Things to do in Alice Springs
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Café Mediterranean Bar Doppio
Alice’s locals duck down this laneway for huge and wholesome home-style breakfasts (eggs any style, pancakes), pita pizzas, burgers, pies and salads. It’s also a favoured meeting place for well-made coffee or fresh-pressed juice, either in the shade of the covered arcade or inside with local-events flyers wallpapering the walls.
reviewed
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Hanuman Restaurant
You won't believe you're in the outback when you try the incredible Thai- and Indian-influenced cuisine at this stylish restaurant. The delicate Thai entrees are a real triumph as are the seafood dishes, particularly the Hanuman prawns. Although the menu is ostensibly Thai, there are enough Indian dishes to satisfy a curry craving. There are several vegetarian offerings and a good wine list. Book ahead.
reviewed
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Casa Nostra
Step across the Todd River and into 1970s Italy at this old-school pizza and pasta joint. Madly popular on the weekends (bookings recommended) it is wonderfully cosy with red and white checked tablecloths, and plastic grape vines hanging from the ceiling. Order the famously delectable vanilla slice early as they run out the door. Note that it's BYO vino.
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Overlanders Steakhouse
The place for steaks, be they buffalo, kangaroo, crocodile or camel. And why stop at just one? Amid the cattle station decor (saddles, branding irons and the like) you can take the challenge of the Drover's Blowout ($65), four courses including a platter of Aussie meats.
reviewed
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Thai Room
Head to this arcade restaurant for perky Thai dishes and quicker-than-average service. The modest menu mixes its signature spices with a variety of veggie, meat and seafood dishes. The lunch specials are a bargain and it's BYO.
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Flavours of India
There’s no Bollywood drama in the decor of this humble family restaurant. While covering ubiquitous curries and tandoori favourites, the menu includes a smattering of non-Indian meals. There are several vegetarian dishes, and though fully licensed, BYO is also possible.
reviewed
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Sporties
It may not strictly be a pub, but with sporting paraphernalia adorning the bar (which serves cold beer on tap) it may as well be. Street seating provides pole position to spectate while hoeing into a focaccia or baguette, pasta, or a pub-style meat-and-three veg meal.
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Red Dog
Join the throng at this Australiana-decorated place pumping out decent coffee and hearty breakfasts (eggs, pancakes or the whole-hog ‘bushman’s breakfast’), and a range of chicken burgers.
reviewed
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Classic Larapinta Trek
6 days (Alice Springs)
Trek the West MacDonnell's, one of the great desert mountain ranges.
Not LP reviewed
from USD$2,090 -
Larapinta End to End
14 days (Alice Springs)
An unequalled opportunity to trek the full length of the Larapinta.
Not LP reviewed
from USD$3,860 Advertisement
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Telegraph Station Historical Reserve
The old Telegraph Station, which used to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide, offers a fascinating glimpse of the town's European beginnings. Built along the Overland Telegraph Line (OTL) in the 1870s, the station continued to operate until 1932. It later served as a welfare home for Aboriginal children of mixed ancestry until 1963. The building has been faithfully restored and guided tours operate roughly on the hour between 9am and 4.30pm (April to October). Nearby is the original 'Alice' spring (Thereyurre to the Arrernte Aboriginal people), a semipermanent waterhole in the Todd River after which the town is named.
It's all set in 450 hectares of shady parkland w…
reviewed
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Larapinta Experience
3 days (Alice Springs)
The perfect short trek to experience the majesty of the desert ranges.
Not LP reviewed
from USD$1,090 -
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Alice Springs Memorial Cemetery
The cemetery is adjacent to the aviation museum and contains the graves of some prominent locals including Albert Namatjira (1902–59) and Harold Lasseter (1880–1931), the eccentric prospector whose fervent search for a folkloric reef of gold (Lasseter's Reef) claimed his life. Anthropologist Olive Pink (1884–1975), who campaigned for Aboriginal rights, is buried facing the opposite direction to the others – a rebel to the end.
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Museum of Central Australia
The natural history collection at this compact museum recalls the days of megafauna − when hippo-sized wombats and 3m-tall flightless birds roamed the land. Among the geological displays are meteorite fragments and fossils. There's a free audio tour, narrated by a palaeontologist, which helps bring the exhibition to life.
There's also a display on the work of Professor TGH Strehlow, a linguist and anthropologist born at the Hermannsburg Mission among the Arrernte people. During his lifetime he gathered one of the world's most documented collections of Australian Aboriginal artefacts, songs, genealogies, film and sound recordings. It's upstairs in the Strehlow Research Ce…
reviewed
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School of the Air
Started in 1951, this was the first school of its type in Australia, broadcasting lessons to children over an area of 1.3 million sq km. While transmissions were originally all done over high-frequency radio, satellite broadband internet and web-cams now mean students can study in a virtual classroom. The guided tour of the centre includes a video. During school term you can view a live broadcast from 8.30am to 2.30pm Monday to Friday. The school is about 3km north of the town centre.
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Olive Pink Botanic Garden
A network of meandering trails leads through this lovely arid zone botanic garden, which was founded by the prominent anthropologist Olive Pink. The garden has over 500 central Australian plant species and grows bush foods and medicinal plants like native lemon grass, quandong and bush passion fruit. There's a gentle climb up Meyers Hill with fine views over Alice and Ntyarlkarle Tyaneme, one of the first sites created by the caterpillar ancestors.
The small visitor centre has various exhibitions during the year and the excellent Bean Tree Cafe is worth a trip to the gardens alone.
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Telegraph Station
Laying the Overland Telegraph Line across Australia’s harsh Centre was no easy task, as you’ll discover at the small museum at the evocative Telegraph Station. The old stone station dates to the early 1870s and operated until 1932. It later served as a welfare home for Aboriginal children of mixed descent, until 1963. Guided tours operate between 9am and 4.30pm (April to October); phone for times. There’s also an informative station map that guides you through restored homestead buildings, a blacksmith shop and the telegraph station itself.
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Reptile Centre
Ever wondered how, in the movies, they happen to be in the right place at the right time to film that lizard scampering across the screen? It’s a set-up. And many of the stars are here, in their dressing rooms, glass-fronted for us all to see. The reptile centre provides a rare opportunity to see the enormous, magnificently patterned perentie lizard, plus thorny devils, bluetongues, bearded lizards and pythons. A purpose-built fossil cave evidences the reptiles’ long history with the land. Handling takes place at 11am, 1pm and 3.30pm.
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3-Day Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayers Rock) via Kings Canyon Tour
by Viator
Immerse yourself in the ancient landscapes of Uluru and Kata Tjuta on a three-day tour from Alice Springs. You'll see the highlights of Uluru (Ayers Rock), incl…
Not LP reviewed
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Uluru (Ayers Rock) and The Olgas Tour Including Sunset Dinner from Alice Springs
17 Hours (Departs Alice Springs, Australia)
by Viator
Nothing can prepare you for your first visit to Uluru and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Set out on a full day trip from Alice Springs and be awed by the ancient spiri…
Not LP reviewed
from USD$220.53 Advertisement
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2-Day Uluru (Ayers Rock), Camel Farm and Kata Tjuta Trip from Alice Springs
by Viator
Experience the wonder and mystery of Uluru and Kata Tjuta on a two-day tour from Alice Springs. You'll see all the highlights of Uluru (Ayers Rock), including t…
Not LP reviewed
from USD$588.41 -
Sunrise Ballooning in Alice Springs
by Viator
Float above the Outback desert on this exciting hot air balloon adventure! Rise before dawn and watch your balloon inflate in the early rays of daybreak, before…Not LP reviewed
from USD$259.81 -
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Araluen Centre
Alice Springs' art gallery, the Araluen Centre shows off an enviable collection of works spanning decades. Permanent exhibitions include the Albert Namatjira Gallery - the Territory's largest collection of the famous watercolourist's works - plus paintings by Albert's mentor Rex Battarbee and other artists from the Hermannsburg School. Other galleries exhibit acrylics from the central desert region, plus European-style oils and outdoor sculptures.
reviewed
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Art Expedition Larapinta
7 days (Alice Springs)
Painting in the West MacDonnell's with artist Leo Robba.
Not LP reviewed
from USD$2,620 -
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Kookaburra Memorial
A small circular building houses the wreck and story of the Kookaburra Memorial, a tiny plane forced to make an emergency landing in the Tanami Desert in 1929 while searching for Charles Kingsford Smith and his copilot, Charles Ulm, who had gone down in their plane, the Southern Cross. Keith Anderson and Bob Hitchcock perished in the desert, while Kingsford Smith and Ulm were rescued.
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