Visit Alice Springs, Australia

Sprawled among garnet-red Outback and the rough-hewn ridges and gorges of the West MacDonnell Ranges, Alice Springs started life as a humble telegraph station. It has transformed, over the last century, into very much a modern town that acts as the service hub for vast tracts of Australia’s Northern Territory — an area as large as Western Europe.

It’s also a stopping off point for The Ghan railway (the accompanying Old Ghan Heritage Railway Museum displays restored locomotives).

Best known as the setting of Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice, the settlement serves as a gateway to other reaches of central Australia, with the MacDonnell Ranges and the desert oasis at Palm Valley on its doorstep, and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and Kings Canyon further afield.

A hot-air balloon flight at sunrise is one way to start the day while in town. Floating over the Outback, you’re likely to see kangaroos and wallabies bounding across the saffron-tinged landscape below before you touch back down for a light breakfast and a glass of something sparkling.

Alice Springs also abounds in good Indigenous art galleries, from the flagship Araluen Arts Centre to smaller community art hubs. And, there are a couple of museums-come-working-bases that let you witness first-hand how people have adapted to the challenges of Outback living. You can tour the Royal Flying Doctor Service Base, the Telegraph Station, and the School of the Air. The latter was founded in 1951, when it began to broadcast lessons to children living in the remotest corners of the country.

Best time to visit Alice Springs

Alice Springs experiences its coolest and most temperate weather in the Austral winter (June to September), so you’ll generally find visiting during these months makes for a more comfortable stay.