Roomer

“You've got three nights in Adelaide, you want to eat and drink well, and you don't want to spend half the trip in rideshares.”

If you're planning a long weekend in Adelaide — maybe a couple, maybe a small group, maybe you just want to eat your way through the Central Market without logistics ruining the mood — Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets is the answer you text to the group chat and then move on with your life. It's on Market Street, which means you're a two-minute walk from the Central Market and surrounded by enough bars and restaurants that you could stay a week without repeating yourself. But the real trick is that you might not even leave the building.

Adelaide doesn't have a ton of hotels that feel like they belong in Adelaide rather than any mid-size city with a convention centre. This one does. It's a boutique property that leans into its neighbourhood — the Central Market precinct — without making it a whole personality. You check in, you feel like you're staying somewhere with a point of view, and that point of view is: you came here to have a good time, so let's make that easy.

The rooftop situation

Start at the top, because that's what sells this place. Merrymaker is the rooftop bar, and it's not a sad pool deck with a drinks menu stapled to a clipboard. It's a proper cocktail bar with food worth ordering, city views that actually deliver, and the kind of atmosphere where you settle in for two hours without meaning to. The fact that it's directly above your room means your commute home is an elevator ride, which is the most underrated luxury in travel.

Then there's the rooftop infinity pool. It's not massive — don't picture a resort — but it overlooks the city and on a warm Adelaide evening it's exactly the right move between checking in and heading out for dinner. Or, more realistically, it's where you end up the morning after Merrymaker when you need to feel like a functioning person again.

The gym is worth mentioning not because you're going to Adelaide to work out, but because whoever designed it put it on a high floor with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. Running on a treadmill while watching Adelaide wake up is a surprisingly decent way to earn your Central Market pastry. It's well-equipped for a boutique hotel — not just a single elliptical in a converted closet.

The room and the honest bits

Rooms are clean, contemporary, comfortable. The design has that considered-but-not-trying-too-hard quality — local art references, good lighting, a bed you actually sink into rather than bounce off. There's enough space for two people and a suitcase without playing furniture Tetris, which is more than you can say for a lot of boutique hotels in this price range. Charging situation is solid with accessible outlets on both sides of the bed, so nobody's running a cable across the floor like a trip hazard.

“The rooftop bar is genuinely good enough that you'll cancel your dinner reservation at least once.”

There's a restaurant downstairs too, which is handy for a low-effort breakfast or a night when you simply cannot be bothered walking anywhere. It's fine. It's not the reason you're here. The reason you're here is that you can roll out the front door onto a street lined with places to eat and drink that actual Adelaide locals go to, not hotel-district chains. Leigh Street and Peel Street are both within a few minutes' walk, and those two strips alone could fill a long weekend.

The honest warning: if you're a light sleeper and you're booking on a weekend, request a room away from the Market Street side. The neighbourhood is lively — that's the whole appeal — but lively means you'll hear Friday night energy through the windows if you're facing the street. Ask for a higher floor or a courtyard-facing room and you'll sleep fine.

One detail that stuck: the hallway corridors have these illustrated panels that reference the Central Market's history — produce vendors, old signage, that kind of thing. It's a small touch, but it's the difference between a hotel that happens to be near the market and a hotel that knows exactly why its location matters. Someone on the design team actually walked around the neighbourhood before picking a mood board.

The plan

Book at least two weeks ahead for weekends — Adelaide's hotel market is tighter than people expect, especially during festival season. Request a higher floor facing away from Market Street for quiet. Start your first evening at Merrymaker rather than scrambling for a restaurant reservation; the cocktails are good and the food is more than bar snacks. Skip the hotel breakfast at least once and walk to the Central Market instead — grab a coffee from one of the specialty stalls and eat your way through the produce vendors. That's the whole point of this location.

Book a high floor away from the street, have your first dinner at Merrymaker, and walk to the Central Market for breakfast — you'll wonder why you ever stay anywhere else in Adelaide.

Rooms start around ‏143 US$ a night midweek and climb toward ‏250 US$ on weekends and during festivals. For what you're getting — rooftop pool, a bar you'll actually use, and the best food neighbourhood in the city at your doorstep — that's a straightforward yes.