Adelaide Fringe Wins 'Australian Traveller' Readers’ Choice Award 

Adelaide Fringe has been named Best Cultural or Arts Festival Experience in Australian Traveller's 2026 Readers' Choice Awards.

More than 12,000 readers voted between May and August of this year across 26 award categories covering destinations, accommodation, touring, aviation and cruise. 

Along with taking out the coveted Best Cultural or Arts Festival Experience, Adelaide Fringe finished second in the Best Festival to Travel For, a category it won in the 2025 Readers' Choice Awards. 

Adelaide Fringe is the largest arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere, hosting more than 1,600 shows and over 8,000 independent artists across comedy, cabaret, theatre, music and visual arts.

According to the festival's 2026 Impact Report, this year's edition of the Adelaide Fringe generated an incredible $165.8 million in new spending for South Australia.

You can check out the full list of Australian Traveller winners here.

READ MORE: Cécile Gariépy Wins Adelaide Fringe 2027 Poster Competition

"There's so much work that goes into Fringe before the festival even opens, and most people never see it. Artists spend months getting their shows ready, venue teams work out how to fit dozens of shows into a single program, and crews and volunteers help get it all up and running," said Adelaide Fringe CEO Marc Carnes.

"When people come to Adelaide for Fringe, what they get to experience is the result of all those people working together. This award goes to everyone in our Fringe ecosystem, including the Fringe lovers and ticket buyers who come along to support our artists!"

Adelaide Fringe 2027 runs from Friday 19 February to Sunday 21 March 2027. The full Adelaide Fringe 2027 program launches on Friday 4 December. More information is available at adelaidefringe.com.au.