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Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth-most populous city of Australia. The demonym Adelaidean is used to denote the city and its residents.

Adelaide is situated on the Adelaide Plains north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, between the Gulf St Vincent in the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges in the east. Its metropolitan area extends 20 km (12 mi) from the coast to the foothills, and stretches 96 km (60 mi) from Gawler in the north to Sellicks Beach in the south.

Named in honour of Queen Adelaide, consort to King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for the only freely-settled British province in Australia. Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide's founding fathers, designed the city centre and chose its location close to the River Torrens, in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people and known as Tarndanyangga ("place of the red kangaroo"). Light's design, now listed as national heritage, set out the city centre in a grid layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by parklands.

Adelaide International Airport (IATA: ADL) is around 7km (4mi) to the west of the city centre. West Beach, an excellent swimming beach with plenty of accommodation is located only 4km (2.5mi) away.

Adelaide's airport has scheduled international services. Air New Zealand via Auckland is particularly useful for flights to and from the Americas and the Pacific Islands. Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong is generally useful for flights to and from both East Asia and Europe and both Malaysia Airlines and Singapore airlines via Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are useful for flights to and from South East Asia, India, the Middle East and Europe. Qatar also offer flights direct to Doha on the new A350 XWB aircraft, and from there connecting to much of Europe and the Middle East. In addition, domestic flights to Sydney and Melbourne are useful for connections to the Americas, while domestic flights to Perth are useful for connections to Africa. The service to Guangzhou in China is useful for direct entry into China and onward flights throughout Asia.

Between the airport and the city

JetBuses J1, J1A, J1X and J3 link the airport with the city, operating every 15 minutes throughout the day. A ticket costs $5.10 during peak, $3.30 off-peak and includes unlimited transfers within a 2h period. Alternatively you can buy a 3 day Visitor Pass with unlimited travel for $26.60. The city centre can be reached from the airport in 15-25min.

Taxis are available outside the terminal, at around $16-20 to the city centre. An extra $3 is added to fares starting at the airport.

Rental cars are available. Major national renters are represented in kiosks at the terminal.

Great Southern Rail runs long distance tourist train services, The Ghan runs to Alice Springs and Darwin, The Overland, runs to Melbourne, and the Indian Pacific runs to Perth, Broken Hill and Sydney. The The Ghan and Indian Pacific services are train experiences, more like a cruise on rails than a plain transport service, offering sleeper cabins, dining, off-train excursions and the opportunity to take your car with you on the train. However, they take considerably longer and invariably cost more than the journey by bus or plane - a minimum of $800 up to $2500 depending on class of service.

The Overland service to Melbourne is a regular seated day train and while it still takes over 10 hours, the fares can be cheaper than or of comparable price with air fares - starting at $99 each way (red standard class advance purchase). The trains stop at intermediate stops which may not be serviced by air connections. Note that the rest of the train services are very infrequent - running only once or twice per week so you should plan well in advance!

V/Line runs a daily combined bus/train journey to Adelaide from Melbourne. You can connect from NSW TrainLink trains to V/Line buses at Albury or Benalla.

• Wikitravel