The Territory has the clearest seasonal rule in the country. From May to September the roads are open, the tracks are dry and the driving is straightforward. From November to March, much of what you came to see is closed, flooded or too hot to walk in.
The Northern Territory covers about 1.35 million square kilometres and has roughly 250,000 residents. It divides into the Top End around Darwin and Katherine — monsoonal, green in the wet, hot and humid — and the Red Centre around Alice Springs, which is arid, cold at night in winter and extremely hot in summer. The Stuart Highway connects them: 1,500 km from Darwin to Alice Springs, and about 3,020 km from Darwin all the way to Adelaide. It is sealed end to end and is a straightforward drive that people nonetheless get badly wrong by underestimating fatigue and distance between services.
Within the Top End, the useful distances are short by Territory standards. Darwin to Litchfield National Park is 120 km. Darwin to Kakadu's Jabiru is 250 km. Darwin to Katherine is 320 km, and Katherine to Nitmiluk Gorge is a further 30 km. Around the Centre, Alice Springs to Uluru is 460 km — five and a half hours, and one of the more commonly underestimated legs in the country. Alice Springs to Kings Canyon is about 470 km via Ernest Giles Road's sealed alternative, the Lasseter and Luritja highways.
Away from the Stuart Highway and the main park roads, most Territory travel is on unsealed road. The Savannah Way east of Roper Bar, the Mereenie Loop between Kings Canyon and Hermannsburg, and the internal tracks in Kakadu are all gravel and all seasonal. Several require a permit to cross Aboriginal land, arranged in advance through the relevant land council. Mobile coverage exists in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Yulara, and effectively nowhere in between.
West MacDonnell Ranges, Kings Canyon, Uluru-Kata Tjuta and back to Alice. Five days works; six removes the day where you drive four hours and see nothing. The Mereenie Loop shortcut is unsealed and needs a permit; the sealed route via Erldunda is longer but simpler.
Jabiru, Ubirr, Nourlangie and Yellow Water, then south to Katherine for Nitmiluk Gorge. Jim Jim and Twin Falls need high clearance and open only once the tracks are assessed, often well into the dry season. Check the park's road report the morning you drive.
The closest park to Darwin, with sealed access to Florence, Wangi and Tolmer falls. Plunge pools close after heavy rain and through the wet season, and closures are posted at the park entrance rather than announced in advance.
Sealed the whole way and deceptively demanding. Katherine, Daly Waters, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy are the natural breaks. Road trains are long, fast and take a long time to pass; fuel at every roadhouse regardless of gauge.
Long unsealed sections east of Roper Bar with river crossings that stay up well into the dry. Dry season only, high-clearance four-wheel drive, and a satellite messenger. Fuel planning here is the entire trip.
Australia's largest terrestrial national park, jointly managed with its traditional owners. Ubirr and Nourlangie hold major rock art galleries and are reached on sealed road; the waterfalls in the south of the park are not. A park pass is required and is bought in advance. Estuarine crocodiles are present in almost every waterway.
Jointly managed with the Anangu traditional owners. Climbing Uluru has been prohibited since 2019; the 10 km base walk is the way to see it and is flat, exposed and best started at first light. Some areas are culturally sensitive and signposted as no-photography zones. A park pass applies and is bought online.
Katherine Gorge, a series of thirteen sandstone gorges on the Katherine River, plus the Edith Falls section further north. Access to the gorge itself is by boat or canoe; the rim walks start from the visitor centre. River levels close swimming areas periodically, including for crocodile management.
A chain of gorges and waterholes running west from Alice Springs — Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek, Ormiston Gorge — all within about 130 km on sealed road. Water in the gorges is cold year-round. The Larapinta Trail runs the length of the range and is a winter undertaking.
| Leg | Distance | Driving time | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darwin to Litchfield | 120 km | 1 h 30 m | Easy day trip, sealed |
| Darwin to Jabiru | 250 km | 3 h | Kakadu entry point |
| Darwin to Katherine | 320 km | 3 h 30 m | Standard first leg heading south |
| Katherine to Tennant Creek | 670 km | 7 h | Long, flat and monotonous |
| Tennant Creek to Alice Springs | 510 km | 5 h 30 m | Devils Marbles roughly halfway |
| Alice Springs to Uluru | 460 km | 5 h 30 m | Not a day trip, despite what people try |
| Uluru to Kings Canyon | 310 km | 3 h 30 m | Sealed via Luritja Road |
| Alice Springs to Adelaide | 1,530 km | 16 h | Three days at a reasonable pace |
The Top End dry season runs from about May to September. Days are warm and clear, humidity is low, unsealed tracks dry out progressively through May and June, and this is when Kakadu's southern waterfalls become reachable. The wet season, roughly November to March, brings monsoonal rain, road closures, flooded crossings and humidity that makes walking unpleasant even between storms. October is the build-up: very hot, very humid, and the least comfortable month of the year in Darwin.
The Red Centre follows the same calendar for different reasons. May to September gives you daytime temperatures suitable for walking, with nights that regularly fall below 5 °C in June and July and occasionally below zero. Summer in the Centre routinely exceeds 40 °C, and walking tracks including the Uluru base walk and the Kings Canyon rim walk close at nine in the morning on forecast hot days. That closure is enforced.
If you can only travel in the wet, the Top End is still worth seeing — the escarpment waterfalls run at full volume and scenic flights operate — but plan a town-based trip rather than a driving one, and accept that Jim Jim, Twin Falls and the Savannah Way will not be available.
Both Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta are Commonwealth parks and require a park pass bought before arrival; territory parks such as Litchfield and Nitmiluk are managed separately and have their own arrangements. Camping inside the parks is booked through the relevant park service. Check current fees and pass durations with each park service before you travel, since Commonwealth and territory systems differ and are reviewed independently.
Permits to cross Aboriginal land are required for several routes, most commonly the Mereenie Loop between Kings Canyon and Hermannsburg, and are arranged through the relevant land council rather than the park service. Apply before you leave, not on the day.
Caravans are common on the Stuart Highway and well catered for at the roadhouses. They are not suitable for the Kakadu southern tracks, the Mereenie Loop or anything on the Savannah Way. The other Territory-specific issue is water: carry more than you think you need on every leg, and treat any breakdown as a reason to stay with the vehicle, which is far easier to find than a person walking. In an emergency, call 000.
Alice Springs to Uluru gets attempted as a day trip more often than any other drive we write about. It is eleven hours of driving return, on a road with stock on it, to see a rock in the middle of the day when it looks its worst. Two nights at Yulara costs you nothing you would have enjoyed anyway, and it is the difference between seeing Uluru and photographing it from a car park.