Alice Springs Tours & Vacations

Trips from 1 January 2023 onwards

From 1 January 2023, Intrepid will no longer require travellers to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 (excluding all Polar trips and select adventure cruises).

However, we continue to strongly recommend that all Intrepid travellers and leaders get vaccinated to protect themselves and others.

Specific proof of testing or vaccination may still be required by your destination or airline. Please ensure you check travel and entry requirements carefully.

Yes, drinking tap water is safe in Alice Springs, Yulara and throughout the Red Centre. Ensure you bring a 1-2 litre reusable water bottle to refill at the water stations dotted around Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Staying hydrated is important as the Outback sun is intense and you'll be doing a fair bit of walking during the day.

The Red Centre covers a huge, very remote area of Central Australia. We'll spend many hours driving from A to B in an air-conditioned vehicle.

Make sure you bring ample snacks and maybe a few podcasts to listen to – or use it as an opportunity to get to know your fellow travellers! 

With a comfortable, air-conditioned bus, sit back and enjoy the unique desert landscapes that you'd miss in any other form of travel.

You can withdraw cash at a number of ATMs in Alice Springs. There's also an ATM in the Town Square at Ayers Rock Resort in Yulara. Most of the highway roadhouses will have an ATM or the option to get cashback.

The Anangu (pronounced arn-ung-oo) people are the traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and other regions of the Central Western desert.

They've been custodians of the land for over 60,000 years and are one of the world's oldest living cultures.

For the Anangu people, Uluru and Kata Tjuta are places of deep spiritual connection; they are physical evidence of Tjukurpa (the creation period) and the ancestral spirits who reside in the land.

Yes, climbing Uluru was banned permanently on 26 October 2019 to respect the traditional owners and the spiritual significance of the site. The Anangu people have been holding spiritual and cultural ceremonies at Uluru for tens of thousands of years, and climbing is not generally allowed under Tjukurpa (Anangu law and culture). We think the views are better from down below, anyway.

Uluru is awe-inspiring come rain or shine, but the best time to visit is generally between May and September when the days are dry and warm (but not scorching). Uluru sits in a semi-arid desert climate zone, so summer is sweltering with occasional storms (the amount of rainfall varies from year to year), while winter is warm and dry during the day with cold nighttime temps that often plummet below zero.

It depends on the trip style you choose. Our Basix and Original trips feature simple (but comfy) camping accommodation in permanent or semi-permanent tents with stretcher beds and shared facilities, or a mixture of camping and budget hotels.

If you choose a Comfort or Premium trip, you'll stay in 3-to-4-star hotels and resorts with private amenities.

We are committed to making travel widely accessible, regardless of ability or disability. We do our best to help you see the world, regardless of physical or mental limitations. 

We are always happy to talk to travellers with disabilities and see if we can help guide them toward the most suitable itinerary for their needs and, where possible, make reasonable adjustments to our itineraries.