Alice Springs, also known as “Alice”, is in the heart of central Australia, surround by endless desert, remote communities and a humble history. It’s a small population of about 28,000 people and its nearest major cities are Darwin an Adelaide about 1500km away. Alice is remote but it still has well developed areas for tourists such as the Alice Springs Visitor center located in the the south end of Todd mall where you can pick up visitor guides, maps, tour and accommodation books.
How to get there?
You can get there by plane, train, bus or car. The airport ASP is Alice’s own airport, and you can also fly to AYQ in Uluru if you’re just flying to see Ayers Rock. The Gahn is a private tourist train covering the great distance between Adelaide, Darwin and Alice and you can even put your car on the train.
If you want to drive, Alice is a 17-hour drive from the nearest cities Darwin and Adelaide. If you’re driving from Adelaide you can go along the Stuart Highway and stop off at Coober Pedy to see the Opal capital of the world.
The bus you can take is the greyhound bus, Australia’s only national bus service for hassle free travel.
Events and Festivals in Alice Springs
There are several shows and festivals that you can go to depending on when you are travelling, in order to find out the exact dates go the Alice Springs Town council website. The Alice show Is an annual festival with shopping, rides, animals, fireworks, arts and crafts and other performances and activities.
The Henley On Todd is a river sand race that pokes fun at the British traditions of boat racing. It’s a fun and hilarious event, and it’s held in late August every year. Another fun day out is the Camel cup which is a camel racing day held in early July.
The Beanie Festival is a festival full of knitters. Most people make ‘Beanie’ hats from every conceivable material in every possible pattern all for sale of course. Music, displays, food and afternoon tea make this a really fun event to check out.
There is the Flinke Desert race with motorcycles spitting sand into the air and making loud revving noises as they race over the Finke river track. Lastly the Alice Masters game is a sports cup held for people of every age and it’s held every second year.
What activities To Do
Stargazing is a really fun activity to do here and the environment is perfect as it’s the largest land area without lights on the planet so you can see the milky way in unmatched detail. The shock when you look up will leave you star-struck, literally.
There is the reptile center that hosts some of Australia’s most interesting creepy crawlies, and makes for a fun day out. You can also visit the Olive Pink Botanical Garden, which doesn’t bloom much but if you come after the rain then it’s a really nice spot.
You can go hot air ballooning in the red center and see the sun rise. Alice springs has ideal weather for ballooning and there are tours most of the year. You can also go camel riding on the Pyndan Camel tracks which takes you through the amazing views of Ilparpa valley.
There are quad bikes and motorcycles to rent so you can drive off into central Australia on a Harley, just remember to take water and wear sunscreen.