The Clare Valley Without a Tour

You can see the Clare Valley without a guide, and many people do. The hard part is not finding the cellar doors. It is moving between them when everyone wants to taste. This guide covers driving and the law, the coach, the Riesling Trail by bike, taxis and booking your own tastings, and when a tour is the better answer. The Clare Valley guided tours are there when it is.

Can you visit the Clare Valley without a tour?

Yes. There is no gate and no ticket, and nothing stops you from walking into a cellar door. Clare Valley Tourism calls your own car by far the easiest way to get around the region, and the South Australian Tourism Commission says self-drive is the easiest way to explore.

What you give up is the driver. The cellar doors are spread along the valley from Auburn in the south to Clare in the north, and no bus links them. So every plan without a tour comes down to one question: who is not drinking today?

Driving: who tastes and who drives?

South Australia's rules are strict, and they are worth knowing before you plan a day of tastings. The Legal Services Commission of South Australia sets them out:

• Full licence holders: it is an offence to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 or higher.
• Learner, provisional and probationary drivers: any alcohol in the blood breaches the licence conditions.
• Breath tests: police can test any driver on the road, at any time.
• Driving under the influence: a separate offence, and it reaches beyond cars to bicycles, e-scooters and other personal mobility devices.

The practical answer is a designated driver who tastes nothing, or spits every pour. Agree who it is before you leave, not at the second cellar door. If nobody wants the job, that is the case for a tour.

By coach from Adelaide

A coach service runs between Adelaide, the Clare Valley and other regional towns. Clare Valley Tourism points travellers to Peninsula Coaches for the timetable, so check it there before you plan around it.

The coach gets you to the valley, not around it. Once you arrive, you still need a bike, a taxi or a tour to reach the cellar doors. If you fly, Clare Valley Aerodrome is on RM Williams Way, 14 km north of Clare. Clare Valley Tourism says pickups and car tours can be arranged from it. Getting to the Clare Valley has the driving route and every way in.

Cycling the Riesling Trail between cellar doors

This is the best way to see the valley on your own. The Riesling Trail runs 33 km from Auburn to Barinia, north of Clare, on an old railway corridor that dates from the 1860s. It is flat, graded gravel, and a standard mountain or hybrid bike is fine. Around 30 cellar doors sit along the way.

The trail comes in four legs:

• Clare to Barinia: 8 km, slightly uphill then down.
• Clare to Sevenhill: 6 km, slightly uphill.
• Sevenhill to Watervale: 9 km, over the highest point at Penwortham.
• Watervale to Auburn: 10 km, slightly downhill. The trail ends at Mount Horrocks Wines, in the restored Auburn railway station.

Car parks sit at Auburn, Watervale, Sevenhill, Clare and Barinia, and there are public toilets at Auburn Memorial Park, Watervale Oval, Sevenhill Cricket Ground and Clare Skate Park. Wear a helmet, and remember that the DUI offence covers a bike as well as a car.

Where do you hire a bike?

In Clare, Clare Valley Tourism names Riesling Trail Bike Hire, Clare Valley Cycle Hire and Scoot the Valley. There is hire in Auburn as well, at the other end of the trail. E-bikes and tandems are among the choices.

Book ahead on a spring or autumn weekend, the seasons the South Australian Tourism Commission recommends for cycling. Ask when you book whether the firm will carry any bottles you buy, because a bike has little room for a case of Riesling.

Can you walk between cellar doors?

On some stretches, yes. The Riesling Trail is shared by walkers and riders, and Clare Valley Tourism lists Clare to Sevenhill, 6 km on the trail, as one of its Clare Valley Short Walks. Another runs from Watervale to Mount Horrocks. Each of the short walks takes one to four hours.

A walk suits one or two cellar doors, not five. Plan it around lunch, carry water, and check the fire rating in summer. A taxi can bring you back if you walk one way.

Taxis and getting back

A taxi solves the one-way ride. Clare Valley Taxis can bring you back to your bike's starting point, so you can ride one way, from Clare to Auburn, and not ride back. Clare Valley Tourism also names Clare Valley Taxis for pickups from the aerodrome.

The same idea works for a group. One person drives the car to the end of the day's leg, the others ride, and nobody drives after a tasting.

Where should you start?

At the Clare Valley Wine, Food and Tourism Centre, 8 Spring Gully Road, Clare. It opens from 9am to 5pm on weekdays and 10am to 4pm at weekends, and it closes on Christmas Day and on Catastrophic Fire Days. It sits on the Riesling Trail between Clare and Sevenhill, so you can start a ride from its door.

Ask there about the day's cellar door hours, and pick up a map before you set off.

Booking tastings yourself

Some cellar doors take walk-ins, and some want notice. Clare Valley Tourism advises booking a tasting at Pikes Wines ahead, booking Kilikanoon a couple of days ahead, and calling Sussex Squire for a full tasting. Mitchell Wines pours in an old stone apple shed at 246 Hughes Park Road, Penwortham.

Each cellar door sets its own tasting fee, and no official source publishes a figure for the region. Ask when you book, and ask whether the fee comes off the price of a bottle. If you want the oldest winery in the valley, Sevenhill Cellars welcomes visitors to look round the underground cellar and St Aloysius' Church. Confirm its opening hours with the winery before you go.

What does it cost compared with a tour?

On your own, you pay for three things: getting there, getting around, and each tasting as you go. None of those has a single published price. A bike, a taxi and each cellar door set their own.

A tour sets one price for the day. The local guide's scenic day costs $174 per person, with the tastings and a winery lunch in the fare. The Wine Escape from Adelaide costs $341 per person, with the drive both ways. The private day is $535 for a group of up to four. Clare Valley wine tour prices breaks every fare down.

When is a tour the better answer?

When nobody wants to drive, a tour wins outright. It also wins when you have one day and no car, when you are staying in Adelaide, and when you want a guide who can tell you about the people behind the wines.

Doing it yourself wins when you want to ride, when you plan to buy heavily at one cellar door, or when you have a designated driver who is happy with the job. You can also do both: a guided day first, then a day on the trail to go back to the wineries you liked.

Doing it yourself vs a tour, compared

Fares as of September 2026. Tasting fees, hire and taxi prices are set by each business, so check them when you book.

Frequently asked questions

Tours that do the driving

Clare Valley Wine Tour. Local Guide, Clare Valley pickup, & lunch

Six and a half hours from your Clare Valley accommodation, six guests at most, with a charcuterie lunch and the scheduled tastings in the fare.

From $177 per person

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Clare Valley Scenic Wine Tour with Local Stories

Six hours with the local guide, collected in one of seven valley towns, five guests at most, with the tastings and a winery lunch paid.

From $174 per person

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Clare Valley Wine Escape

Eight hours from your Adelaide or Glenelg hotel to Auburn, Taylors, O'Leary Walker, Hill River and Pikes, with tastings and lunch in the fare.

From $341 per person

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