Royal Hotel Balaklava

After an extended break, we’re back! It’s been a little while between trips. But the important thing is the Tour is back now. And we’re back with a brand new Royal in a brand new state: the Royal Hotel Balaklava in South Australia.

This particular leg had four participants. As per usual there was John and myself (why mess with perfection). And on this leg we were joined by Anthony (veteran of the country Victorian and Pacific Highway legs) as well as ‘Three Flats’ Jordy (refer to Royal Hotel Randwick for nickname explanation).  

This leg of the Royal Tour took us through three different states over five days. And it included the first ever flight of the Royal Tour. All up we hit 12 different Royals on this leg. And the first was the Royal Hotel Balaklava.

We flew into Adelaide on a Thursday morning and immediately jumped in the hire car to drive the hour or so out to Balaklava. It’s not far out of Adelaide before you’re in serious agricultural areas. But after a reasonably short drive (especially compared to some of the drives we had to come on this leg), we arrived in the small town of Balaklava.

And boy does their Royal ever look the part. It’s a big, imposing old stone building. But walking in, it’s anything but imposing. The first thing you see walking in is a welcoming front bar. We were there around midday on a Thursday so it wasn’t exactly packed. But it’s the kind of place you could see filling up pretty well on a weekend.

We also discovered that this particular Royal actually had a Royal connection. In 1881, Princes Albert and George (sons of King Edward VII) stopped in for breakfast. The pub appropriately commemorates this visit with a small news clipping proudly mounted behind the door out to the patio.

This being our first stop in South Australia, we got an obligatory round of Coopers. We also ordered up some lunch and headed out to grab a seat. We had a wander as the place was pretty huge. There was also a cool beer garden and a giant dining area.

But in the end, the patio was a good place to hang out and (stop me if you’ve heard this one) we could have easily settled in for a good session. I did end up going back for a second beer, this time a West End Draught (in keeping with the South Australian theme). I instantly regretted it. I’m not the biggest Cooper’s fan, but that became my go to for our SA segment of the Tour.

But the food definitely deserves a shout out as well. The portions were massive (Anthony’s steak sandwich in particular was roughly the size of his face), delicious, and not expensive at all. It was everything you expect (but don’t necessarily often get) from a good country pub.

And that’s exactly what the Royal Hotel Balaklava is: a very good country pub. Friendly people, good food, good beer (except for the West End), and all in a really cool old-fashioned pub. A great start to this leg of the tour and would definitely go back.

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Balaklava, SA
• Population: 1,956
• Date Visited: Thursday, October 17, 2024
• Visited By: Cory, John, Jordy and Anthony
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: Cooper’s
• Beer Consumed at Pub: Cooper’s (Pint)
• Price of Pint of Said Beer: $9.00
• Unique Award: Best Visit by Actual Royals
• Tour Progress: 46.0% (64/139)
  • Editor’s Note – We have added two additional Royals to the overall list. One we found as a new one, the other was a previously closed Royal that is now set to re-open. The total and progress have been updated to reflect this