Best National Parks in Australia

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is the one most visitors build a trip around. The rock is 348 metres high and about 9.4 km around, and the Anangu traditional owners closed the climb for good in October 2019. Walk the base instead: the full Base Walk is about 10.6 km and takes three to four hours, flat and shaded only in patches, so start at first light. The free ranger walk at Mala carpark and the Cultural Centre explain the Tjukurpa stories behind the rock’s features. The park pass costs about 38 AUD (about 25 USD) per adult and covers three days.

Kata Tjuta, 50 km west, is a cluster of 36 domes, and its Valley of the Winds walk (7.4 km loop) is the best hike in the park. On days forecast to reach 36°C (97°F) the walk closes beyond the first lookout at 11am. Watch sunset from the Uluru viewing area and sunrise from the Talinguru Nyakunytjaku platform, which looks at both formations. All accommodation is at Yulara, 20 km from the rock, and Ayers Rock Airport has direct flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns.

Four hours by road north-east is Watarrka National Park and Kings Canyon, where the 6 km Rim Walk climbs a steep stairway onto sandstone domes above a 100-metre wall. It closes at 9am on hot days, so plan to set off at dawn. From Alice Springs, the West MacDonnell Ranges run west in a line of gaps and waterholes: Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole and Ormiston Gorge, all on a sealed road and linked by the 223 km Larapinta Trail. Finke Gorge, with its Palm Valley of ancient cabbage palms, needs a high-clearance 4WD.

Kakadu is about the size of Slovenia and one of only four Australian World Heritage sites listed for both nature and culture. Three things bring people here. The rock art at Ubirr and Burrungkuy (Nourlangie) includes X-ray style paintings of fish, turtles and spirit figures; climb Ubirr’s lookout at sunset for the view over the Nadab floodplain. The Yellow Water cruise at Cooinda puts you among saltwater crocodiles, jabiru storks and whistling ducks, best at dawn. And the plateau waterfalls of Jim Jim and Twin Falls, reached by 4WD track, flow hardest in the wet but are only accessible in the dry, usually from about June.

Kakadu is three hours east of Darwin on the Arnhem Highway. The park pass is 40 AUD per adult in the dry season and 25 AUD in the wet. From November to April, monsoon rains flood roads and close many sites, though the floodplains, lightning storms and scenic flights are spectacular then.

Litchfield, 90 minutes south of Darwin, is the easy alternative: sealed roads, magnetic termite mounds and swimming at Florence Falls, Buley Rockhole and Wangi Falls when rangers declare them open after croc surveys. At Nitmiluk, 30 km from Katherine, boat tours and hire canoes go up a chain of sandstone gorges, and Edith Falls (Leliyn) at the park’s northern end has a swimming plunge pool. Animals here have their own guide: see our wildlife guide for crocodile cruises and birding.

The Daintree is part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, rainforest that grows down to the reef-fringed beaches at Cape Tribulation. Drive north from Port Douglas, cross the Daintree River on the cable ferry and follow the road through to Cape Trib, stopping at the boardwalks at Jindalba and Dubuji. Mossman Gorge, at the southern end, is reached on a shuttle bus from the Indigenous-run visitor centre and has guided Dreamtime walks. Allow two days to do it justice from Cairns, and treat every creek and beach as crocodile country.

The Great Barrier Reef is a marine park rather than a national park, and boats leave daily from Cairns, Port Douglas and Airlie Beach; a small reef charge is added to every tour. From Airlie, day boats run to Whitehaven Beach and the Hill Inlet lookout in Whitsunday Islands National Park.

Further south, K’gari (Fraser Island) in Great Sandy National Park is the world’s largest sand island, with freshwater lakes such as Lake McKenzie, the beach highway of Seventy-Five Mile Beach, Eli Creek and the Maheno shipwreck. There are no paved roads, so go with a 4WD tour from Hervey Bay or Rainbow Beach, or hire a 4WD with a vehicle access permit. In the hinterland of the Gold Coast, Lamington and Springbrook protect Gondwana rainforest, with the tree-top walk at O’Reilly’s and glow-worms at Springbrook’s Natural Bridge after dark. Inland, Carnarvon Gorge has sandstone side gorges and Aboriginal stencil art, and Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) has an emerald gorge you can paddle by canoe.

Karijini, in the Pilbara’s Hamersley Range, is the most exciting park in the country for active travellers. Dales Gorge has Fortescue Falls and the palm-fringed Fern Pool, and the Weano and Hancock gorges lead to Handrail Pool and Kermit’s Pool along ledges, wading sections and the Spider Walk. Base yourself at the eco retreat or Dales campground, or in Tom Price. It is about 1,400 km north of Perth, so most people fly to Paraburdoo or Newman, and the season runs from about May to September.

In the Kimberley, Purnululu protects the Bungle Bungle Range, orange and black striped sandstone domes with the walks to Cathedral Gorge and Echidna Chasm. The access road is a rough 53 km 4WD track, and the park closes in the wet season, roughly from December to March; many people see it on a scenic flight from Kununurra. On the coast, Cape Range backs the Ningaloo Coast near Exmouth, where you can drift-snorkel at Turquoise Bay straight from the sand.

Closer to Perth, Nambung holds the Pinnacles, thousands of limestone spires two and a half hours north of the city. Kalbarri has the Nature’s Window arch and the cantilevered Skywalk over the Murchison River gorge, and the Shark Bay World Heritage Area adds the dolphins of Monkey Mia and the stromatolites of Hamelin Pool. On the south coast near Esperance, kangaroos laze on the white sand of Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand.

The Blue Mountains are the easiest big park to reach from any city: trains from Sydney’s Central station take about two hours to Katoomba. From Echo Point you see the Three Sisters and the eucalyptus haze over the Jamison Valley that gives the range its name. Walk the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, drop into the Grand Canyon Track near Blackheath, or take the Giant Stairway down beside the Three Sisters. The whole area is part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

Royal National Park, set up in 1879, is the world’s second-oldest national park, on Sydney’s southern edge. The two-day Coast Track runs 26 km past cliffs, beaches and whale lookouts; the ferry from Cronulla to Bundeena gets you there without a car. North of the city, Ku-ring-gai Chase has Aboriginal rock engravings above the waters of Pittwater and Cowan Creek.

In the Snowy Mountains, Kosciuszko National Park holds Mount Kosciuszko, at 2,228 metres the highest point on the mainland. In summer, take the chairlift from Thredbo and walk 13 km return to the summit, or take the longer route from Charlotte Pass; in winter the park is ski country. Out west, Mungo National Park protects the dry bed of Lake Mungo and the eroded Walls of China, covered in our historic sites guide.

Wilsons Promontory, the southernmost tip of the mainland, is three hours from Melbourne: granite headlands, Squeaky Beach, wombats around the Tidal River campground and the short climb up Mount Oberon for the view. The Grampians (Gariwerd) rise from the plains three hours west, with the Pinnacle lookout, MacKenzie Falls and Aboriginal rock art shelters around Halls Gap. Along the Great Ocean Road, Great Otway has rainforest walks and koalas near Cape Otway, and Port Campbell has the Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge.

In South Australia, Ikara-Flinders Ranges is five hours north of Adelaide, built around Wilpena Pound, a natural amphitheatre of ridges. Walk to the Wangarra lookout or take a scenic flight over it, and look for yellow-footed rock-wallabies in the gorges. On Kangaroo Island, Flinders Chase has Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch with its fur seals; the park is recovering from the 2019-20 bushfires. The ferry from Cape Jervis takes about 45 minutes.

Almost half of Tasmania is protected, and much of the west is the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair is its showpiece. Shuttle buses run from the visitor centre to Dove Lake, where a 6 km circuit loops beneath Cradle Mountain in about two hours. The Overland Track runs 65 km south to Lake St Clair over six days; between October and May you must book a start date and pay a per-person fee.

On the east coast, Freycinet has the Wineglass Bay lookout, about an hour’s return walk from the carpark, or two and a half to three hours down to the beach and back. Mount Field, an hour from Hobart, has the tiered Russell Falls and giant swamp gums a short walk from the car. Tasman National Park has some of the highest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere, best seen on the multi-day Three Capes Track or the Cape Hauy day walk. Maria Island, reached by ferry from Triabunna, has no cars and plenty of wombats.

Each state runs its own parks, with its own fees. Queensland charges no entry fees, only camping and vehicle permits (needed on K’gari). Victoria charges at very few parks. New South Wales charges a daily vehicle fee at popular parks such as Kosciuszko and Royal, with an annual pass for regulars. Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania sell day and holiday passes per vehicle, and since April 2023 visitors from outside the Northern Territory need an NT Parks Pass for parks such as Litchfield and Nitmiluk. Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Kakadu are run by the federal government and sell their own passes online. Check fees before you go; they rise most years.

A rental car opens up most of the parks in this guide. Kakadu’s main sites, Litchfield, the Red Centre loop and Karijini’s main gorges are reachable on sealed or good gravel roads in a 2WD, but Jim Jim Falls, Purnululu, Palm Valley and K’gari need a real 4WD, and many hire contracts ban unsealed roads, so read the small print. Tours from Alice Springs, Darwin, Cairns and Hervey Bay are the simpler choice for remote parks. For camping, book national park campgrounds online, often months ahead for school holidays. Our getting around guide covers distances and campervans, and the best time to visit guide explains the seasons by region.