How to get to Uluru for the start of your camping tour

The rock stands near the centre of Australia, and the resort town is 450 km from its closest neighbour.⁵ Even so, Parks Australia lays out several ways in: fly to Yulara, drive, hire a car or join a tour.^2,3,6 For a camping tour the question is simpler: do you start at Yulara or in Alice Springs?

Yulara has its own airport, Ayers Rock or Connellan Airport, code AYQ, and you can fly there directly from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns.^1,2 Virgin Australia, Qantas and Jetstar serve it.⁷ Alice Springs has an airport as well, with flights every day connecting it to Uluru and Darwin.⁸ From overseas, that means connecting through one of those cities.²

By car, the trip from Alice Springs covers 465 km and takes some 5.5 hours without long stops.³ The Ghan train from Adelaide takes around 21 hours to Alice Springs.⁹ And a coach between Alice Springs and the resort at Yulara takes about 6 hours with a roadhouse stop, from $181. The table below sets each route against the tour pickups.

From Alice Springs the pickup is at about 6 am, from one of 22 pickup points that include hotels such as Desert Palms, Mercure Alice Springs Resort and DoubleTree by Hilton. The first leg runs south for 4.5 hours to Yulara, with a stop for an early lunch. You reach Kata Tjuta for the afternoon walk, the same as those who joined at the airport.

Alice Springs works well if you are already exploring the Northern Territory, arriving on the Ghan, or flying in from Darwin.^9,8 The drive south crosses the desert along the Stuart and Lasseter Highways, and the tour gives you a view of the country that a flight skips. Look out for Mount Conner, a flat-topped sandstone mesa that Anangu call Atila; Parks Australia says locals nicknamed it Fooluru because it fools first-time drivers into thinking they have reached Uluru.¹⁸

Think about where the trip ends. With 2 nights you are back in Alice Springs by early evening, about 6 pm on day 3, in time for a flight the next morning. Start in Alice Springs but fly home from Uluru? Pick 3 nights, which wraps up at Yulara near 9 am on day 4. That way the long road is something you see once, not twice.

Inside the park, distances are short by outback standards. Parks Australia puts Ayers Rock Resort 20 minutes from Uluru and 45 minutes from Kata Tjuta, and the airport 10 minutes from the resort.¹⁶ Its itinerary pages say it takes nearly an hour to reach Kata Tjuta from Yulara, so allow the longer time.¹⁷ The 36 domes of Kata Tjuta lie 50 km by road from Uluru.⁴⁷

All park roads are sealed, so a normal 2WD car is fine.⁴⁸ Forget taxis and buses: none operate here.⁴⁰ If you are not on a tour, you need a hire car, and Parks Australia warns that Yulara has a limited number of them, so book a few weeks ahead.⁶ On the camping tour, the coach and the guide handle all of this for you.

Mind the clock at the far end of the park. Closing time is strict, and Kata Tjuta is the far corner: leave it 45 minutes or more before the gates shut, as rangers ask.¹⁷ Midwinter hours, in June and July, run 6.30 am to 7.30 pm.⁴⁹ On a tour your guide keeps that timing; on your own, set an alarm for the drive back, and watch for animals on the road in the half-light.

Mobile coverage in the park is patchy: Telstra has the best signal, but even it has black spots, especially around Kata Tjuta.⁵² Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara is well served by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.⁵³ Download maps, your booking and any guides before you leave town, and tell the operator your phone number for the pickup.

For emergencies dial 000; a mobile also accepts 112.⁴¹ Store both in your contacts while Yulara still gives you a signal. On a camping tour your guide carries the plan for problems, but it is worth knowing the numbers yourself, and telling someone at home where you will be sleeping each night of the trip.

Before you fly, check three things: that your flight lands before 1:45 pm for a Yulara start, that your bag fits the 15 kilogram limit, and that you have warm clothing for winter nights. Pack a 3 litre water bottle, a torch and a fly net as the listing asks. Then the only thing left is to be at the pickup on time.