expanded suburbia found in the big three, but like Geelong I found Adz (as some put it) to be a well kept secret and a bit of an unpolished jewel.

Having said that, I wouldn't leave Geelong to live in Adelaide, pro's and con's just don't add up, but there are many worse places out there, like Tamworth for example, now there's a hole (sorry guitar & horse lovers)...

Adelaide's a bit on the boring side.
Ok for family visits etc.

Surely it isn't as bad as Perth?

Hoops tradition demands that Perth posters gloat over all victories so I must mention that WA currently leads the nation in unemployment. SA is now 0.2% further back in equal 2nd place with Qld.

Number one baby yeah!

Funny this post popped up right when I'm in the mood to point out exactly how much Rads IS the a$$ end of the world!
I realise this is from years ago, but I hope Anon didn't go, or moved elsewhere! No matter where you end up you'll have a few tough years, but once you're settled you'll say - thank god I left. People from Adelaide hold it up like it's manner from heaven, but it's just stinking mushrooms. Nice to visit but happy to leave every time. Too cold in winter and ridiculous in summer. Zero excitement (mad march is every month in Sydney and Melbourne) It's insular, self indulgent, and overly parochial. Much like where I moved - The Gong. But - I live near incredible beaches, work from home, walk everywhere (pre-covid), great for kids, go to Sydney all the time, weather is EXPONENTIALLY better, people are chilled (bogans - but on par with Adelaide), cost of living is reasonable and inline with wages and you've got access to far better job prospects in Sydney. I landed the absolute best job because I had moved. They weren't looking for someone in Adelaide.
So if you aren't scared of the hard yards and you back yourself, go east coast. Your future self will thank you for it.
This is the word of Bags! Praise be to bags!

lol can't please everyone!

Adelaide is the better of the cities to live, Sydney is a shocker, Melbourne is a good middle ground albeit cold. Perth is lovely but empty, Brisbane nice weather but not the biggest fan generally.

Garbage city, garbage people

What about their NBL team?