The Australian Outback is one of the last great wildernesses on earth. It covers about 70% of the continent — an immense, ancient landscape of red desert, dry riverbeds, sandstone gorges, salt lakes and seemingly endless sky. For many first-time visitors, the scale is genuinely difficult to comprehend. This is a place where you can drive for six hours and not see another vehicle. Where the silence is so complete it has a physical quality. Where the Milky Way, seen in the absence of any light pollution, will stop you in your tracks every single night.
The outback is also surprisingly accessible. Alice Springs is served by flights from most major Australian cities, and the drive from Adelaide to Uluru — while long — passes through some of the finest outback scenery in the country. If you’re prepared and you go with respect for the environment and its Indigenous owners, the outback will give you experiences that no other destination on earth can match.
This guide covers the best things to do in the Australian Outback — from the iconic experiences at Uluru and Kings Canyon to the lesser-known gems that reward the traveller who ventures a little further.
📋 TL;DR – Best things to do in the Australian Outback
- 🪨 Uluru: Watching the rock change colour at sunrise and sunset is the defining outback experience — deeply moving and completely unmissable.
- 🌄 Kings Canyon: The Rim Walk at Kings Canyon is one of the finest short hikes in the outback — red sandstone domes, the Garden of Eden pool, and extraordinary views.
- 🌌 Stargazing: The outback has some of the darkest skies on earth — stargazing here is extraordinary.
- 🏜️ Simpson Desert: Crossing the Simpson by 4WD is one of Australia’s great adventure challenges.
- 🔴 West MacDonnell Ranges: Ancient gorges, permanent waterholes and the Larapinta Trail — the finest outback hiking in Australia.
- 🐘 Coober Pedy: The underground opal mining town where residents live below the desert surface to escape the heat.
- 🌡️ Best time to go: April to September — the outback summer (October to March) brings extreme heat and should be avoided by inexperienced visitors.
🪨 Uluru — the heart of Australia
Uluru is the most iconic landmark in Australia — a vast sandstone monolith rising 348 metres from the flat red desert, 5.8 kilometres long and 3.6 kilometres wide. The rock has been a sacred site for the Anangu people for tens of thousands of years, and its cultural and spiritual significance is immense. Understanding this context makes the experience of visiting Uluru far richer than simply seeing a famous rock.
The colour changes at Uluru are extraordinary. At sunrise, the rock transitions from deep purple to glowing burgundy to brilliant orange as the sun rises. At sunset, the process reverses — the colours intensify as the sun drops, reaching a peak of deep red about ten minutes before dark. These colour changes happen every single day and are never quite the same twice. The viewing areas can be crowded at peak times — arrive early, find a spot away from the main carpark, and give yourself time to simply watch rather than photograph.
🗺️ Ways to experience Uluru
- The base walk. The 10.6-kilometre walk around the base of Uluru takes three to four hours at a gentle pace. It passes significant cultural sites — Tjukurpa (Anangu law and stories) panels, sacred waterholes, and places associated with the Dreamtime narratives that give the rock its meaning. Walking the full base walk is the most respectful and rewarding way to experience Uluru at ground level.
- The Mala Walk. A shorter 2-kilometre walk along the northern face of Uluru, passing Kantju Gorge and the Mala Puta cave with its beautiful ancient rock paintings. Free ranger-guided walks are available every morning and are excellent — the rangers bring a depth of cultural understanding to the walk that’s hard to replicate independently.
- Sunrise and sunset field of light. Bruce Munro’s Field of Light installation (check current dates of operation) places 50,000 slender stems of light across the desert floor around Uluru. Walking through it at dawn or dusk, with the rock as a backdrop, is one of the most remarkable art experiences in Australia.
- Astronomy tours. Several operators run evening astronomy experiences in the desert around Uluru, using high-powered telescopes to explore the southern sky. The lack of light pollution here means the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye — the telescopes reveal planets, nebulae and star clusters in extraordinary detail.
👉 Book a sunrise Uluru experience on GetYourGuide →
🌄 Kings Canyon — Watarrka National Park
Kings Canyon is about 320 kilometres north of Uluru and one of the most dramatic natural landscapes in the outback. The canyon walls rise 270 metres above the canyon floor, and the Rim Walk — a 6-kilometre circuit around the top of the canyon — is one of the finest short hikes in the Red Centre. It takes about four hours and passes through the Lost City (a series of ancient sandstone domes weathered into bizarre shapes) and the Garden of Eden — a palm-fringed waterhole hidden in the heart of the plateau that feels entirely incongruous in the middle of the desert.
The Rim Walk should be started at dawn between October and April — the walk involves significant exposure at altitude, and in summer temperatures above the canyon can reach 45°C or higher by mid-morning. The canyon floor walk (a shorter alternative) gives you a different perspective on the scale of the walls and is appropriate for all fitness levels. Kings Canyon Resort nearby has accommodation ranging from camping to rooms, and the sunsets here are spectacular.
🔴 West MacDonnell Ranges — Alice Springs
The West MacDonnell Ranges stretch west from Alice Springs for about 160 kilometres and contain some of the finest outback scenery in Australia. The ranges were formed over 300 million years ago and have been carved by rivers into a series of dramatic gorges — Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole, Serpentine Gorge and Ormiston Gorge are the highlights — each one with a distinct character and its own permanent waterhole.
Standley Chasm is the most spectacular: a narrow slot in the quartzite rock that is lit by direct sunlight for only about an hour around midday, when the walls turn blazing orange. The effect at midday, when the sun reaches the bottom of the chasm and the walls are illuminated, is remarkable. Ormiston Gorge has the largest permanent waterhole in the ranges — swimming in it, surrounded by ancient red quartzite walls, is one of the most memorable swimming experiences in the outback.
The Larapinta Trail runs through the West MacDonnell Ranges for its entire 223-kilometre length, making this one of the premier multi-day hiking destinations in Australia. Section 4, from Standley Chasm to Birthday Waterhole, and Section 12, the climb to Mount Sonder (the fourth highest peak in the Northern Territory), are the highlights. Mount Sonder at sunrise is transformative.
🐘 Coober Pedy — South Australia
Coober Pedy is one of the most extraordinary towns in Australia. Located 850 kilometres north of Adelaide in the South Australian outback, it’s the opal mining capital of the world — 70% of the world’s gem-quality opal comes from here. The town gets its name from the Aboriginal phrase “kupa piti,” meaning “white man’s hole in the ground,” and that’s exactly what it is. The surface temperature in summer regularly exceeds 50°C, so residents long ago began digging their homes underground. Today, much of Coober Pedy — homes, hotels, churches, even a bar — is built below the desert surface.
Staying in an underground dugout (many of which are available as accommodation) is a uniquely strange and wonderful experience. The temperature below ground stays at a constant 23–25°C regardless of the season. The silence is absolute. Visitors can go “noodling” (searching through mine waste for overlooked opals) — it’s legal on designated areas and occasionally rewarding. The opal shops in town sell everything from rough opal by the gram to finished jewellery pieces of extraordinary beauty.
Worth adding to your itinerary: Best National Parks in Australia.
🏜️ Simpson Desert crossing
Crossing the Simpson Desert by 4WD is one of Australia’s great adventure challenges. The Simpson covers about 176,500 square kilometres of parallel sand dunes — 1,100 of them, running north to south — and the traditional crossing from Birdsville in Queensland to Dalhousie Springs in South Australia is a remote, technically demanding journey that requires serious preparation and vehicle modification.
The Big Red dune at Birdsville is the symbolic start of the crossing and a dramatic introduction to what lies ahead. The landscape in the Simpson is unlike anywhere else in Australia — the dunes are massive, the colours (red, orange, yellow, white) are extraordinary, and the desert wildflowers after rain turn the dunes into a carpet of colour. This is not a journey for unprepared travellers — you need a well-equipped 4WD, significant spare fuel and water capacity, satellite communication, and a thorough understanding of desert driving technique. But for those who are prepared, it’s one of the most extraordinary journeys available in Australia.
🌌 Stargazing in the outback
The Australian Outback has some of the darkest skies on earth. With virtually no light pollution across millions of square kilometres of desert, the night sky here is extraordinary — a sight that genuinely moves people who have only ever seen it from cities. The Milky Way arcs across the entire sky, so dense with stars it looks almost solid. The Southern Cross is brilliant. The Magellanic Clouds (two small galaxies visible to the naked eye) glow on the horizon.
Aboriginal Australians have studied the southern sky for tens of thousands of years and have a sophisticated astronomical tradition that includes not just the stars but the dark patches between them (the Emu in the Sky, visible from any dark outback site, is one of the most famous). Guided astronomy experiences at Uluru, at Voyages Ayers Rock Resort, and in the outback around Alice Springs incorporate both scientific astronomy and Aboriginal sky knowledge. These tours are genuinely extraordinary — among the finest outback experiences available.
👉 Book an outback stargazing tour near Uluru on GetYourGuide →
🌡️ Practical tips for visiting the Australian Outback
The outback is genuinely remote and the conditions can be extreme. Respecting the environment and preparing properly are not optional — they’re essential for a safe and enjoyable experience.
- Go in the right season. The outback is best visited between April and September. October through March brings extreme heat — temperatures above 45°C are common in Alice Springs and even higher further west. The heat makes outdoor activities dangerous in the middle of the day and some trails close entirely. If you must visit in summer, plan all outdoor activity for the first two hours after dawn.
- Carry more water than you think you need. The golden rule is four litres per person per day minimum for activity — more in summer or on exposed walks. Always carry extra water in your vehicle. Running out of water in the outback is a genuine emergency.
- Tell someone your plans. If you’re heading off-road or to remote areas, always register your itinerary with the relevant parks authority or with a trusted person. Satellite communication devices (PLBs or satellite phones) are strongly recommended for remote travel.
- Respect Indigenous land and cultural sites. Much of the outback is Aboriginal land and contains sites of profound cultural and spiritual significance. Follow all instructions at cultural sites, don’t photograph sacred areas, and engage respectfully with local communities. The Anangu people of Uluru prefer that visitors don’t climb the rock — a wish that was formally granted when the climb was closed permanently in 2019.
The Australian Outback is one of the most extraordinary places on earth — ancient, vast, and genuinely humbling. It rewards the prepared and respectful traveller with experiences that simply cannot be found anywhere else. Give it the time it deserves. You’ll leave with a different understanding of what a landscape can be.
