Best Things to Do in Northern Territory, Australia
Australia's Northern Territory is the country's most remote and spiritually significant region, home to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (Uluru is the world's largest monolith and the sacred center of Anangu Aboriginal culture), Kakadu National Park (the world's largest tropical wetland national park, with Aboriginal rock art spanning 65,000 years), and Darwin (the gateway city).
Find Things to Do →
The unmissable in Northern Territory
These are the staple sights — don't leave Northern Territory without seeing them.
Villa Foscari (La Malcontenta)
Adelaide River
Alice Springs Desert Park
Destinations in Northern Territory
More attractions in Northern Territory
Alice Springs Reptile Centre
Alice Springs School of the Air Visitor Centre
Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve
Anzac Hill
Aquascene
Arnhem Land
Bicentennial Park
Charles Darwin National Park
Crocodylus Park
Cullen Bay
Curtin Springs
Darwin Aviation Museum
Darwin Cruise Port
Darwin Waterfront Precint
Defence of Darwin Experience
East Point Reserve
Edith Falls (Leliyn)
Fannie Bay Gaol
Finke Gorge National Park
George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens
Hermannsburg (Ntaria)
The Northern Territory covers the centre and top of Australia, a vast, dry, and sparsely populated region (250,000 people in 1.35 million sq km) of extreme heat, extraordinary indigenous heritage, and some of the world’s most ancient landscapes. The things to do in the Northern Territory fall into two major regions. Alice Springs and the Red Centre: Uluru (Ayers Rock), a 348m sandstone monolith that glows red at sunrise and sunset and is the sacred site of the Anangu Aboriginal people (climbing Uluru has been closed since October 2019 at the Anangu people’s request; base walks around the 9.4 km circumference are extraordinary); Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), a group of 36 domed rock formations 50 km west of Uluru, with the Valley of the Winds walk (7.4 km, the finest hike in the Red Centre); Kings Canyon (Watarrka National Park), a 270m gorge with a 6 km rim walk. Darwin and the Top End: Kakadu National Park (19,804 sq km, one of Australia’s largest parks), with the Ubirr and Nourlangie rock art sites (home to Dreamtime paintings from 65,000 years of continuous Aboriginal culture), Yellow Water Billabong (crocodiles, birds), and Arnhem Land (accessible by permit only). Litchfield National Park, 90 km south of Darwin, has four major waterfalls (Florence, Tolmer, Wangi, Buley) with safe swimming holes — the easiest outdoor experience near Darwin.
Best time to visit
May through September (the dry season, locally called ‘The Dry’) is the best time: warm, sunny, and low humidity in the Red Centre (25-30°C), and the best conditions for wildlife viewing in Kakadu (the water retreats to billabongs, concentrating wildlife). October through April (The Wet) brings monsoonal rains to the Top End: spectacular lightning storms, seasonal waterfalls at their peak, but some roads and areas of Kakadu flood and close. Uluru is accessible year-round but summer (December-February) brings extreme heat (40-46°C) requiring early morning activities only.
Getting around
Darwin Airport has direct connections from Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Singapore, and Denpasar. Alice Springs Airport connects to Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. Darwin to Alice Springs is 1,500 km by road (The Stuart Highway, 15 hours); most visitors fly between the two. Alice Springs to Uluru is 450 km by road (5 hours) or a short flight. Rental cars are the main transport in the NT; a 4WD is needed for the more remote areas of Kakadu and Arnhem Land.
Frequently asked questions
Why is climbing Uluru now closed?
The Anangu people, the traditional owners of Uluru, regard the rock as sacred and have requested that visitors not climb it for decades. After years of discussion, the Australian government permanently closed the climb on October 26, 2019. The closure applies to all visitors. The cultural significance of Uluru to Anangu people is profound — the rock contains multiple Tjukurpa (Dreamtime) story sites and climbing was analogous to walking on a cathedral altar. The base walk around Uluru's perimeter (9.4 km, 3.5 hours) and the Valley of the Winds walk at Kata Tjuta provide extraordinary experiences without the cultural insensitivity of climbing.