City Skate Park

South Australia's largest skatepark, opened after a seven-year wait and designed with the local skate community. A central plaza with intermediate and advanced stair sets sits between a beginner bowl and an advanced bowl with a cradle, and after-hours lighting keeps it usable once the summer heat drops.

Adelaide went without a city skatepark from 2013 until this $3.8 million replacement opened beside West Terrace, and the council built it with the people who had skated the old one. The plaza in the middle nods to the old park’s obstacles; the two bowls are the destination pieces, with the advanced one built around a cradle and fast shallow-to-deep lines.

An honest note for returners: at least one local blogger found it less beginner-friendly than they had hoped. The beginner bowl and the plaza’s intermediate stair set — a kinked rail, an out-ledge and a down rail — are the sensible places to start; leave the advanced bowl for when the legs are back. Being in the Park Lands it is a pleasant spot to sit out a session, too.