Guide to Loxton South Australia Australia

Loxton is a town of about 4,500 people on a high bank above the Murray, 246 kilometres east of Adelaide and about 20 minutes south of Berri. It is the service centre for the southern Riverland and the northern Mallee, and one of the neatest country towns in the state, with wide streets of gardens and a main street that still has its own department store.

Unlike the other Riverland towns it sits a little off the Sturt Highway, at the end of the roads from Karoonda and the Barossa, which keeps it quiet. The river below the town is broad and lined with red gums, and the Katarapko wetlands begin just downstream.

Most of the orchards and vineyards around Loxton were planted after the Second World War, when the largest soldier settlement scheme in South Australia brought hundreds of ex-servicemen and their families here.

Known For

• The Village, a historical village on the riverbank
• Loxton Lights, a month-long Christmas festival
• Riverfront camping and the Katarapko wetlands

Things To Do in Loxton

The Village

More than 45 buildings and exhibits recreate a Riverland town of the early twentieth century on the riverbank below the town: a bank, a bakery, a printer, a railway station, farm sheds and a replica of the pine hut of William Loxton, the boundary rider who gave the place its name. It opens from Tuesday to Sunday, and adult entry was $12 in 2026. On Alive Days, held a couple of times a year, volunteers bring the trades back to life.

Riverfront

The riverfront reserve has lawns, a boat ramp and walking paths. The Tree of Knowledge, a big red gum in Lions Park, is marked with the heights of past floods, the 1956 flood far above head height. The old paddle boat Murray River Queen is moored here and houses a cafe.

The Pines

This historic house in Henry Street is set in a large garden that is open daily for free. Tours of the house are given on Sunday afternoons.

Loxton Lights

From late November to the end of December, hundreds of houses and the main street are decorated with Christmas lights, and the town holds a Light Up night with fireworks. It is the best known Christmas display in country South Australia.

Other Events

The Loxton Mardi Gras, with a street parade of more than 50 floats, and the Loxton Gift foot race are held at the end of February.

Golf

The Loxton Golf Club, eight kilometres north, has 18 grassed holes and is one of the Riverland courses that visitors come to play.

Katarapko

The Katarapko section of Murray River National Park, across the river between Loxton and Berri, has creeks for canoeing, walks and riverside campsites. Vehicle access is from the Berri side.

Where To Stay

The community-owned Loxton Hotel on East Terrace, established in 1908, has motel suites and hotel rooms, and there are apartments in the old courthouse.

The BIG4 Loxton Riverfront Holiday Park at Habels Bend, two kilometres from the centre, has cabins, glamping tents and powered and unpowered sites under the red gums. Free riverside camping is available at Thieles Sandbar, on dry-weather tracks, and at Rilli Reserve at Loxton North, and the oval has a temporary RV park for self-contained vehicles. There are dump points on the riverfront opposite Lions Park and in West Traeger Drive.

Eat & Drink

The Loxton Hotel has a bistro and a cafe. The Country Bakehouse is the place for a pie, Coffee at 96 and Pen and Lu do breakfast and lunch, and the cafe aboard the Murray River Queen opens from Wednesday to Sunday mornings.

Day Trips from Loxton

Berri and its riverfront are 20 minutes north over the Berri Bridge, with Monash, Glossop and Barmera on Lake Bonney beyond. Moorook and Kingston on Murray, with their wetlands, are half an hour west along the river road through Pyap and New Residence. Renmark is 40 minutes north-east. South of Loxton the Karoonda Highway runs through the Mallee sidings of Alawoona and Wanbi to Karoonda.

History

Loxton is on the country of the Erawirung people. William Charles Loxton, a boundary rider on Bookpurnong Station, lived in a hut by the river from 1878 to 1881, and the spot became known as Loxton’s Hut. German farming families took up the mallee from the 1890s and the town was proclaimed in 1907. The railway arrived in 1914. In 1948 the War Service Land Settlement Scheme began, and within a few years the district had been transformed by irrigation.

Getting to Loxton

From Adelaide, the quickest route is the Sturt Highway to Kingston on Murray and then the river road, about two and three quarter hours. The road through Karoonda is slightly shorter and much quieter. All routes are sealed and suit caravans.