Yorke Peninsula (SA) Guide

About the Yorke Peninsula

The Yorke Peninsula is the boot-shaped peninsula west of Adelaide, between Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent, about two hours from the city to Port Wakefield at its top and another two to Marion Bay at the toe. It’s Narungga Country, and you’ll see Narungga names and stories on the signs at the beaches and camps. The coast is long beaches of white sand and low red cliffs, with small towns behind them and farmland in between.

Three things make it a 4WD camper’s place: Yorke Peninsula Council runs 19 bush campgrounds on the coast for $20 a night, you can drive onto most beaches, and Innes National Park sits at the bottom with its own camps, cliffs and lighthouses. It isn’t busy, even at Christmas, and there’s plenty of space.

Best time to go

We went between Christmas and New Year, which is the fire danger season, so no campfires, and the hottest time of the year, but the sea breeze and the water made it work. Spring and autumn would give cooler days for the walks and fewer people on the beaches. Winter is quiet and the camps are empty, with weather coming straight off the Southern Ocean on the west coast.

• SpringBest timeSeptember–NovemberWarm daysQuiet campsWildflowers in Innes
• AutumnBest timeMarch–MayThe water still warmThe crowds gone
• SummerFairDecember–FebruaryBeach weatherBook camps aheadNo fires
• WinterTake careJune–AugustCold wind on the west coastQuiet

Getting There and Accessibility

We came down from the Flinders Ranges through Wilmington and Port Pirie and onto the peninsula at Moonta Bay. From Adelaide it’s the Port Wakefield road, then the Copper Coast Highway to Moonta or the Yorke Highway down the middle to Minlaton and Warooka. The main roads are sealed and the camps are a few kilometres of gravel off them, with sand on the last stretch into some, so drop your tyres before the beach tracks. Reception is patchy on the coast: buy your permits and park passes in town.

Map of the Peninsula and Our Stops

The west coast runs from Moonta Bay down through The Bamboos, Tiparra Rocks and Port Victoria to Second Beach, then inland through Minlaton to Flaherty Beach near Point Turton, round to Corny Point and down to Daly Head on the foot, and on to Marion Bay and Innes National Park at the toe, with Parsons Beach just outside the park. Here’s how it fits together.

Campgrounds on the Yorke Peninsula

We stayed at The Bamboos, on the sand behind the beach near Balgowan, and at Daly Head, on the cliff above the surfing reserve near Corny Point, and looked in at Tiparra Rocks on the way. All three are council bush camps: toilets, maybe a shelter and a rainwater tank, and nothing else, for $20 a night on the permit. Innes National Park has its own campgrounds, covered in its guide.

Lookouts

Corny Point Lighthouse stands at the end of a sandy track on the corner of the foot, and the clifftop at Daly Head comes with its campground.

Sights

The beaches are the attractions. We drove onto Second Beach south of Port Victoria and Parsons Beach outside Innes, stopped at a busy Flaherty Beach near Point Turton, with a swim and lunch under the awning at both, and spent a day in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park on the cliffs at Cape Spencer, the salt lakes at Pondalowie and the water at Dolphin Bay. In between, Watsacowie Brewing Company in Minlaton does a tasting paddle and a feed, and the Port Victoria Hotel sits a block from the jetty.

Moonta Bay

Moonta Bay was our first stop on the peninsula, coming in from the Flinders. The long timber jetty runs out over water so shallow and clear that you can see the sand ripples and the weed beds from the end of it, with sand bars and pools along the beach when the tide is out. Beside the jetty there’s a netted swimming area off the beach, which was full of families on a hot December day, and a fish measuring station on the jetty for anyone fishing off it. Moonta itself is up the road, a Cornish copper-mining town with old stone shopfronts and verandahs along the main street and a supermarket for stocking up before the coast.

Driving on the Beaches

Driving onto the beach is the thing to do here. Check the sign at each access before you go down: the limit is 40 km/h on the sand and 25 km/h within 50 metres of anyone, and some beaches, Wauraltee Beach and Second Beach among them since February 2025, no longer allow overnight camping. Drop your tyres to beach pressures at the access, keep to the firm sand near the water, and pump back up before the bitumen; the Port Victoria foreshore kiosk does air refills. With the awning out and the stove on the tailgate, lunch on an empty beach is as good as the peninsula gets.

Practical Tips

The Yorke Peninsula is big, and the towns and bush camps are spread out along the coast. A bit of planning for permits, supplies and water goes a long way.

Summary

White sand, turquoise water, $20 bush camps and your 4WD on the beach, with hardly anyone around: the Yorke Peninsula is the easiest great beach trip in South Australia. Book the camps ahead, plan your supplies and give it more days than we did. From the peninsula we drove back past Adelaide and spent the next night at Wirra Campground in Para Wirra Conservation Park, on the way into the Barossa.

Recommended Gear for the Yorke Peninsula

Beach driving every day means a tyre deflator in the door pocket and an air compressor for the road back. Our Kings 270 Tourer awning made the beach lunches and the windy cliff at Daly Head, and with no water at any of the camps, a couple of good water containers are essential.