Adelaide Oval sits right on the edge of North Adelaide, across the River Torrens from the CBD — which makes this city's accommodation choice genuinely close-vs-close rather than a real trek either way. Both sides of the river put you within a 10-15 minute walk of the gates. The actual difference is what kind of 10 minutes you want to spend, and what the rest of your day looks like.
If proximity is all that matters, the Oval Hotel is the answer and there's no real competition. It's built onto the eastern side of Adelaide Oval itself — Australia's first stadium hotel — so getting to your seat means walking out the lobby, not catching transport at all. Rooms look out over the heritage-listed parklands, and being wrapped around the ground means you're inside the atmosphere from the moment you wake up on match day. See live rating and reviews on Google Maps
The InterContinental Adelaide, on the CBD side of the same river footbridge, is the pick if you'd rather have Adelaide's actual city life within reach. It sits directly across the River Torrens from Adelaide Oval — a footbridge walk to the ground — while also putting the Adelaide Festival Centre, the Convention Centre, and Rundle Mall's shops and restaurants within easy reach, which the Oval Hotel, wrapped around a stadium in parkland, genuinely doesn't offer on non-match days. See live rating and reviews on Google Maps
The honest read: choose the Oval Hotel if this Test is the main event and you want to live inside it — 138 rooms, keyless entry, a welcome drink, and direct access to Adelaide Oval's own RoofClimb and stadium tour experiences when there's no play. Choose the InterContinental, or another CBD hotel in the Riverbank Precinct, if you're treating Adelaide as a city stop with cricket as one part of a longer visit, and want restaurants, bars and Rundle Mall within an easy walk rather than a Test-day-only location. Adelaide's December weather is the mildest and driest of the four cities on this tour, sitting around 25°C, so neither side of the river involves much discomfort walking to or from the ground.
Why it's special
