Central Australia With Kids
If you’re thinking about or planning a visit to Central Australia with kids, this page is for you!
A visit to Central Australia is much more than ‘just’ seeing Uluru! It’s an opportunity to swim in the outback water holes in the West MacDonnell ranges, gaze at the outback night sky, glamp in red desert sand at Kings Canyon and visit the Alice Springs Desert Park.
Don’t miss your chance to experience Kings Canyon (Watarrka National Park) and Kata Tjuta. These natural attractions have just as much heart and soul as Uluru and are absolutely worthy of a trip to Australia’s Red Centre.
We have just returned from an epic four weeks in Central Australia therefore this page is being updated regularly. Stay tuned!
Information and Inspiration for your Family Trip to Central Australia
Great Places to Visit in Central Australia With Kids
Uluru and Kata Tjuta
Visiting Uluru and Kata Tjuta is a bucket list experience that every family should do. Even though we have all seen pictures, it’s really something special up close. Uluru is particularly kid friendly with a flat walking path and bicycle hire available.
See my post on Uluru with kids here.
Kings Canyon
Kings Canyon deserves just as much attention as Uluru and is seriously under-rated. It’s a great spot to break up the long drive between Alice Springs and Uluru and there is decent accommodation nearby.
See my post on hiking the Kings Canyon Rim Walk with kids here.
West MacDonnell Ranges and Waterholes
Driving the ‘backroad’ to Uluru or Kings Canyon from Alice Springs will take you through the stunning West MacDonnell Ranges and its Waterholes. There are three great ones in Ellery Creek Big Hole, Ormiston Gorge and Redbank Gorge, with camping available at all three. This road trip is an awesome family adventure that you won’t forget!
Check out my post on Wild Swimming in the Red Centre here.
Alice Springs
Alice Springs is a great base to begin your Central Australia adventure with kids. There is plenty of accommodation to choose from and shops to stock up on necessities before hitting the road. The Alice Springs Desert Park is great for kids to learn about the wildlife in Central Australia and there are quite a few points of interest around town.
Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles)
The Devils Marbles are really iconic and whilst photographs tend to focus on one or two of the huge boulders, there are actually heaps of them spread over a really large area on either side of the highway. They are free to visit and you can camp right next to them!
Check out my post on visiting Karlu Karlu here.
Where to Stay, How to get There and How to get Around Central Australia With Kids
Where to Stay
We camped for our trip around Central Australia but there are plenty of accommodation options available around the major attractions. A lot of the camping grounds had hotel style rooms available as well.
We camped at Glen Helen Lodge when exploring the West MacDonnell ranges but there is also hotel room style accommodation here. Glen Helen Lodge is near Ormiston Gorge and is a great place to stay if wanting to enjoy the waterholes.
When exploring Kings Canyon, we stayed at Kings Canyon Resort and there is also hotel room type accommodation here. There are amazing sunset views from the viewing platform area near the resort camp grounds. The facilities were clean and the showers were hot. I loved it!
Although we didn’t stay there, accommodation is also available at Kings Creek Station.
When visiting Uluru and Kata-Tjuta, we stayed at Ayers Rock Resort in the resort campground. There is a range of accommodation on offer here but camping is really the only budget offering. It’s worth booking in advance if you don’t mind being tied to a schedule. We ended up camping in the overflow area because we didn’t pre-book.
In Alice Springs, we stayed at the Big 4 MacDonnell Ranges Holiday Park. Like most Big 4’s, there is a lot of stuff for the kids to do with jumping pillows, pools with slides, pancakes on a Sunday morning. I just loved it because the showers were hot and the washing machines were huge!
Bookings.com is my favourite accommodation provider when researching places to stay in Australia. They offer good rates and there is a really useful review system so that you can filter out properties that don’t have great user ratings.
Flights to Central Australia
The Red Centre really is in the middle of no-where. If you are short on time and need to fly in, most capital cities have flights to Alice Springs. There is a smaller airport at Yulara (near Uluru) but flights to Yulara can be quite expensive.
I like to start my initial search using Sky Scanner and then I Want That Flight. I don’t always book through them, but it gives me an idea of where to start looking and which airlines are in my price range.
Car Rentals
Car hire is readily available in Alice Springs. If you are wishing to drive the ‘Red Centre Way‘, you will need to hire a 4WD. If taking the sealed highway straight to Uluru, a standard vehicle is perfectly fine.
Don’t Forget Your Travel Guide!
Don’t forget your Lonely Planet Travel Guide!
Tours Around the Red Centre
If you don’t feel like self-driving, day trips and tours can be booked around the Red Centre via Klook here. I like Klook because you are able to show proof of payment using your mobile phone and only people that have used the service can write a review, meaning the reviews you see of the tours on Klook are genuine.
